Manchester New Square

The three new buildings bring 29,000sqm to the downtown district.

Challenged by existing light-weight foundations, built in 2010 to carry a lightweight glass facade, Simpson Haugh, ROC, and Thorp Precast, set about to reflect the richness of the downtown district in a smart new style that complimented the historic brick of the surrounding buildings.

Maintaining brick design intent was a key challenge, even with conventional brick-faced unitized concrete-backed panels, weight was an area of concern. The team came up with three innovative solutions thanks to Ductal® Archistructure: dark panels at ground level, lightweight brick-slip-faced unitized structural facade panels and tiled panels at the upper levels.

Prefabricated off-site, the building speaks the language of the neighborhood while being modern and efficient, saving time and energy by retaining the existing foundations. By using prefabricated brick-clad Ductal® panels, wall systems and glazing could be installed off-site saving time, reducing city-traffic, and optimizing material usage - thus reducing the carbon footprint of the building by 10%.

This efficient prefabricated method also increased usable floor space, and increased construction quality which will extend the useful life of the project and keep its facade fit and fresh for years to come.