The Engine Room, Battersea Power Station

Forming part of the award-winning redevelopment at Battersea Power Station, the Engine Room is home to a luxurious co-working space split across two levels.

With an art-deco inspired interior, The Engine Room contains a small coffee shop area, high-end hybrid workspaces, meeting rooms, individual offices, collaborative spaces and a members lounge.

The Requirement

Interior fit out specialists DB Joinery Limited contacted us to design, manufacture and install two 6.6m drop motorised wave curtains to surround the central co-working area, and nine smaller manual wave curtains for the meeting rooms and individual offices.

The finished install needed to suit the art-deco interior, with the 6.6m drop wave curtains adding a sense of drama and intrigue to the area.

The Solution

Though the initial requirement above sounds straightforward, there was an incredible level of technical detail to follow to ensure the project was a success.

Firstly, the fixing detail. Working at a height of 7.5m, our team used a combination of alternating V and vertical hangers to fix the suspended Silent Gliss 5600 motorised curtain track.

The support structure was integral to the design and visual of the track, and the setting out of this had to be very carefully coordinated with the architect, bs;bp, to ensure the aesthetics of the space were not compromised.

Furthermore, to accommodate for the weight of the curtain and height of the installation, all angles on the drop rods required precise laser-measurement and accurate spacing.

The fixing also required a great deal of coordination with M&E to ensure the fixing did not interfere with the surrounding services.

Another challenging aspect of the project was the manufacture of the curtains themselves. As they were to be installed in a busy co-working space, an opening in the curtains were required to allow workers to pass through easily and safely while the curtains were drawn.

Our curtain manufacturing facility cut the opening at a height of 2.5m, using a contrasting colour of the Kvadrat fabric, to ensure the opening was clearly visible.

Ensuring this was aligned with the walkway of the co-working space required a meticulous eye for detail, and our team worked incredibly closely with bs;bp on this design.

To avoid the curtains interfering with the space when not in use, the curtain hook space also required precise measurements to meet the exact stack size.

Kvadrat’s Dawn 2 proved to be the ideal fabric choice for the height of the curtains, which were perfectly dressed by our installation team upon completion.

Both motorised curtains are operated via radio hand controls, with manual override as an option in the event of a power failure.

Silent Gliss’ smart fix brackets were used to face fix the 6870 curtain tracks for the meeting room curtains, to complement the décor of these spaces.

The Outcome

While The Engine Room project was arguably one of the most technically challenging projects of 2023, it demonstrated the importance of working closely with the architect and M&E throughout to ensure a smooth delivery.

If you’d like to discuss specifying curtains or blinds for your projects, please contact us here and our expert team will be in touch.