Excalibur, inventors of the SCREWBOLT, the innovative high-strength twin helix threaded anchor, has enabled the cladding contractor at a landmark London building to deliver a bomb-blast solution for fixing a high performance glazed curtain walling system to a steel frame.
15-16 St Helen’s Place in the St Helen’s Conservation Area in the City of London is the historic home of Leathersellers’ Livery Company. Located on the City’s last remaining private road, St Helen’s Place, the building was refurbished for developers Brookfield by main contractors Multiplex. The architects Allies and Morrison proposed to retain the St Helen’s Place-facing façade but designed a new frontage for the north side of the building looking onto 100 Bishopsgate. This façade is formed by floor-to-ceiling glazed bronzed anodised curtain walling set behind a self- supporting external precast concrete panel system.
The ground floor patinated bronze curtain walling set the cladding contractors a number of challenges with materials compatibility. After struggling to find a fixing that could cope with the blast loads on the glazed screens they turned to Excalibur to find a solution for fixing the bomb blast steel work to the building’s concrete frame. A full-size bay was built to test Excalibur’s SSB20 x 230 STUDBOLTS so that this high-performance bomb blast façade to proceed. The high strength 20mm x 320mm Excalibur Screwbolt met the structural engineers onerous tensile & shear performance criteria thanks to its unique twin-helix design which means the load is dissipated throughout its length without weakening the concrete substrate.
The Excalibur Screwbolt is a very versatile fixing with a simple and fast installation process. Giving a close to the edge ability due to its non-expanding design, it provides exceptional strength and immediate load capacity in many substrates. It offers a cost-effective, efficient, corrosion-resistant solution for many construction applications, including mechanical fixing for curtain walling systems.
Excalibur is the manufacturer of the original SCREWBOLT, the innovative high-strength twin helix threaded anchor that has revolutionised bolt fixing in global construction. Excalibur continues to manufacture in the UK using British design and engineering expertise. The Excalibur Screwbolt range now includes a full complement of products for almost any building, construction, or rail project.