Owner/Client: Tata Steel
Architect: Tata Steel
Cladding contractor: Lesters
Tata Steel products: Trimapanel® micro-rib insulated wall panel manufactured using Colorcoat Prisma® pre-finished steel
Colours: Seren Copper, Seren Gold, Zeus Matt
Year: 2017

The project

The General Office building at Tata Steel’s Shotton facility has been refurbished to highlight and showcase some of the colours that are available in three-layer Colorcoat Prisma®. The two-storey building was built over 70 years ago and has had a number of uses during that time. Most recently it has been used as an office. The challenge The front façade, facing the main car park was looking a little tired and aged and a recladding programme was deemed the best option.

However, due to the age of the building and some aesthetic inconsistencies, such as the irregular bays and windows, a lot of consideration was put into the refurbishment design by the project’s architect Matthew Teague. A key part of the project brief, as well as showcasing the new colours of Colorcoat Prisma®, was the requirement to complete the cladding installation within an impressive three weeks.

The solution

The refurbishment utilised vertically installed Trimapanel® micro-rib insulated panels, which were manufactured by Tata Steel on the Shotton site. Colorcoat Prisma® for the external weather face (also manufactured on the Shotton site) was laid in a random colour sequence. “Having this random three colour pattern, with no rationale, helped us break-up the façade and deflect people’s gaze away from the inconsistencies of the building,” says Mr Teague.

The three new Colorcoat Prisma® colours used on the project were carefully selected to take inspiration from the natural resources of Wales and thereby acknowledging the origin of the product, which is manufactured in Wales and used all over the world.

Slate is represented by Zeus Matt, gold by Seren Gold and copper by Seren Copper. Interestingly, the oldest copper mine in Wales is located in Llandudno, which is only 40 miles away from Shotton. The colours are said to be complementary to each other with the dark shades of Zeus Matt accentuating the depth of both Seren Copper and Seren Gold.