London College of Communication, University of the Arts, wins Tall Building award for Façade Engineering Project 2025

The façade for the new London College of Communication, University of the Arts London (UAL), has won Best Façade Engineering Project of the Year at this year’s Tall Buildings Awards.

The new 12-storey building is part of the Elephant & Castle town centre development scheme.

With sustainability being key, the bespoke façade is made from Glass Reinforced Concrete (GRC) unitised panels and incorporates a range of features to enhance aesthetics, energy efficiency and comfort.

The building is on track to achieve a BREEAM Excellent rating for the sustainability of its shell and core, and is due to welcome its first intake of students in September 2027.

The inspiration for the façade’s horizontal and vertical masonry grid was the traditional wooden cases used to store printers’ letterpress type. The early decision to use GRC to create this proved highly successful from aesthetic, functional and sustainability perspectives. In total, we manufactured 15,700 sqm of unitised façade panels for the project and completed installation on-site within a year.

The project’s success is a testament to outstanding collaboration, including with architect Allies and Morrison and main contractor Multiplex. In the words of Michael Waters, Project Director for Multiplex: “To say the experience has been anything but enjoyable, fun, and hugely satisfying would be a wholly unfair statement. It’s hard for me to convey just how we feel about the design, manufacture and installation of the façade itself. It’s been an absolute privilege to work alongside your team.”

Congratulations to our team in Italy for its outstanding design, engineering, production and project management, and to colleagues in the UK for the façade’s expert installation.