1-May-2002
GLA Building - CITY HALL - London
Greater London Authority - Headquarters
SUPPLIER: HAL MANN INTERNATIONAL LTD. MALTA
THE GREATER LONDON AUTHORITY Headquarters - London UK.
'City Hall'.
Yet another example of the Hal Mann International's ability to provide ‘tailor-made’ solutions.
The Greater London Authority is to become the tenant of one of London’s most spectacular new buildings.
In the summer of 2002, the GLA will move into the specially designed GLA HQ at the More London development. The new building is to be called 'City Hall’ and is to be officially opened by H.R.H. Queen Elizabeth II in July 2002.
ARCHITECTS: Foster’s and Partners, one of Britain’s leading architects, who were also involved in designing the new Hong Kong airport and the Reichstag in Berlin, have designed the building.
DESIGN BRIEF: The design brief was to create a headquarters building that would become a new landmark for the capital.
The design by Foster's and Partners expresses the transparency of the democratic process and promotes the image of a modern vibrant world city.
In certain areas of the building the architects wanted to use TERRAZZO tiled flooring, because of its durability and ease of use and maintenance, but did not want the flooring to look like a typical terrazzo floor.
Many manufacturers throughout Europe were given the task of creating a tile that met the stringent standards of the designers. Competition was fierce, not because of the size of the order or how much money could be made, but because of the high esteem anyone associated with the building would achieve.
HAL MANN INTERNATIONAL, yet again, were successful in producing a tile that acheived the ‘look’ that the designers wanted, whilst keeping within strict quality and performance guidelines.
Concept: A 'green' building.
The energy strategy for City Hall will enable it to run on a quarter of the energy consumed by a typical high specification office building.
The building's form and geometry has been generated as result of thorough scientific analysis, aiming to reduce both solar gain and heat loss via the building's skin.
Minimising the surface area of the building results in maximum efficiency in energy terms. The building's form is derived from a sphere, which has 25 per cent less surface area than a cube of the same volume. The building leans back towards the south, where floor plates are stepped inwards from top to bottom, providing natural shading from the most intense direct sunlight.
The building will be naturally ventilated, with open-able windows in all office spaces. Heat generated by computers and lights will be recycled. The deep-plan floors allow for the collection of heat at the building's core, which can then be redirected to its periphery. The combination of all these energy saving systems means that there will be no need for chillers in the building.
To fit in with the overall policy of an environmentally friendly building, construction materials used were to be, wherever possible, of an environmently friendly nature. Therefore If materials were also manufactured with the environment in mind, then these would be given preference.
Enter the Hal Mann GLA ‘Green’ Tile.
HAL MANN’S “GREEN” GLA TILE
The terrazzo floor tiles installed in several areas of City Hall have been manufactured on the Mediterranean island of Malta by Hal Mann International, a family-owned and run company.
Hal Mann's 'GLA' tile was manufactured using mostly recycled natural materials and environmentally-friendly production processes.
The tile has been tailor-designed to blend in aesthetically with Architects Sir Norman Foster’s overall grey colour scheme for the building, while satisfying strict performance parameters such as slip resistance and ease of cleaning. An estimated seventy per cent of the tile’s ingredients are recycled materials that are produced as a by-product of other processes of the construction industry.
Each tile is composed of a face layer and a bottom layer. The tile aggregate of the face layer is composed of three parts granite sand and one part cement, mixed with water and additives, while the second layer, the bottom of the tile is composed of four parts globigerina limestone sand quarried from the island of Malta, and one part high strength cement. Whenever any tiles produced resulted as being defective these were crushed and re-used for the aggregate for the tile’s bottom layer.
The granite sand was produced by crushing by-products left over from the processing of other products from solid granite slabs, such as kitchen and vanity tops. Larger granite chippings were also mixed in with the aggregate. The globigerina limestone sand was also a by-product from the quarrying of limestone blocks that are used to construct buildings on the island.
The tile aggregate, which was originally in slurry form, was poured into a mould. Since the tile was cast face down, the aggregate for the face layer was poured in first. The aggregate was first vibrated to distribute the ingredients evenly within the mould. The aggregate of the second layer was then poured onto the first layer. The mould was then compressed in two stages during which most of the water content in the face layer was absorbed into the backing layer.
The tile was then extracted from the mould and stored for at least 48 hours in a curing chamber for the cement in the tile to set and cure. Given Malta’s mild weather conditions the manufacturer was able to use a unique natural system that allows the tile to cure without the use of artificial heating. During the curing process used the tiles developed heat from the core outwards and expanded in a natural manner unlike in the steam curing system where tiles are heated from the outside inwards.
From the curing chamber the tile underwent a grinding process, whereby a minimum of three millimetres of the face surface was ground away to expose the granite chippings and obtain a perfectly flat and polished surface.
All the water used throughout the production and grinding process was drawn from rainfall collected in huge reservoirs dug beneath the manufacturer’s premises. In this manner the manufacturer never had to use the mains water supply, an important consideration for Malta, where half of the island’s water supply has to be desalinated at great expense from the sea.
The wastewater resulting from the production and cutting/grinding processes was channelled into silos on site where it was decantered. The purified water was extracted and recycled while the slurry was dried and disposed of in a solid state in a landfill site.
The resultant tile, when installed, gives the impression of a natural granite floor, as opposed to a typical terrazzo floor, whilst stiil having all the advantages associated with terrazzo flooring. Not least of which is the relatively inexpensive cost.
Location of Builiding: City Hall occupies a prominent site on the More London development. This 13-acre site is on the Thames alongside Tower Bridge, adjacent to the London Bridge City development.
The building is a 5-7 minute walk from London Bridge railway and Underground stations.
Accommodation: City Hall comprises an assembly chamber, committee rooms and public facilities, together with offices for the Mayor, London Assembly Members and GLA staff. It provides 185,000 sq ft (gross) of space on ten levels that can accommodate 440 staff and members.
SEE www.morelondon.com for full details.
The summer of 2002 will see the GLA move to its new home - one that will symbolise the return of citywide government to London.
The Mayor of London has described the building as ' ..one of the most spectacular examples of architecture to be seen in the capital for years, providing a modern working environment for myself and the GLA.' .
|
|
.jpg)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
.jpg)
|
|
Click on images for a larger version
|
|
