First Street, Manchester

First Street is a new development in the heart of Manchester city centre, with a range of culture, leisure, retail and commercial spaces coming together to create a vibrant new community in this thriving area of the North West.

Sotech are proud to have provided 950m2 of our Optima TFC Through Fix Cassette rainscreen cladding system for one of the retail units in this development, manufactured in 4mm Larson ACM (Aluminium Composite Material) and finished in Anodic Brushed High Gloss.

The rainscreen cladding we provided was used on the silver fascia and soffits that run the full perimeter of the building, creating a striking, triangular visual feature which can be seen throughout Deansgate.

Working with installers Lakesmere Limited we assisted in developing the silver panels needed using their 3D design. This was an extremely complex and time consuming exercise due to the unique shape of the building, and required us to schedule over 400 individual parts, but gave a fantastic result.

First Street is set to be one of Manchester’s most important sustainable developments and provider of regeneration opportunities, using a balance of technology and simplicity, and aiming to create great working environments in simple, efficient buildings. Sustainability is a vital part of the development, with the vision being for each building to achieve BREEAM Excellent as a minimum.

Sotech has invested heavily in sophisticated design and manufacturing technology.

The training facility and showroom at Sotech is open to specifiers and contractors, where all of our Optima Rainscreen Systems are on display alongside the widest selection of materials and finishes, including pre and post coat aluminium, ACM, Copper, Zinc, Stainless Steel and Anodised.