Aluminium systems add light to Moor Market at United Kingdom

The British city of Sheffield has completed the first phase in the redevelopment of one of its primary retail sites, The Moor, with a building that uses more than 1,200 square meters of Technal-brand aluminium façade systems.

The redeveloped Moor Market is the first new, purpose-built market to be constructed in the United Kingdom in 30 years.

The £18 million project for Sheffield City Council is replacing the city center’s Castle Market, which had fallen into disrepair. The contemporary look of the new building, designed by Leslie Jones Architecture and the main contractor, Bowmer and Kirkland, takes its inspiration from classic European markets with the use of “timber weave” cladding alternating with projecting courses of red brickwork – echoing the Victorian red-brick architecture of Sheffield.

Over 1,200 m2 of Technal’s GEODE-MX SG structural glazing were used for the perimeter and brass-clad entrance arch.

This façade option has a specially-designed “toggle” that removes the need for silicone to hold the glazed units in place, making it faster and simpler to install.

The curtain walling was faceted to follow the curved contours of the building’s entrance and spans up to 13 meters high. This contrasts with the rectangular frames of the ground floor retail units created from a mix of GEODE-MX Visible Grid and GEODE-MX SG curtain walling – demonstrating the design flexibility of Technal’s GEODE-MX suite.

Project architect Magnus Wills of Leslie Jones Architecture says “we were looking for a range of façade systems that would reflect the building’s contemporary appearance. A key design requirement for the curtain walling was to have slim sight lines to maximize natural light. We achieved this with the use of Technal’s structural glazing.”

Technal is one of the Sapa group’s global aluminium building systems brands.