Auckland Castle Visitor Centre - gratings

Auckland Castle is just one of the many charming attractions of the Auckland project. The castle is one of the best-preserved bishops’ palaces in the whole of Europe and is at the centre of the Auckland Project. It is based in North England, showcasing fragments of a medieval castle discovered during recent archaeological digs, open to the general public.

The project criteria 

The reconstruction of Auckland Castle required new access walkways, landings and stairs for visitors to be able to access the top, where they can experience stunning views across the town. For this purpose, it was essential to provide a very safe solution that responded to the strict criteria for public access walkways, while also meeting the prescribed design criteria to match the architectural milieu and building. 

Safe, Practical, Architectural steel walkways

Even though the stairs, walkways and landings’ primary function is to provide safety for users to wander around Auckland Castle at height, the architects had unique requirements for the design. The solution had to fit perfectly with the rest of the construction with the following prescribed:

• High quality finish tailored to project requirements and matching the building type and architecture 
• The gratings and treads had to allow natural light to penetrate through, owing to the size and shape of the building
• Maintaining a high level of slip resistance and loading capacity in accordance with relevant British Standards 
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The solution

In close collaboration among the contractor, architect and PcP, a bespoke solution was designed consisting of a special nosing solution to enable installation off aftermarket nosing, whilst relying on the integrity of the close PcP MESH™ tread.

Additionally, slip-resistant requirements were addressed by reducing slip and fall risk to enhance slip-resistance.

Utilising our experienced in house drawing office, we initially provided general layout drawings and ultimately panel drawings for client approval, to ensure all items were correct, with any specific site considerations being accounted for.