“ILEX Capital’s London HQ is a showcase of all the benefits of modern, dynamic shading”
KENSINGTON, London – world famous for its bustling high street, home to luxury department stores, high-end homes and commercial real estate. Investment firm ILEX Capital chose the brand-new Kensington Building as the new home for their investment operations.
Smart shading with a view for expansion.
The brand-new luxury office development, located above Kensington tube station, required a fit-out to meet the needs of ILEX Capital. Paramount interiors headed up this ambitious project, combining the very best of British interior design and manufacturing.
Paramount appointed Chris Newth of Specialist Shading LTD in Farnborough to specify a shading solution that satisfied a list of criteria:
- Privacy at the touch of a button in any given zone.
- It needed to effectively reduce heat gain and solar glare.
- The blinds must also allow the building occupants to see out toward the stunning views of buildings surrounding the office.
- The client requested automated blind control, with wall switches in each of the 11 zones for local control.
- The system must also be future proof, with the ability to easily add or remove individual blinds as needed.
As well as this, the blinds had to aesthetically integrate with the neutral, bright yet earthy tones throughout the space. The interior comes alive with soft glowing COB lighting, modern stone-effects, and pale wood flooring. The office has a natural design palette in sync with ILEX’s tree logo. The window treatments, therefore, had to serve as testament to calming, natural design.
Umbra & Project Blinds
Chris from Project Blinds appointed Umbra as his manufacturer of choice for this grand project. Chris has worked with Umbra on shading projects for several years.
“I chose Umbra because I know the product is tried and tested. The design is sleek, the support is good, and I knew they’d deliver on both mine and the customer’s expectations” he explained.
He not only chose Umbra for their ability to produce high quality bespoke blinds, but also because he knew they’d have his back when it comes to working on the project planning, design and execution. With over 45 years in the shading industry as both installers and manufacturers, Umbra have developed a reputation for helping their clients with the finer details and implementing the overall shading solution. This approach to assisting their clients can often prove to be an invaluable timesaver for many of their customers.
Collaborative approach, collective success.
Harry from Umbra worked with Chris to develop a unique solution that met all the client’s needs. After several consultations, both over the phone and in person, Harry came up with the perfect solution:
- 20x Evolve Cassette 100 blinds with custom powder-coated hardware to match the façade colour.
- 3m wide sunscreen fabric to accommodate the large window sizes. Spectrum 5010 3% to allow effective glare control without significantly compromising the view out.
- Umbra Strata digital motors and control system, integrated with KNX switches and weather station.
- A KNX switch option to give the client a wide range of switch finishes to choose from with many ways to customise the functionality.
- Thanks to the digital motors any future adjustments will be easy – no re-wiring needed, just re-configuring from a laptop.
- If the client wants to add more zones, they can easily add more switches into the KNX ring.
With the production of the blinds taking place at Umbra’s Swansea HQ, Chris was happy in the knowledge that he was supporting British manufacturing. The relatively local production also meant significant reductions in C02 emissions compared to overseas options.
Delivering above expectations
Project Blinds got to work with installing the cassettes and 3m wide roller blinds. The team were impressed with the high-quality finish of the product.
“The hardware colour matched the façade perfectly. So much so, the client asked when the blinds were going to be fitted, only to then realise they’d already been installed.” said Chris.
Harry from Umbra added “We sometimes think automated blinds and KNX are only for large-scale fully integrated projects, but this fitout is a great example where using KNX to control only the blinds gave the customer everything they needed including the future proofing that is essential in a modern working environment.”.
Umbra are not just manufacturers of quality window treatments; they’re an advocate and partner for their clients. They can help to develop truly impactful smart shading solutions for projects of any size, from 1 window to 11,000.
Many of Umbra’s trade customers are small businesses who may not have the expertise within their own team to iron out all the technical details of smart shading projects. This is where Umbra’s help proves invaluable for many of their customers, ensuring a stress-free project and a happy end client.
Got a project for Umbra? Contact us here or call 01792 562015
