P C Henderson specified for unique boathouse project

London based architectural practice, Wimshurst Pelleriti, has recently specified P C Henderson’s Straight Sliding 301 industrial door hardware for a unique Boathouse project on the River Yealm in Devon.

The architecture practice was provided with a challenging brief to design a boathouse which could be sensitively built into the steep sided estuary of the river.

The new structure would be small in size but used to store a wealth of waterside equipment and water craft, including a 14 foot speedboat.

The result was an innovative and sophisticated infrastructure built with galvanized steel and untreated Siberian larch to reflect the woodland setting.

To meet the design requirements for optimum storage, using minimal space, a series of sliding doors were installed on the ground level of the boathouse to enable easy access from both the surrounding land and water. P C Henderson’s Straight Sliding 301 was identified as the best system for the project.

Will Wimshurst, Director at Wimshurst Pelleriti commented “Our aim was to not only design a solution which was innovative and aesthetically pleasing but one which could also deliver considerable social benefits to our client. By incorporating seven different sliding door systems throughout the boathouse, we were able to maximise both internal and external space whilst also ensuring easy access to the quayside and slipway”.

The project also benefited from a number of other design elements including a hoist so that the heavy yet delicate speedboat could be stored 10ft high in the eaves and easily lowered into the water when required.

“The doors on some of the systems were extremely heavy so it was important that the specified hardware could cater for the additional weight. Due to the surrounding marine environment, it was also important that the material used was highly corrosive resistant without affecting performance”, continued Will.

Straight Sliding makes up part of P C Henderson’s industrial range of sliding door hardware. The robust system caters for anything from light commercial doors right up to heavy industrial doors weighing up to 2000kg.

Ian Sproat, Technical Development Manager at P C Henderson commented, “Straight Sliding is able to be specified as individual components for varying weights and environments – making it one of our most versatile systems. The boathouse project is a great example of what can be achieved with this system”.