HIMACS lights up a Retail Park´s façade in Edinburgh

Leonard Design Architects have been involved in a major upgrade for Fort Kinnaird´s Retail Park in Edinburgh by creating a dramatic backlit façade made of Solid Surface HIMACS. 

The international firm of architects and interior designers were commissioned by British Land to undertake the project which has seen the 200,000 sqft site turned into a thriving mixed-use retail and leisure-led destination.

All of the current frontages have been replaced with high quality, visually appealing HIMACS. The versatile material was backlit with LEDs, enabling the buildings to have a different appearance at night and making them stand out from the adjoining units.

Following this, further rationalisation of the car parking and provision of a new 1000 space MSCP will free up additional development opportunities. This will bring a more diverse range of high street retailers, café’s, restaurants and leisure facilities arranged around a series of high quality, enticing public spaces. 

Offering almost infinite design possibilities, HIMACS is the perfect material for exterior cladding and boasts a long list of features and benefits, including three-dimensional thermoplastic forming capabilities and an extensive range of colours. It was particularly selected for this project due to its excellent resistance to weathering and dramatic translucency.

Supplied by UK distributor James Latham, the cladding for the impressive facades was fabricated by Glasgow based specialist, Independent Furniture and Interiors using HIMACS 12mm translucent Opal and Solid Diamond White sheets.

Emma English, HIMACS Specification Manager for James Latham who worked on the project, commented, “Leonard Design have done an amazing job here. It’s a really impressive project, which shows just what can be done. These shops now have high quality, visually appealing frontages and we are delighted to see the significant and dramatic impact that HIMACS solid surface has added to the cladding element.”