Looking up the gold aluminium rainscreen fins, reveals and soffit beside the old brick wall at William Gaitskell House, Rotherhithe

William Gaitskell House, Paradise Street. Gold aluminium rainscreen, fins and copings. Rotherhithe, London SE16.

The team behind Dmitro Development designed, fabricated and installed the gold aluminium rainscreen on the two new houses and external stair of this Rotherhithe conversion.

01 · Looking up the Carriage House: gold reveals, fins and soffit beside the old station.

At a glance

Package
Design, fabrication and installation of powder-coated aluminium rainscreen
Structures
Carriage House, Courtyard House and External Staircase
Finish
Tiger Drylac Regency Gold 2
Main contractor
Hollybrook
On site
2016 to 2017

Part of: Cladding and facade packages

Tall new house clad in gold aluminium frames and dark brick, adjoining the yellow-brick listed police station on a narrow street

02

The Carriage House: gold frames and dark brick on Cathay Street.

Gold aluminium-clad front door and entry panel beside a grey gate into a passage, under dark brick and tall windows

03

Street level: a gold door surround and the gated passage.

Looking straight up a pair of tall windows in deep gold aluminium reveals, between yellow stock brick and dark brick

04

Deep gold reveals hold the full-height window pair.

A gold cover runs up the mullion.

The site

A Regency police station, now nine homes.

William Gaitskell House was built on Paradise Street in 1814 and served as a police station from 1838 before later use as offices. It is listed Grade II and sits in the Edward III’s Rotherhithe Conservation Area.

Hollybrook converted it into seven apartments and built two houses behind it, the two-storey Courtyard House and the four-storey Carriage House on Cathay Street, with a three-storey external stair to the rear. Burwell Deakins Architects designed the scheme, setting the new work in gold aluminium against the restored brick of the old station.

F+A+T engineered the facades across the scheme, including the steel supports and aluminium brackets that tie the new structures to the glazing and the listed fabric.

Close upward view of gold aluminium panels with rows of rivets along each joint

05

Narrow open joints between the vertical panels.

What the team designed, made and fixed

  • 01Rivet-fixed rainscreen panels
  • 02Architectural fins
  • 03Copings and cappings
  • 04Flashings and trims
  • 05Window heads and reveals
A gold aluminium-clad upper storey on an old brick wall, with a tall gold stair frame against a yellow-brick building to the left

06

The Courtyard House: a gold upper floor above the old boundary wall.

Closed along its length, it opens at one end into a terrace framed in gold.

Long gold aluminium-clad upper storey with narrow vertical panels and an open frame at the left end, above a brick wall

07

The long side: vertical panels ending in an open frame.

End wall of a gold aluminium-clad building with four broad panels, over a red and grey brick wall, trees to the right

08

The closed end: four broad panels over the brick coping.

The terrace frame and its fins

At the open end of the Courtyard House, the rainscreen folds inward to line a deep frame around the terrace. Aluminium fins close one side of the opening and a glass balustrade sits across the front.

Upward view of a gold aluminium frame corner with deep returns and vertical fins inside, over brickwork

09

The open frame from below, deep returns around a fin screen.
Vertical gold aluminium fins across a tall opening in gold cladding, windows behind, brick wall below

10

Vertical fins across the opening, windows behind.
Angled view of a deep gold aluminium reveal with fins set behind, above a brick wall under a grey sky

11

The frame's reveal from the side, fins set back behind it.
Gold aluminium frame over a glass balustrade, seen steeply from the base of an old brick wall

12

From the foot of the wall, the frame's head against the sky.
A gold aluminium frame around a terrace with a glass balustrade, glazed doors and vertical fins

13

Glazed doors behind the terrace's glass balustrade.

Behind the gold

Three layers behind every panel.

At the Courtyard House, the package also included a short light-steel-frame wall.

  • PanelsPowder-coated aluminium
  • CarrierHelping-hand brackets and rails
  • InsulationKingspan Kooltherm K15
  • MembraneDuPont Tyvek HouseWrap

Trims, reveals and fins up close

A continuous trim closes the foot of the cladding above the brick. On the Carriage House, the same gold lines the window reveals and runs as fins along the parapet.

Gold vertical aluminium panels ending on a horizontal trim above red and dark brick

14

The base trim, where the panels finish above the brick.
Gold aluminium panels running up to the edge of a deep frame head at the top left

15

The panel field, its joints running straight to the top edge.
Upward view of tall windows framed in gold aluminium reveals, a lit gold soffit below and old yellow brick to the left

16

Reveals around the window pair, meeting the soffit over the entrance.
Gold aluminium fins along a parapet above tall windows, between old yellow brick and new dark brick

17

Fins along the parapet, above the window heads.
Raking view along gold aluminium panels above a brick wall, towards a yellow-brick building

18

Panel joints running the length of the Courtyard House towards the old station.

Paved passage between a timber gate and dark brick, leading to a tall gold-framed stair against a yellow-brick building

19

The External Staircase at the end of the passage.

Gold-framed from ground to roof.

Tall gold-framed stair against a yellow-brick building, beside a gold-clad wall, seen over a brick wall

20

The stair frame's open landings, seen over the brick wall.

Corner of a gold aluminium-clad building above a brick wall, with a gold stair frame to the left

21

Broad end panels turning the corner onto the narrow side panels.

Gold aluminium fascia over a dark brick wall along a paved passage with planting, a gold stair frame in the distance

22

The gold fascia over the dark brick ground floor.

A deep gold aluminium frame around a terrace with a glass balustrade and doors

23

The lined cill and soffit of the terrace frame.

Gold against the old brick

Each view here shows the gold meeting older fabric: the station's rear wall, the boundary wall and its piers, and the passage in from the gate.

Gold clad wall with a downpipe, a gold frame with fins over patterned brickwork, and an old brick building with sash windows

24

From the courtyard: clad wall, fin-screened frame and the station's rear.
Gold aluminium-clad end wall above an old brick wall, a gold stair frame at the left edge

25

A stepped brick pier where the boundary wall meets the gold box.
Full length of a gold aluminium-clad upper storey on a long brick wall, with a terrace frame at the left

26

The full length of the Courtyard House above the boundary wall.
View from a timber gate along a passage, gold cladding to the right and a gold stair frame ahead against old brick buildings

27

From the gate: the passage, the staircase and the old station behind.

William Gaitskell House, complete on Paradise Street.

23 Paradise Street, Rotherhithe, London SE16 4QD

Architect
Burwell Deakins Architects
Facade engineer
F+A+T
Structural engineer
Barrett Mahony Consulting Engineers