34 No. Precast arches were manufactured for this project, with a face height of 815mm and spanning widths of up to 3mtrs.

In addition to the precast arches we also supplied 24 No. tapered concrete columns. The specification of which called for a seamless finish, so a one piece mould was necessary.

Each column incorporates a steel fin, which is cast into the unit to connect to the buildings' steel frame. The fins had to be cast to a tolerance of +/- 3mm.

A Williamson Cliffe handmade brick was specified for the project and large oversized blocks had to be manufactured to achieve the 215mm faced soffit.

Some of the arches were curved on plan and so in order to manufacture these a cambered mould was used.

The aches were erected as a cladding unit, lined and levelled before brickwork is built up around them. Cast in channels and provision for fixing cleats were located in the reverse of the unit.

Pointing was then carried out using the same mortar as that being used for the main facing bricks in order to guarantee consistency of colour.

The plug for the fibreglass mould for the columns was made in-house using a steel core and decreasing timber loftings to create the taper.

The frame was wrapped in flexible plywood, varnished and polished. From this the fibreglass mould was layered up.

Steel reinforcement had to be put in the mould whilst horizontal, before it was lifted vertically for the cast.

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