As part of Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School’s (BVGS) recently completed £2.5 million STEM block, six ‘Forma’ circular aluminium column casings from Encasement are being used to conceal exterior structural steelwork and add a splash of colour, as each has a different PPC finish.
Based in Sutton Coldfield near Birmingham, BVGS was founded in the 16th Century and provides education for boys and girls from Key Stage 3 to Sixth Form, with the school being on of the country’s top 25 state schools for A level results.
Designed by RJA Architects, the STEM block was constructed with the aid of an Education Funding Agency grant and provides 17 new classrooms over two floors including a bespoke ICT suite, a robotics room and an extension to the existing ‘Randon art & design centre’.
The six Encasement column casings are used on the front of the building to provide a highly decorative and practical solution for concealing the building’s external structural steelwork, which is also acts as part of a covered walkway created by the building’s first floor extension.
Manufactured from 3mm thick aluminium, each 370mm diameter ‘Forma’ casing stands 3000mm high and is finished in a different PPC colour of black, purple, gold, white, blue and red, which represent the colours in the school’s crest.
Encasement’s Managing Director, Martin Taylor, commented: “Even though we regularly manufacture and supply column casings where the finish is themed for an exterior or exterior colour scheme, this is the only project we have ever undertaken where each column casing has been finished with a completely different colour.”