Smart solution returns Mount Pleasant to former glory
Bespoke Alitherm Heritage windows from Smart Systems have helped return Royal Mail’s historic Mount Pleasant sorting office building in London to its former glory.
Originally built in the 1880s on the site of Coldbath Fields prison and in its prime, one of the world’s largest sorting offices, the Mount Pleasant facility covers an area of some 12 acres and is the centre of around 23 miles of train tunnels that were once used to distribute mail. Although the railway is no longer in use, the tunnels still run 70 feet under the streets of central London between Whitechapel and Paddington.
Occupying a prime central London location which straddles the boroughs of Islington and Camden, Mount Pleasant is one of Royal Mail’s biggest freehold sites. Having now modernised the existing sorting office building (from which it will continue to operate) over the next ten years it intends to develop a substantial part of the site, providing up to 700 new homes and significant retail and commercial space.
A major part of the mail centre’s modernisation programme saw the replacement of all of the existing uPVC windows in the main administration building with Smart Architectural Aluminium systems. These new products deliver the aesthetic appeal of the building’s original bronze fenestration, echoing its slim sight lines and finish. When originally built, this imposing building featured large bronze windows; however in a refurbishment in the 1980s, the windows were replaced with white uPVC windows, with the significantly larger sightlines profiles having none of the elegance and style of the original design.
The new Smart windows were manufactured by fabricator Multifab and installed by Glassolutions, one of Smart’s approved partners. Commenting on the project, Richie Burne from Glassolutions said: “Architects Boyes Rees wanted to re-introduce the distinctive, slim sight lines and bronze appearance of the original windows, features that had been lost through the use of uPVC, and so ultimately specified Smart Evolution windows for the exterior facades. Each of the window units is an impressive eight metres wide by four and a half metres high and was manufactured in a dual colour format, with the external profile featuring a bronze polyester paint finish and the internal profile standard white.”
Given the exceptional scale of each window unit, and their corresponding performance requirement, Smart’s technical services team designed and developed a bespoke, 85mm coupling mullion to reinforce and strengthen the system, while retaining its characteristic slim profile. Working to particularly tight project timescales, and in close partnership with both Glassolutions and Boyes Rees, the coupling was developed in just two weeks from enquiry to extrusion and enabled the window units to be coupled together on site during the installation programme.
As part of the redevelopment programme, Glassolutions also installed new windows around the building’s stairwell. Given their location, these windows were required to be externally-beaded to allow maintenance without having to access the lift shaft, and so the Smart Alitherm 47 Heritage window system was specified in a bronze and white finish, the window and door system also providing slim profiles to echo the appearance of traditional steel and bronze windows.
Throughout the project, timescales were compressed. The window installation was therefore achieved in a remarkable nine weeks.
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