Construction Screens for Excelsior Castlefield, Manchester

Construction Screens

Key Facts

• Client: GMI Construction Group PLC
• Project: Excelsior Castlefield, The Old Excelsior Mill, Hulme Hall Road, Manchester
• Scope: 8 levels screened, L0 + L1–L8, approximately 3,143m² total
• Location: Manchester
• Material: Rhino 280 micron fire-retardant film, EN13501
• Branded material: Rhino 300 micron fire-retardant film, EN13501, custom printed with client branding, 3 rolls priced

The Problem

Excelsior Castlefield, a residential development for GMI Construction Group, needed screening across eight levels of individual concrete frames as the building rose ground floor plus seven upper levels, each with its own set of elevations to close off, completed roughly a level a week, weather dependent.

Elevation coverage varied level by level: six elevations at ground floor, rising to eight elevations plus part of the hoist area from Level 1 upward.

Beyond weather and fire protection, the specification called for a fixing method that could be installed and struck cleanly on a rolling programme one full level per site visit without leaving gaps at the junction between the screen and the slab edge, a detail that's harder to close consistently than the main screened bay.

The Solution

Rhino Shrink Wrap specified 280 micron fire-retardant film, certified to EN13501, screened bay by bay across each elevation, fixed to a timber batten frame run around each bay the same picture-frame principle used to carry the film cleanly across a repeat, level-by-level programme, with access towers supplied for the work.

A 1m wide skirt was specified under the batten to close the gap where it oversailed the slab edge between columns a detail worth specifying accurately rather than overselling: closing this gap consistently across every column line on a live frame isn't guaranteed at 100%, and the specification was written to reflect that.

Three rolls of 300 micron fire-retardant film, custom printed with GMI Construction Group's branding, were also specified for the development printed panels 50m long by 3m high, produced to the same fire-retardant standard as the functional screening, with exact floor placement confirmed against high-resolution artwork ahead of each print run.

The Result

Across the eight levels, approximately 3,143m² of fire-retardant film was specified for the project, fixed via roughly 3,830 linear metres of timber batten.

The result was a screening system built for a repeatable, level-by-level programme consistent fixing method, defined access equipment, and a specification that named its own limits at the slab-edge detail rather than glossing over them.

Need Fire-Retardant Construction Screens?

For guidance on specifying fire-retardant screening for a phased, multi-level build, talk to the Rhino team.