Corian Desk, SEPA Aberdeen, Scottish Commercial Design, Northeast Scotland Office Pictures

Corian Thistle, Scotland : SEPA Offices Aberdeen

Corian Desk Aberdeen, Surface Finish Product – Offic Furniture

29 Mar 2011

Scottish Environment Protection Agency Offices Aberdeen

A thistle ‘tattoo’ decorates DuPont™ Corian® hi tech surfaces at the Scottish Environment Protection Agency offices in Aberdeen

Corian thistle ‘tattoo’

When the design team for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency’s (SEPA) new offices in Aberdeen aimed to embed the enduring symbol of Scotland into a beautifully durable design solution, they turned to DuPont™ Corian® as the material through which to realise their creative vision.

As part of a smart interior scheme for the lobby area of Inverdee House, a reception desk fabricated from this multi-talented solid surface has been permanently ‘tattooed’ with a ‘Thistle’ pattern that blooms upward across the facsia, under an alcove and over to the top of the desk.

DuPont™ Corian® offered many of the appropriate properties for this project as not only can its ingenious versatility adapt to advanced techniques such as digital sublimation printing, but it also performs in application to the highest standards. Naturally strong, stain-resistant and easy to care for, DuPont™ Corian® requires no sealants or treatments and is easily cleaned and maintained. However, should any accidental damage occur, the material can also be restored to full beauty, rather than be replaced or discarded.

While its adaptability allows designers valuable aesthetic freedom, DuPont™ Corian® also offers proven reliability in function and has independent certification such as the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED® Green Building Rating System, ISO 14025 Green Choice, Ecospecifier, plus LGA hygiene certification as well as GreenGuard® confirmation for having no negative impact on indoor air quality.

Ben Rainger of the project architect’s Keppie Design comments, “We selected DuPont™ Corian® for the reception desk because of the malleability and strength of the material to form the desk as a single object. Applying the thistle pattern as a seamless part of the desk allowed us to realise the interior concept that is picked up throughout the building.”

Wagstaff Interiors Group, the UK’s largest furniture dealership, was chosen as Keppie’s furniture partner for this project due to their experience of dealing with complex, bespoke pieces made with DuPont™ Corian®. Ross Gladwin, Sales Manager at Wagstaff says “The results achieved with DuPont™ Corian® in this project were simply stunning. Working with specialist fabricator Interior Surfaces Ltd, we manufactured the bespoke desk according to the exacting designs provided by Keppie. The complex design required precision craftsmanship and installation, which has become a speciality of ours in recent years.”

About Inverdee House
Inverdee House is an innovative BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rated facility developed on a former brownfield site in Torry, Aberdeen. The name Inverdee (coming from the Gaelic “the meeting of the waters”) was chosen as a simple reminder that three environment organisations have come together, at the mouth of the Dee, in one building. The project, coordinated by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency SEPA, is a joint initiative between SEPA and Grampian Housing Association GHA, and sees the creation of new office accommodation, laboratory facilities for SEPA and an element of social housing respectively.

The building is a partnership project under the SEARS banner, providing office accommodation, for staff from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), Scottish Natural Heritage and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee. Inverdee House has been designed to provide a focal point at the mouth of the harbour and includes a large number of windows on the harbour front aspect, breaking up the scale of the building and emphasising its simple form, which has been clad with Zinc.The building is positioned in such a way as to ensure the main circulation spaces face the harbour, with the windows maximising the use of light. Inverdee House features energy-efficient solutions such as solar thermal panels, wind turbines, sensor activated lighting, rainwater harvesting, a biomass boiler and natural ventilation.

SEPA Offices Aberdeen – Desk Information

Architects: Keppie Design (Architects) Edinburgh
Contractor: Wagstaff Interiors Group
Fabricator: Interior Surfaces

Corian® Desk, SEPA Aberdeen images / information received 280311

Location: Aberdeen, Northeast Scotland, UK

For further information about SEPA: www.sepa.org.uk

T: 0800 962 116 E:sales@corian.co.uk www.corian.co.uk

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