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UK diecaster completes innovative lightweight casting

Known for its automotive solutions, the largest aluminium pressure diecasting manufacturer in the UK, JVM Castings, has recently completed a new lightweight casting for the building market.

Located at the gateway to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, International Quarter London (IQL) is a new project that will deliver over four million square feet of Grade ‘A’ office accommodation, including 333 new residential units and associated community facilities within a 22-hectare site.
JVM Castings was commissioned to supply several structural spurs that are a key architectural element of the formed ventilation and lighting beam carriers of the project for TROX UK, a heating ventilation and air con (HVAC) and building services solutions provider. 
Working with designers at architectural company Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, TROX UK, developed an innovative multi-service chilled beam to meet the HVAC requirements of the office space and support their vision of a vibrant working environment. 
JVM’s brief was to design an aluminium pressure diecasting of 1.5m in length with a tight visual surface finish that could not weigh more than 2kg. They were also tasked with manufacturing tooling for a 2,000 tonne diecasting machine, supplying production parts and delivering a lower total cost solution than sand and gravity casting processes - all within 16 weeks.
In conjunction with a partner toolmaker, JVM was able to design and manufacture the tooling with two weeks to spare, thus satisfying the tight programme timing demands.
The aluminium high-pressure diecasting offers a more superior finish than gravity and sand diecasting processes, exceeding TROX UK’s requirements as well as those of their architect customers. The pressure diecast process also eliminated the cost of the finishing operation that both the gravity and sand processes would have needed to achieve the aesthetic requirements of the part. 
Bob Freeman, group sales manager at JVM, said: “We’re exceptionally proud of our work, especially as it takes us outside our traditional automotive market and into exciting new building markets. For this project, we were able to produce the parts required to our customer’s deadline in May, giving us a total lead time of just 16 weeks.”
TROX UK’s chief design engineer, Martyn Mills, said: “I am delighted with the solution that JVM has provided. As well as its structural characteristics the casting is an integral part of the MSCB [multi service chilled beams] aesthetic. JVM has been responsive and innovative in approaching the challenge set by this new MSCB and we are all thrilled to see the final product incorporated at the IQL”. 
IQL is a joint venture between Lend Lease and London & Continental Railways.

www.jvmcastings.com