Powdertech Corby has been coating 1950s-style steel window frames for the iconic Grade ll listed BBC Television Centre building at White City, which has been reopened as a housing, leisure and office development, with four BBC studios remaining at the site.

The converted properties are within the original ‘question-mark’ shaped building, the façade of which retains its original appearance and style. The new window frames use the original 1950s design but with a thermal-break in order to comply with today’s regulations. The frames are a Schueco-Jansen Slimline Heritage profile system fabricated from stock lengths of thermally broken pre-galvanized steel.

Powdertech Corby bead-blasted the frames with aluminium oxide in order to key the zinc, followed by primer coating with AkzoNobel PZ790. “This epoxy zinc-rich primer replaces the lost zinc in the welded areas ‘explained Richard Besant, Director, Powdertech Corby, “When the sections are cut and welded to make the frames, small areas of the protective galvanizing zinc are burnt away leaving the underlying metal vulnerable and this must be repaired as part of the coating process.”

Powdertech applied a high-performance powder, AkzoNobel RAL8022 matt, Qualicoat class 2, as a top coat, a high-performance system which will help to keep the façade free from corrosion for up to 15 years.