Decorative cladding at Sainsbury's new Redhill superstore using a contrasting louvre and open mesh grating

The regeneration of the Warwick Quadrant in Redhill has provided an 80,000 sq ft Sainsbury’s superstore, 68-bed Travelodge hotel and a fitness centre. Alongside the new store, two levels of car park deck were constructed over the supermarket, significantly increasing parking provision within the town.

A steel frame was chosen for the build for speed and flexibility, and as a lightweight solution so that the pre-existing substructure and foundations on the site could be reused. The external cladding package included the secondary steel, with Lang+Fulton supplying the support for their panels. The architect chose to create a contrasting effect for the tallest structural openings by using DeltaWing-45 louvres on the upper sections and Piazza-66 open mesh grating on the lower sections.

The panels were supplied in three phases to suit the overall construction programme; each set of openings required Lang+Fulton to engineer different solutions.

Phase One:
DeltaWing-45 panels were supplied with RHS posts spanning one opening 6.7m high x 6m wide and flat bar posts spanning four openings 3.75m high x 10m wide. The posts were bracketed off a primary steel beam with additional restraints at top and bottom.

Phase Two:
2.1m high panels of DeltaWing-45 secured two openings 29m and 7m wide. The panels were connected to the primary steel at top and bottom with double cantilevered brackets, thus avoiding the need for any posts.

Phase Three:
52 DeltaWing-45 panels and 26 Piazza-66 panels formed one large surface 11.2m high x 23.6m wide over the entrance to the car park ramp, supported on RHS posts 12.4m high. The posts had to be supplied in two pieces that were spliced together and connected back to the primary steel at five positions. This design was repeated for four other bays up to 13.4m high, two of which were facetted to follow the spiral shape of the ramp.

The total amount of DeltaWing-45 and Piazza-66 for the contract was 992 sqm. The panels and posts were hot-dip galvanized and polyester powder coated RAL7037.

Architect: CHQ Architects
Main Contractor: RG Group
Cladding Contractor: Metclad

Products:
DeltaWing-45
Piazza-66