White Rose Shopping Centre in Leeds, constructed in 1997, is one of the UK’s premier retail and leisure destinations. White Rose’s owner, Landsec, has recently completed and opened a 65,000 sq ft leisure extension to the scheme which has enabled the shopping centre to incorporate a selection of new dining and entertainment experiences for visitors to enjoy. The leisure extension, named ‘the Village’, includes an 11-screen Cineworld IMAX cinema, and a range of new restaurants.
Landsec’s focus on delivering a fantastic new place for visitors to enjoy resulted in a holistic approach to developing a high-quality scheme, one element of which was providing stylish modern façades that contribute to the creation of aesthetically pleasing public spaces. To achieve this and create variation of colour, texture and finish, the external elevations have been clad in a combination of burnished bronze coloured panels and Shackerley’s SureClad® ceramic granite ventilated façade cladding in a matt black colourway, chosen specifically to deliver the appearance of natural riven slate.
Shackerley’s large format ceramic granite panels were specified as part of a Kingspan BENCHMARK Karrier Panel system. This innovative external envelope solution brings together Kingspan’s high performance structural insulating panels with the premium appearance and longevity of Shackerley’s fully-prefabricated ceramic granite cladding and the installation benefits of its SureClad® Access System.
The project required the prefabrication of more than 1100m2 of SureClad® ceramic granite façade panels at Shackerley’s ISO 9001-accredited production facility in Lancashire. Around two thirds of the panels required bespoke cuts (including hundreds cut to site measurements), due to the complexity of the façades of the restaurant buildings and the tapered façades of the cinema building.
Shackerley’s founder and chief executive, Brian Newell, said: “There was an exceptional level of detailing on this project and Shackerley’s in-house fabrication expertise and cutting and drilling equipment were critical to answering the demands of such complex requirements, with production schedules managed to reflect the programme on site. We believe we are the only cladding specialist that has the capabilities to supply a project of this scope.”
The design concept called for a matt, slate-effect finish to create an illusion of infinite space between the expanses of bronze across the long façades on each side of the cinema building and the shaded glass facades at the rear. The same finish was specified for all the frontages of the new restaurant outlets. Here, the units have been designed to offer an active frontage, with extensive glazing to create connectivity between the indoor and outdoor spaces and enable each of the occupiers to maximise the impact of their brand.
Shackerley’s SureClad® ceramic granite was considered alongside other materials and its quality and performance demonstrated clear advantages over quarried slate, delivering comparable visual impact with enhanced strength, performance and low maintenance.
Construction of ‘The Village’ at the White Rose Shopping Centre is now complete and the combination of Shackerley’s SureClad® façade and Kingspan’s Karrier Panel system has delivered an ideal mix of thermal performance and aesthetic appeal. The ‘Rio Black’ SureClad® façade not only provides a high-quality appearance but also creates impact and ensures that the brand and colour palette of each occupier stands out within the public realm.
