Duco Ltd, part of the Technip group, and employing over 500 people located in dedicated facilities in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK and Houston, USA, DUCO has designed, manufactured and supplied subsea umbilicals to the oil and gas industry for over 25 years.
The site is bounded to the east by an existing corrugated metal industrial building and to the south by a brick and metal clad office building and as such there is no consistent or prevailing architectural style or choice of materials or colours. The new building is constructed in a composite cladding system with expressed joints in an attempt to minimise the mass and sits on a brickwork plinth to reflect the surrounding buildings. The office element includes a greater proportion of glass in powder coated framework and again sits on a brick plinth. The roofscape was considered to be an important element of the design by the client and planners, and as such, care was taken to carefully locate and / or minimise the location and number of roof service penetrations. Externally, the hard landscaping was a mix of concrete in the service yard areas, block paving to footpaths and tarmac roads. Planting was used appropriately to avoid a sea of unbroken car parking and service areas.
Designed by members of the team whilst at Dewjo’c Architects.
