BRONZE ARCHES FOR SOYO

A new modern neighbourhood is being built in the middle of Leeds, creating a lot of attractive living space with connections to the nearby creative hub of the city. Located at the southern end of York Road, the neighbourhood has been christened ‘SOYO Leeds’ (south of York Road). Once completed, around 305,000 m² of space will be available here for living, working and leisure.

A central building in the new neighbourhood is the New York Square Building, which offers plenty of high-quality living space with 515 flats. Inspired by the architecture of New York, various materials were used to design the façade. A contrasting interplay between small-scale red brick walls, light-coloured sandstone and large dark window frames is complemented by standing seam elements from Kalzip.

In the AluPlusPatina coating in bronze B40, the façade elements provide a metallic accent on some sides of the building ensemble – on other sides, they are more subtle and are used as a stylistic element for the top floor. The standing seam profiles fulfil a special requirement in both cases: The transition from the façade to the roof was to be characterised by a gentle curve, which was easy to achieve thanks to the flexible material and the experience of the Koblenz-based manufacturer.

The profiled sheets were delivered to the construction site in 12-metre-lengths. Precise planning was required for the installation as the bending did not allow for many tolerances and the window elements had to be taken into account, as Adrian Whitefoot, Technical Services Manager at Kalzip UK, reports: “The logistics and handling of the Kalzip sheets as they were long sheets fixing vertically, proved to be challenge offering them up to the wall. We also had to consider the maintenance and cleaning of the windows and the façade had to be capable of abseiling down. To overcome this challenge, hardrock insulation was introduced behind the Kalzip to support the system for when these works are carried out.“

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