Marylebone Gate
The 43,000 m2 London Headquarters for French Bank Banque Parisbas was designed by Whinney Mackay Lewis Architects and built by Tarmac Building.

Replacing previous 1960’s office blocks, this development enabled all the London operations to consolidate at the Harewood Avenue site. Completed three months ahead of schedule, the façade consists of reconstituted stone cladding and off-site pre-cast bands of natural Terracotta to unite the material of the adjoining listed Marylebone station and Landmark hotel, two other prestigious projects restored by Shaws of Darwen.

Working with pre-cast specialists Marble and Mosaic Ltd, Shaws design team produced detailed specifications and cad drawings for approval. Two colours were chosen to give contrasting shades and 50mm slabs were hand pressed to form the ashlar and angles to the many sprandrel panels.

Terracotta slabs were carefully cut to size and dry laid prior to despatch, to meet all the quality criteria, that when laid down in moulds at the Marble & Mosaic, Western-super-Mare factory, no problems occurred.

The Terracotta was drilled after kiln firing to accommodate stainless steel inclined dowels, which formed the necessary key for when the concrete was poured onto the rear of the terracotta, placed face down in the timber moulds. A membrane sat between terracotta and concrete to alleviate any thermal movement issues.