114 Lots Road, Chelsea Waterfront

Chelsea Waterfront is a transformative mixed-use redevelopment of the iconic Lots Road Power Station, originally built to power the London Underground. Designed by architecture firm Farrells, the project integrates low-rise townhouse-style buildings, the preserved power station, and two striking high-rise towers, all set amidst landscaped gardens open to the public.

The façade design required a GRC band to be supported as well as masonry support, that sat directly above a GRC diamond. At the time, there was no company offering combined masonry and GRC support Brackets meaning that contractors usually need to deal with two suppliers and two technical teams, one for masonry support and one for GRC support. This naturally brings in the complexity of not only coordinating the two suppliers to ensure timely delivery but also coordinating the actual structural design.

Having worked with CFS on a previous project, McMullen Facades approached CFS on behalf of the main contractor Midgard to see if there was some way to simplify the situation and invited CFS to tender.

In theory, the GRC and masonry support brackets can be combined into one, however, it brings additional structural challenges to consider and requires a good understanding of structural engineering.

Given CFS's experience both in the design of GRC support and masonry support, CFS were able to consider the additional design challenges and designed a novel type of combined masonry and GRC support bracket. The design adjustment resulted in savings on masonry support brackets due to smaller material use despite the brackets being relatively large.

Using a combined bracket also meant that Midgard needed to work only with one supplier – simplifying the whole supply chain.

Midgard rationalised the design to be modular and repetitive. This was achieved by using a small number of masonry pier variations and window openings allowing for repeated supports to be used throughout each level. All this meant that CFS were able to deliver just several variations of the combined GRC and masonry support bracket.

Combined GRC and masonry support brackets bring a significant reduction in labour hours on site. Additional savings are made by simplification of the supply chain – this also reduces risk associated with supplier management and increases transparency across the project. This approach proved to be successful and is used in other projects to date.

As a result, CFS now offers combined GRC and masonry support brackets to date.