Shackerley’s Ceramic Granite Makes An Impact On The Clyde

With a sleek black Sureclad ceramic granite ventilated rainscreen, Shackerley has helped RMJM Architects in Glasgow transform Capitol Park, a new build development of urban ‘crash pads’, into a landmark building on the Clyde waterfront.

The 36-unit development, designed for Forrestgate Developments, is adjacent to Festival Park, the Media Village and the ‘Clyde Arc’ bridge leading to Glasgow’s city centre. RMJM designed the building to connect both with the contemporary architecture along the waterfront and with the Clyde’s rich industrial heritage. One street-facing elevation is finished in red brick, in the character of neighbouring warehouses, and Shackerley’s black, imposing ceramic granite rainscreen façade completely clads the other, in sympathy with the new riverfront buildings and studios in the media quarter.


RMJM Architect Craig Thomson commented: “The sleek polished appearance of the ceramic granite façade has the dramatic visual impact we wanted to achieve, and the large format panels with their reflective surface provide a perfect contrast to the grain, colours and standard unit size of the red brick. It has made the building relate to its environment in a highly contemporary way.”

The polished rainscreen façade was installed by cladding installation specialists RIG Construction Elements Ltd using Shackerley’s Sureclad carrier support system, a framework of high grade aluminium vertical and horizontal rails to which the ceramic granite panels were mechanically fixed using patented undercut anchors. In this instance the framework was successfully installed on a timber kit building structure with adjustments made to cater for long term kit settlement and the spread of fire.

Dougie McCallum of RIG commented: “The attention to detail and close cooperation of all parties at the planning stage made our role more straightforward, minimising the number of panels requiring special cuts and reducing wastage and overall assembly time. Although our team have never worked with Shackerley’s Sureclad system before we found it very flexible and had no problems achieving the exact aesthetic design envisaged by the architects.”

Craig Thomson concluded: “In an overcrowded residential market place Capitol Park definitely stands out from the crowd and our clients are delighted with the finished results. We are now considering using the Sureclad ceramic granite rainscreen system for a number of other projects that we have in development.”

(CD)