Birmingham City University

The UK’s leading manufacturer of door and window control technology, GEZE UK, is ready for its close up with its latest project.

At the heart of Birmingham’s regenerated Eastside district, Birmingham City University has opened the Parkside Building, a stunning new addition to the city centre campus.  It provides teaching and learning space for media and design students including a state-of-the-art television centre.  GEZE UK has provided the automatic doors on the main entrance lobby for this prestigious development.

The Slimdrive SL automatic sliding doors were chosen for the entrance lobby primarily because the very low profile height of 7cm enables almost invisible integration into the facade.  The overall effect is one of maximum light and space in the impressive atrium while creating a lobby area that minimises heat loss – essential for the building to meet its low energy targets.

The building is the new home to the Birmingham Institute of Art & Design and the faculty of Performance, Media and English, and with so many visitors each day, the products chosen had to meet the highest safety standards.  As part of GEZE’s unique Slimdrive range the Slimdrive SL has been designed and tested to meet the requirements of all relevant standards and regulations, including Building Bulletin 93, Approved Documents B and M, as well as assisting with the vigorous demands of the Equality Act.

GEZE’s products also feature elsewhere in the building, as architectural ironmonger Eisenware specified GEZE door closers throughout.  The large acoustic doors to the television studios are fitted with TS 5000 overhead door closers.  This heavy duty closer is ideal for big and heavy doors, while the satin stainless steel finish ensures an elegant finish.

The TS 2000 V door closer was chosen as a highly efficient, cost effective solution for internal doors throughout the building.  It is also finished in satin stainless steel, ensuring design consistency throughout the building.

Eisenware Sales Director, Paul Martin, commented: “In today’s competitive market we strongly believe in offering a client the quality the building deserves, it is what sets us apart from the majority of our competitors. We were pleased to choose GEZE as our door control partner to complement our chosen d line products and give the design the characteristics this modern and fresh building requires. Associated Architects appreciate both the design and performance of the products chosen for their buildings, as do the team at contractor Willmott Dixon, who demand quality specifications. The products for the internal doors needed to be highly functional, easy to install and very durable, and we have all those things in the GEZE closer products we chose.”

GEZE UK’s Managing Director Kaz Spiewakowski commented: “This building houses some very impressive facilities for the city’s students.  In this high tech multi-media environment, our products are providing the right combination of performance, safety and design.”