Karl wrote:I think there is a legitimate concern that the cladding appear to be of a completely different colour to the renders. It's a very big building which will be visible from around the city centre. The cladding is arguably the most important aspect in terms of visual effect. No-one wants a lego tower dominating their city centre.
Surely in projects of this magnitude examples of the materials are put before the planning officer/committee before the application is decided upon? If so then the building was always going to have this cladding and the renders are misleading or they have changed the colour of the cladding (at least for this part of the building) in which case the council must be able to intervene on the basis that the developers are acting outside of the scope of the permission granted?
I think you raise a valid point. The reality is that the CGI renders are usually presented to the Planning Committee as part of the planning application, but the final material samples are signed-off by the Planning Officer when they discharge the planning conditions. Rarely does the full committee sign-off on the full package of materials when they are giving planning consent. Personally I think these Planning Officers have too much power and quite often there is a variation between the proposed and final images.
The cladding forms a huge part of the project. I won't give specific figures but I've been advised that the cost of the cladding is approximately equal to the cost of the concrete frame! In fairness, everyone on the project has worked increadibly hard to push for quality on the cladding, even making savings elsewhere to pay for it. The effort that has gone into this student accomodation is like no other in Cardiff (or many other cities). I don't think Herbert St will look anywhere as good and that photo that Cardiff posted shows cheap, rainscreen cladding. This system is very different.
Two main technical issues blow the cost out on this package. Getting the 3D concrete panels (which look like Portland stone) into light-weight panels and forming the pressed-metal panels (for louvres etc). These panels are expensive as they are bespoke (necessary to form the require about of free area for ventilation etc.). That influences the material cost. The difficulty is that you can't have a difference in colour between the pressed-metal panels and the main front, which would happen if you varied the materials.
Numerous material samples were sent back and forth between the Architect, cladding suppliers and council, not to mention the complete sample panels that were formed ahead of the main production. The council have been fully aware of any "changes" and approved all of the materials used.
Sure, it may not be to everyone's taste, but the overall quality will be there to see and I think it'll age reasonably well.