Bethell Construction approached us to help them develop a canopy scheme as part of their ongoing regeneration works with the Manchester Airport transformation team and the redevelopment of Terminal 2.
The Meet and Greet valet parking service was to be relocated to T2 and required Base to design, supply and install a new canopy. To reduce queuing times, the new structure required 3 lanes with internal cameras and scanners to scan car registrations as they arrived at the terminal.
We developed the detailed scheme with structural design engineers Fenton Holloway & steel fabricators Sheetfabs to include the primary steel structure, fabric interface extrusion system, 2 PVC roof panels, 4 wall panels, 2 gable end panels and a bird proofing system.
The client and Base are very pleased with the resulting robust, practical and attractive canopy to service the parking customers at the terminal.
We were approached by our client to find a playground shade solution for Norton Hill School in Midsomer Norton in the Mendip Hills near Bath.
We adapted our Chiltern 2P 500 canopy design from our pre-designed range, to connect two canopies and extend the design to suit the clients needs. We then manufactured and installed the fabric canopy, steelwork and associated fittings.
The canopy design looks crisp and smart. The school were pleased with their new shaded playtime area and a handsome new addition to their grounds.
Located on the banks of the River Thames in Barnes, The London Wetland Centre brings the countryside into the Capital. Designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest in 2002, the wetlands are home to otters, peregrine falcons, bitterns and a multitude of other species – and all despite being under the main flight path for Heathrow Airport. In 2010 the WWT approached us to help create a brand new, high-tech ‘Pond Zone’. Bringing pond dipping into the 21st century, this outdoor attraction features a manoeuvrable underwater webcam and wide screen displays.
To ensure this educational facility can be used in all weathers, one of our standard tensile fabric canopies was specially adapted to provide an affordable solution. A Malvern 6P 1000 was fitted with stainless steel chains to attractively direct water to ground level, whilst a serpent hose on one corner channels rainwater into the pond itself.
With green steelwork and cream PVC, this tensile fabric structure creates a natural yet stylish addition to the wildest corner of the Capital city.
Passenger comfort is essential to the whole 21st Century travel experience and so it is that bus stations are coming of age. Gone are the diesel streaked, wind-swept naked expanses of concrete and tarmac inhabited only by pigeons, drunks and unfortunate late night travelers. Nowadays passenger embarkation terminals are state of the art architectural landmarks that have more in common with the best hotels than ghost towns, and now Wolverhampton Bus Station is no different after commissioning a PTFE roof for it’s terminal.
Wolverhampton is the latest city to have invested in passenger welfare by constructing three steel and glass boulevards, sealed against the elements with 6000m2 of architectural fabric that has been especially profiled to minimise the roofs intrusion onto the cityscape beyond.
The daytime translucency of the fabric and night time feature lighting ensure the friendly ambience is maintained 24 hours a day.
This silicon glass cloth canopy structure formed part of the final stage of construction of the now famous White City Shopping Complex in West London. The scope of works covered design, manufacture and installation of the steelwork, fabric, gutter and nosing.
The client had a requirement for a high level of translucency, previous similar structures in the complex had used a PTFE based cloth which is expensive, particularly when ordered in small quantities. In order to overcome this Base structures sourced a high translucency silicon glass cloth, Atex 3000®, fabricated using special heat welding techniques, and this provided the client with a cost effective solution. At the front of the structure the water capture and collection system is artfully concealed behind a powder coated aluminium nosing, giving the installation a clean finish.
An attractive tensile fabric covered walkway designed as part of the redevelopment works at Westgate shopping centre in Oxford.
The canopy shelters a connecting link walkway within the complex and gives ambient soft diffused lighting to the area. Our scope of works included design, supply and erection of steel frame, connection details and tensile fabric canopy.
West Drayton Primary School needed a tensile fabric solution for their playground to provide a sheltered play area for the children and a walkway adjacent to the building.
This project consists of a 40 meter long PVC fabric covered architectural walkway structure installed in the school’s playground. Our scope of works included the design, manufacture and installation of the PVC fabric canopy, steelwork and associated fittings. As part of our standard pre-designed range, this walkway canopy is both budget friendly and stylish.
The fabric canopy benefits both the pupils and the building providing a sheltered walkway as well as a shaded outdoor play area.
The project brief was to supply a tensile roof structure and fabric walling which could incorporate doors and see through panels to form this large temporary building in Miami, Florida.
Using fabric for the roof and walls provided diffused lighting and a soft ambience to create the desired environment in which the client could hold a Victoria’s Secret fashion show. The fabric panels proved to be a great architectural solution, catering for all the client’s needs in a short time frame.
Formerly used as a School of Architecture, the Portland Building was designed by Sir Colin Stansfield-Smith in the 1990’s. In 2014 the building required complete remodelling and refurbishment by University of Portsmouth to accommodate new schools for Business, Civil Engineering and Information Services, with Studio Four architects acting as lead consultants on the new scheme.
A key success of the redevelopment included bringing an external, under-utilised courtyard into use with resurfacing and new tensile fabric canopy shelters. One of our pre-designed fabric canopies Playsail-4P-500 was used to create a series of six simple hypar fabric canopies manufactured from Type 2 PVC fabric and measuring 4.7m x 4.7m in plan were tensioned to shared posts. The substantial posts rising from the ground are made from galvanised mild steel, linking the individual fabric elements into a much larger modular structure.
The structure as a whole is reminiscent of ship masts and sails – and it not only provides shelter to extend the usable external space but also helps to create a new identity for the Portland building. We hope this architectural flourish is one that Sir Colin Stansfield Smith would have approved of!
Trinity Leeds Shopping Centre opened in March 2013, welcoming over 130,000 shoppers on it’s first day. Named after the adjacent 18th century Holy Trinity Church and housing 93,000m2 of retail floor space, this modern day cathedral celebrates the altogether different God of Shopping.
The centre-piece of the shopping centre is a 3,716m2 glass dome designed by SKM Anthony Hunt, containing 1,902 glass panels that arch 30.5m over street level. Base were approached by contractor Laing O’Rourke to help solve a small yet significant problem with the dome, to subtly fill a space between the shopping centre parapet and the glazed roof. By using ten shaped ETFE segments welded together to create a single twisting panel measuring over 12m long, a virtually invisible barrier now prevents the ingress of the elements without compromising the sleek, glazed aesthetic – all at a fraction of the cost of using bespoke glass.
We may be no Michelangelo but we are nonetheless proud of our finishing touch to this dramatic dome.
in Bristol
