Newfoundland Tower
Innovative solutions at Canary Wharf’s tallest residental tower
WICONA has designed a high-performance, unitised façade system incorporating two new door innovations for Newfoundland Tower, the tallest residential tower built within the Canary Wharf Estate. The manufacturer of highly engineered bespoke systems has developed these solutions to perform well in challenging high-rise conditions. The doors feature unrivalled weather performance, reduced sight lines and are aesthetically pleasing without detracting from the overall design intent of the building.
Newfoundland Tower is the first tall building designed and built by HCL Architects. Its slim flattened diamond plan responds to the narrow footprint of its tight site and the diagonal alignment of adjacent streets. The landmark tower, which provides 636 apartments, is situated directly above the Jubilee Line near Westferry Circus at the end of Middle Dock, one of three historic linear docks.
Location: London, United Kingdom Year: 2020 Building Type: Residential building Customer: Canary Wharf Group Architect: HCL Architects Fabricator: Schneider GB Ltd Photographer: © John Kees Photography Used systems: Façades WICTEC EL evo
The tower’s distinctive diamond pattern created by the external structure, provides lateral stability and is the most efficient way for a tall building to withstand wind forces. Billie Lee, Director of HCL Architects said: “The diamond concept of Newfoundland enables the building to be extremely tall and slim and gives it a dynamic and striking appearance enjoyable from up close and far away. The project has been designed to maximise views and sunlight, with an orientation that enables panoramic views of London.”
The unitised façade system was designed as a bespoke solution by WICONA’s Project Service team in partnership with its client, Schneider GB Ltd. WICONA’s Project Service, which involves collaborating closely with architects on a project-by-project basis, meant that it was well placed to design two innovative door solutions that integrated seamlessly within the unitised façade and provide comfort to the users whilst managing the challenging high-rise conditions of this building.
“WICONA and Schneider have enabled us to achieve what we wanted for the project. We were very particular about what the building should look like and they have produced a product that meets our requirements. WICONA provided two 1:1 full scale [each] mock-ups of the proposed door solutions, a visual one, which allowed us to assess how the colour and distinctive diagrid pattern would look, and one mock-up for testing. These huge mock-ups demonstrated to us that the systems were good quality, well-engineered and worked extremely well.”
Billie Lee, Director of HCL Architects
