PFM_19_5

NEWS news
Landmark West London Office Block, Vantage
London, Catches the Eye of Commuters with High
Impact Exterior Signage from Signbox
Towering above the elevated
section of the M4 in Chiswick,
Vantage London is a building
seen by tens of thousands of
motorists every day as they make
their way between Heathrow airport
and Central London. Offering the
largest office space in West London,
the building occupies a prominent
location facing Kew Gardens and
sits a mere five minute walk from
Chiswick Park tube station. The
building has undergone a major
refurbishment over this year, and
key to re-launching this landmark
building was a range of exterior
signage that would powerfully
reflect the outstandingly modern
and vibrant interior.
Architectural signage
specialist, Signbox’s
proven ability to deliver
quality high-elevation
signage on this scale
meant it was the natural
partner for this complex
and high profile job. The
company was first
approached by the
contracted architects,
Spratley Studios, in late
2014 to provide initial
technical assistance to
resolve issues relating to
the location of large,
high-level signs to both
of the existing curtainwalled
glazing and
cladding systems.
Signbox was then invited
to competitively tender
for the works in
November 2015 and was
awarded the external
signage, which was then
delivered between
January and May of
2016.
The first step in the
project was to update the
building’s existing gantry
sign. All decorative
tubular steel was
removed and the entire
gantry re-dressed with
aluminium cladding over
a new, bespoke
structural steel framework with large
illuminated lettering. Further external
works required the designing of a
specialist bracket system to attach a
reinforced flex-faced box to a Schuco
curtain wall at the 13 th floor level,
directly above the elevated section of
the M4. Bespoke large fabricated
letters, located flush to the cladding,
were also designed and installed to
ensure the fixings took all of the weight
load back to the building structure.
A 16 x 6 metre mesh lettings banner,
digitally printed in full colour, was
located on engineered fixings that can
be removed if required at a later date
with recourse to remove the cladding
panels. It also featured ‘bump stops’ to
prevent the banner making contact
with, and damaging the paint finish to
refinished cladding.
The complexity and very high cost of
re-accessing elevated signage meant
that Signbox also designed and
installed a complete secondary LED
circuit with all control switchgear sited
remotely within the building, ensuring
that most future issues can be simply
and immediately addressed without the
need to access the exterior signage. In
addition to the primary exterior
signage, Signbox has also removed
and replaced all car park wayfinding
with stainless steel effect dibond, with
printed detail as part of the project.
Workman LLP, the
management company
for the building are
delighted with the quality
of the work delivered by
Signbox and have
subsequently ordered
additional internal
signage – including
directories, reception
works, tenant signage
and wall graphics – all of
which have now been
completed.
Signbox Senior Project
Manager Andrew O’Hara
concludes: “Signbox was
delighted to have the
opportunity to work on
such a high profile and
architecturally challenging
project – the delivery of
high-elevation signage
that is seen by tens of
thousands of London
motorists on a daily basis.
The project required strict
adherence to deadlines
and close cooperation
with multiple contractors.
We were ultimately able
to deliver a high-quality
finish befitting this
landmark building, and
the success of the job
immediately led to further
project work for this
client.”
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