"In west London, a new addition to the skyline is set to transform the area around one of the capital’s most famous railway stations...
...The Cube is being built to hit the BREEAM ‘Excellent’ standard, with rainwater harvesting featuring in the scheme, a large photovoltaic array on the roof and smart technology installed throughout to help reduce energy consumption once the building has been completed.
Fundamental to the building’s design is its glass cladding, which is being installed by Italian firm Focchi.
It is this cladding that gives the building its sleek look and will allow light to pour into even its darkest recesses. To overcome potential overheating from solar gain, the Focchi team is installing a double glass-skin unitised curtain wall system with integrated venetian blinds sitting between the two skins across the bulk of the structure with a stick system facade at ground floor to level 3 and levels 15 to 17.
“This is a very design-led project and the glazed cladding is an extremely important part of the vision that Renzo Piano has,” Flexney-Briscoe says.
There is still some way to go before construction work at the Paddington Cube is complete but despite all of the potential setbacks faced by the team – the COVID-19 pandemic, material shortages and ratcheting prices – the project is still on course for handover in Summer 2022."
