RMJM’s vision for the new Scottish Parliament Building included a bamboo frieze and the Cannongate Wall, a work of art in concrete, depicting the skyline of Edinburgh inset with natural stone, sourced from buildings cleared from the site.
From the outset, the detailed moulding requirements obliged us to consider a totally new approach. And from the earliest site meetings, fresh challenges arose, including six metre high columns with cast in steel plates which needed to be set to millimetre accuracy.
In response, we invested in our first CNC router which allowed us to produce intricate master moulds, from the architect’s 3d data. Into these we cast flexible rubber liners with contoured reliefs, recessed for both post-fixed and cast-in natural stone tablets.
