‘The Keep’ in Belfast city centre, designed by Like Architects, is a major refurbishment scheme of an existing 70,000 sq. ft premium commercial site on behalf of Alterity Investments. Delivered by Ganson UK Ltd, the ground floor footprint is configured to accommodate high value brand retail suppliers such as H&M and Deichmann, with the higher-level floors accommodating a combination of office and leisure users.

The conversion works involved replacing the complete external façade envelope with a Metal Technology curtain walling solution and extensive internal fit-out. Metal Technology’s System 17 Curtain Walling was installed via trusted fabricator Omagh Aluminium Systems – this specially extruded curtain walling face cap provided the architectural design team with a 300mm projection to create a striking picture frame effect on some of the high-level façade apertures.

Most of the scheme utilised a standard 150mm projecting face cap. The curtain walling utilised a 150mm internal structural mullion. A special requirement of the scheme was to provide a unique finish appearance to the aluminium profile and after an exhaustive process it was decided to utilise a super durable Akzo Nobel Interpon D D2525 Futura Y221CI Copper Cusco polyester powder coated paint finish. Thermal requirements require a u-value of 1.3w/m2k to be delivered across the built glazed façade in conjunction with solar control glass. A range of Metal Technology’s architectural glazing solutions were specified to deliver these high-performance bespoke characteristics, including System 4-35Hi+ Thermal Casement Windows, System 5-20DHi+ Thermal Heavy-Duty Hinged Swing Doors and System 23 Glazed-In Louvres.