Academy House

Szerelmey were contracted to undertake the delivery of a stunning new facade for the Sports Direct HQ and flagship clothing store, Flannels, on the corner of Oxford Street and Poland Street. JRA architects devised a rich design that takes account of the building’s long history, settling on an Art Deco inspired approach that referenced the building’s former use as a famous cinema. The chosen material for this interesting scheme was faience, which is a building material that Szerelmey specialises in. Working closely with the architects and the faience supplier, Szerelmey were able to design, supply and install the graduated blue faience cladding. The tiles were produced using the traditional slip casting method and went through a rigorous glaze development process before the final glaze was approved. We designed an anchorage system to support each 20kg tile from a steel frame held from the primary steel structure, with the faience installed using a hand set system with grey mastic and mortar joints.