New Bronze Canopy for Richmond Station
The Unveiling
As you will see from our website, ZAC don’t only take on projects to create canopies, verandas and porches, they also take on projects to create bespoke designs. This blog highlights one of these projects and also shows that we have expertise in working with bronze as well as zinc and copper.
As part of an ongoing project to restore Richmond Station, ZAC were commissioned to manufacture an Art Deco entrance canopy. This was to span the whole entrance way of the front of the station and was approximately 1.5 meters deep and 15 meters wide, covering all three sets of doors. This was to be a very technically challenging project; however, the manufacturing team were unfazed by the task.
The unveiling of the bronze canopy shows only a small amount of work that went into this magnificent canopy.
Behind the bronze façade is a curved internal stainless-steel gutter. Each section of the gutter was made by hand, curving and soldering all the joints to ensure watertightness. We also manufactured purpose made brackets to support the new canopy facade.
A steel subframe was then manufactured to give the canopy extra strength and to form the overall shape of the canopy itself. The bronze façade was then manufactured in sections to encompass the radius and the hand-formed extrusions were installed, which of course needed to be welded together. This was no easy feat as, by nature, the bronze wants to distort with the heat. It takes years of practice to master these skills.
The frame for the glass was also manufactured in bronze to receive the new Art Deco glass signage. The welds were meticulously ground and polished to give a perfect seamless finish.
Once the canopy was installed, the new glass signage could be inserted into the frame, the green glass and bronze look stunning together. The stylish Art Deco theme continued on the underside with the curved bronze downlighters, the attention to detail is extraordinary even down to the bronze down pipe.
The unveiling was on Friday 14th March and the staff and management from ZAC were invited. Some of the team can be seen above excitedly waiting for the unveiling of their work alongside some of the project team from Southwest Rail.
A number of information boards were manufactured to help explain the restoration process.
ZAC were privileged to be involved in this heritage project that has reinstated this Art Deco station to its former glory. I must personally also thank ZAC’s manufacturing team for all their hard work creating this iconic bronze canopy, I am sure it will give the residents and visitors much pleasure for many years to come.
