Soaring skywards, 4 Wellington Place is a jewel in the architectural crown of a regenerated neighborhood of the northern English city of Leeds. The primary driving forces behind it were sustainable development and the rapid implementation of an ambitious plan for the area. The building’s window, door and façade systems were supplied by Aluprof UK.

The dynamic development of Wellington Place

Wellington Place is a modern, vibrant neighborhood of Leeds. Not that it always looked like it does now, though. The local railway station, which was closed in 1967, played a major role in the city’s industrial heritage. Over the past few years, the space has been completely regenerated in order to create an esthetic spot which connects local residents.

The concept for the development of the entire public space there within the master plan, was the work of Gillespies. The crowning glory of all those activities is 4 Wellington Place, a Grade A office building designed by the Sheppard Robson architectural practice for MEPC.

The jewel of the neighborhood

The eight-story building soars up from a triangular lot and offers almost 12,500 square meters of floor space, including nearly 1,600 square meters on the first floor for retails outlets, restaurants, and a recreational zone. 4 Wellington Place was designed around a central core and provides an interior with uninterrupted movement and large, open spaces.

The exterior is finished in stone and bronze. The perpendicular panels created in those raw materials connect with the glazing of the elevations, endowing the entire volume with the look of a precious stone.

The design provided terraces on every floor, on the side facing the surviving ruins of a mediaeval lifting tower. The design included a two-level roof terrace, which offers a view over Tower Square and the rest of Wellington Place. A large, granite fountain has been installed in front of the entrance to the building.

Aluminum systems

Sustainability was a key factor underlying not only the design for 4 Wellington Place, but also for the master plan for the development of the entire area. This meant that engineers and architects alike took best practices from the UK, across Europe and around the world as their models. That, in turn, led them to choose top-end aluminum solutions. ALUPROF S.A. is proud to have supplied the building with aluminum door, window, and façade systems, working in tandem with the main contractor, Wates, and Speedclad, a company specializing in elevations.

ALUPROF’s MB-86 Fold Line folding-door system was used for the building, as was the company’s highly regarded MB-77HS lift and slide door system. They both provide excellent thermal isolation parameters, ensuring a high level of energy efficiency. The MB-77HS is also the only product on the market to have passed the rigorous weatherproof tests run on curtain wall systems in tall buildings by the UK’s Centre for Window Cladding and Technology.

The distinctive, stone and bronze elevations are based on a popular mullion and transom, or stick, façade system, the ALUPROF MB-SR60N, a product which makes it possible to accomplish even the most ambitious of architectural designs while providing superb performance and eye-catching esthetics.