Spark Building, Cardiff University

A new centre which is set to ignite ideas and spark creativity, has opened its door at Cardiff University.

The new Spark centre which is the first social science research park in the world, brings together 13 research groups collectively into one-state-of-the-art building.

The development creates 800 jobs for researchers, entrepreneurs, student start-ups and external organisations. With the building spanning 12,000m sq, it features collaborative working spaces, a visualisation centre, auditorium, and fabrication lab, which makes it the ideal place to grow and nurture ideas.

Featuring the ‘Oculus’, which is a stunning, sculptural, open staircase, this building is thriving with creative flair.

Set to drive engagements and collaborations between the different users, the building also has an events pod and breakout zones on each level.

We worked alongside architects, Hawkins Brown, Taunton Fabrications and construction company Bouyges on this project. We supplied our W-20/50 profiled wellTEC® for the balustrades surrounding the oculus staircase and for the cladding on the events pod. The wellTEC® profile was a sinusoidal shape and had an R5T7 perforation pattern which was powder coated by Taunton Fabrications. The finish was ‘RAL-2002 ‘Vermillion’ which gave a glossy, vibrant and eye catching finish.