The Moeding Alphaton Façade System -
The commitment to quality

Over the last two decades countless projects have been undertaken and successfully completed in the full Moeding pallet of colours and size formats, a cross-section of which can be seen in the case study section.

These developments range from the small and intricate, to the largest of residential and commercial schemes. It is the enormous spectrum and diversity of application and design, which has led to the development of bespoke solutions, which have now found their way into common usage.

Every year we see the barriers moved forward in terms of colour, texture, quality and performance. One of the most exciting projects undertaken in recent years is the Andromeda Tower in Vienna. For this project Moeding Alphaton was used in a 120 metre high, unbroken façade.

Our objective is to achieve unparalleled quality and tighter tolerances than can be found elsewhere and our complete determination to these twin aims is at the core of our success.

Terracotta rainscreen systems generally rely on precision to achieve their optimum appearance and the two key criteria are, firstly to produce double skinned tiles, so as to minimise tile twist and distortion as well as achieving high impact resistance, and secondly, to incorporate horizontal rails, to which all tiles are fixed at four points.

We have found that relying on vertical rails only, to which the tile clips and the tiles themselves are fixed, does not produce the precision and consistency of horizontal joints that we are striving for. It is also the case that bringing the fixing points of the tiles inboard by one fifth, rather than fixing at tile end corners, is of significant benefit to the system as a whole.

We believe the Moeding Alphaton tile tolerances are second to none. A tolerance of ± 1mm in tile length can be achieved, which is critical to vertical joint alignment.

Quality control checks occur at all stages of production and are extremely stringent. Experienced operatives are at the core of this process, however, in addition to this, laser measuring and scanning equipment is utilised to provide rejection criteria that is too fine for the human eye.

All tiles are blended for colour off-site, so as to obviate any pallet-to-pallet on site mixing which helps ensure continuity of colour and colour distribution throughout the elevations.

Although a 20-year track record underpins the use of our terracotta system, testing and strict quality controls are absolute prerequisites.

Alongside the normal and regular testing for durability, strength and absorbency of the tiles themselves, extensive testing has been carried out as detailed below.

All tiles are fully compliant with DIN 456 Table 2 and the full system has been independently tested in accordance with BS 8200:1985 and MOAT 43:1987.

No elements of the system are combustible and when tested, no movement was found in a fire of up to 90 minutes duration and to a temperature of 650^oC. The Institute for Technical Fire Protection and Safety Research Ltd in Austria, tested the system specifically for the Andromeda Tower, Vienna, project, and the result was found to be satisfactory.