Devonshire House/ Manhattan Apartments, Manchester

Located just off New York Street in Manchester city centre, Manhattan is a seven-storey development comprising 42 one and two-bedroom apartments. In a New York loft style, each property features floor to ceiling windows and private terraces set into a multi-level garden wall. On the seventh floor, there are duplex penthouses offering views over King Street and across the city. The ground floor also offers 2,000 sq ft of retail space.

During several site visits, the original red brick was examined, and the requirements for a blue/black finish was discussed. Using KEIM’s Brick Colour Range, Nicola Young, KEIM’s Senior Colourist, conducted trial applications of KEIM Restauro Lasur, using different opacity ratios, to ensure colour consistency.

Once the colour required had been achieved a specification was produced for a four coat KEIM Restauro Lasur system, comprising of two coats of diluted bespoke black base colour in a fairly opaque finish, followed by two further coats of a combination of two differing colours, more heavily diluted.

The original red brick front façade of this five storey building was retained and enhanced to reference a more industrial feel. To fulfil the design brief, the client wanted to change in colour of the bricks to blue/black, without the bricks appearing painted.

KEIM Restauro Lasur, a low pigmentation silicate colour wash, which acts as a stain that penetrates the surface of the brick, was used to change the colour of the façade, retaining the look and feel of the original bricks. KEIM Restauro Lasur is a breathable, colourfast system, which retains the original brick appearance and increases light reflectivity, whilst retaining a natural looking finish. The beauty of the KEIM Restauro Lasur system is that it can be used to achieve almost any effect without the surface appearing painted.