Encasement keeps on running with Dame Kelly Holmes Sports Centre

An extension to the Dame Kelly Holmes Sports Centre at Farnborough Sixth Form College, to provide additional facilities for students, is using Quadra pre-formed plywood column casings, which were supplied and installed by Encasement, to conceal structural steelwork and improve interior aesthetics.

Originally opened in 2007 in honour of the British double Olympic gold medallist, this latest expansion of the college’s wide-ranging sports and P.E. facilities is designed to link the Dame Kelly Holmes Centre with a separate sports hall, while also providing much needed additional recreation and social space for students.

The new annexe, which also incorporates a large foyer area, uses extensive glazed curtain walling that extends for more than 50 metres from the new entrance along the full length of the building and is supported by 16 structural columns, which are concealed by the rectangular Quadra casings.

Manufactured from strong 8mm thick pre-formed plywood, 15 of the casings measure 368mm x 200mm, while the final one is 368mm x 350mm to accommodate a double structural support. Each casing is finished in durable Formica ‘Dusty Jade’ matt green laminate. The casings also incorporate matching infill strips to give an integrated finish to the vertical joints and feature 100mm high brushed aluminium collars at ceiling and floor level.

While most of the Quadra casings stand 3.0 metres high, during installation Encasement needed to trim and tailor some casings to allow for two changes in the level of the floor, which increases along the building’s length of the extension by approximately 300mm.

Encasement’s Managing Director, Martin Taylor, explained: “This is an ideal application for Quadra casings, as they’re not only strong and durable, for use in high traffic public areas, but can be finished in virtually any colour to integrate or contrast with a building interior.”

He added: “Our Quadra and Circa pre-formed plywood column casings are just part of our extensive range, which also includes Forma metal casings and Vecta wall lining solutions, all of which are widely throughout the education sector in public areas, classrooms and lecture theatres, as well as for main entrances and foyers.”