Project Summary
CS designed a custom expansion joint cover to meet the movement needs of the glass walkways at the Bristol Life Sciences Building, as well as supplying a collection of high performance coatings for the basement laboratory areas.
Full Case Study
Designed by Sheppard Robson, the state-of-the-art Bristol Life Sciences building at the University of Bristol houses modern teaching and research laboratories, as well as a collection of break-out spaces, seminar rooms and social spaces to encourage collaboration between students and research teams.
Design Goals
In order to comply with local planning restrictions, Sheppard Robson designed the Bristol Life Sciences building to appear as two separate buildings, with the teaching block on one side and the laboratory block on the other. Connecting the two blocks is a central atrium, containing glass walkways between floors 1 to 3. Due to the size and layout of the building, expansion joint covers were required at one end of the glass walkways to accommodate building movement (settlement, expansion, contraction etc.). With over 40 years’ experience of designing and manufacturing expansion joint covers, CS were in the perfect position to design a solution for Sheppard Robson.
Results
The Atrium: Due to CS’ experience and extensive product range, we were able to modify an existing expansion joint cover to suit the design requirements. Based on the APF-SM product, a surface mounted floor joint cover ideal for situations with large multi-directional movement requirements, the modified cover features a slip resistant, aluminium surface, offering a smooth transition between the adjacent carpet and the glass floor. A cold smoke seal was also required, which CS were able to supply in the form of a polyethylene membrane, a product usually used as a moisture barrier.
