There are plenty of brise soleil products on the market, but very few can be supplied in a colour which is tailor-made to match the design scheme of a building. A rare exception can now be found at Fulford School in York, where neaco provided a bespoke solution for a new classroom block as part of a £4 million upgrade designed by City of York Council and built by William Birch and Son.
neaco’s advanced powder coating facilities enable the company to apply precisely formulated colours to meet the specific aesthetic needs of its clients. They are often utilised in the manufacture of neaco’s balustrade products, but in this case they were put to good use for a specially developed sunshade louvre system specified at the school, which has just been named as one of Tatler magazine’s top 10 state secondary schools in the UK. neaco also supplied internal balustrade in the building’s two stairwells.
Alan Thomas, Senior Architect at York City Council, said: “It was important to provide a design for the brise soleil that complimented the external appearance of the new building and this has been achieved. We supplied the specific RAL colour reference of the window frames and neaco were able to match the grey finish that has been used throughout the school. Initially Neaco provided a prototype and we held discussions with the main contractor, Wm Birch & Sons Ltd. to agree on the appropriate size and spacing for the louvre blades. The end result is excellent, being attractive, functional and robust.’
Fulford School’s development also includes a new sports hall, new science labs and spaces for drama, food technology and design and technology. Consistently over-subscribed, the school currently has 1,350 pupils aged 11-18.