Sep 1 2016
Midlands-based JVM Castings, the largest aluminium pressure die casting manufacturer in the UK, have recently completed a new lightweight casting for building developments at International Quarter London, located at the gateway to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
IQL is a joint venture between Lend Lease and London & Continental Railways (LCR), and the project will deliver over 4 million square feet of Grade ‘A’ office accommodation, including 333 new residential units and associated community facilities within a 22 hectare site.
Architectural firm Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners (RSHP), in addition to the masterplan, is responsible for the design of individual office buildings. Designers at RSHP, working with HVAC and building services solutions provider TROX UK, developed an innovative multi-service chilled beam to meet not only the HVAC requirements of the office space but also to support their vision of a vibrant working environment.
JVM Castings were commissioned to supply several structural spurs that are a key architectural element of the formed ventilation and lighting beam carriers for TROX UK.
JVM’s brief was to design an aluminium pressure diecasting of 1.5m in length with a tight visual surface finish that could not weigh more than 2kgs. They were also tasked with manufacturing tooling for a 2,000 tonne diecasting machine, supplying production parts and delivering a lower total cost solution than sand and gravity casting processes - all within 16 weeks.
In conjunction with one of their partner toolmakers, JVM were able to design and manufacture the tooling with two weeks to spare, thus satisfying the tight programme timing demands.
The aluminium high-pressure diecasting offers a more superior finish than gravity and sand diecasting processes, exceeding TROX UK’s requirements as well as those of their architect customers. The pressure diecast process also eliminated the cost of the finishing operation that both the gravity and sand processes would have needed to achieve the aesthetic requirements of the part.
Bob Freeman, Group Sales Manager at JVM, said: “We’re exceptionally proud of our work, especially as it takes us outside our traditional automotive market and into exciting new building markets. For this project, we were able to produce the parts required to our customer’s deadline in May, giving us a total lead time of just 16 weeks.”
I am delighted with the solution that JVM have provided. As well as its structural characteristics the casting is an integral part of the MSCB aesthetic. JVM have been responsive and innovative in approaching the challenge set by this new MSCB and we are all thrilled to see the final product incorporated at the IQL.
TROX UK’s Chief Design Engineer, Martyn Mills
For more information, visit www.jvmcastings.com