Colmore Row

The refurbishment and extension of the Grade II Listed Chatwin Building – Colmore Row, Birmingham breathes life into the tired office building and is an important addition to the historic fabric of the City.

FFS in collaboration with Forster and main contractor Grahams Construction worked to replace the ground floor iconic glazing scheme, along with internal Fire-rated Screens and Butt Jointed Glazing spanning across the two uppermost floors.

The external glazing elements were fabricated from Forster Unico Steel Profiles which offered tensile strength whilst minimising the bulk of the mullions and transoms – this allowed us to span the 4500mm floor to ceiling arched windows with minimal framing. The system and specialist DGUs provide much enhanced thermal performance fit for a 21^st century upgrade.

Framing finished in PPC RAL Anodic Bronze perfectly compliments the warm stone façade and enhances the street presence of the building.

Colmore Row being a busy city thoroughfare meant that lifting the large and heavy DGUs into position had to be undertaken after midnight and at the weekend when footfall was it its lowest.

FFS liaised with Birmingham City Council to procure the relevant permits required to close the pavements and lift the glazing into position.

Vacuum & Crane Ltd – the lifting specialists worked with the FFS specialist install team throughout the night to safely install the bespoke DGUs.

The internal elements were no less logistically problematic – and the large butt jointed glass panes had to be safetly transported up to the top floor ready for installaton – due to lack of space these had to be manually handled through the building and into position. Despite the challenges the resulting screen is light and airy – and a real materclass in opeing up the internal meeting and office spaces.

FFS were proud to contribute our expertise to enhancing such an historic and characterful building.