January Newsletter

The Eltherington Group Research & Development team have a combined 90 years of experience working in the design, construction and manufacturing industries. 

Back in 2017, the architectural division of the group set the R&D team a challenge to use their technical expertise to develop a completely new rainscreen cladding product range.  Something new and superior to current systems on the market. Something beautiful and unique that brings the building to life. Group Technical Director David Johnson says ‘the last 18 months have been a very interesting journey for both the R&D team and the architectural solutions business within the Group. 

Rainscreen cladding has featured heavily in the press of late so we had to draw upon all our resource to ensure the team were up to date and fully conversant in all facets of this particular market sector before accepting the challenge. Having already brought five CWCT tested rainscreen systems to market and successfully specifying and manufacturing over 60,000m2 since 2016, we knew where to look first…

Manufacturing, the machines that cut and fold aluminium into the final cladding panel. David comments, ‘all of the manufacturers of metal panel in the UK use the same technology, whether it be punch machines, press brakes and panel folding lines.  With traditional technology you are restricted in what you can create, hence why the vast majority of facades have similar sized flat faced panels, totally reliant on the colour or texture of the finish to create a change in the aesthetic.  I am pleased to say that in 2017 we found and invested in a technology that would set us apart from the rest and enable us to manufacture a wide range of striking designs in aluminium or steel.  Since the machines were installed in early 2018, we have put them through their paces on several new panel designs and we are now in the final stages of CWCT testing some of these designs as part of a full rainscreen system.

Images shown are just a handful of the designs either in development or being used on live projects.