James and Taylor's Senses Aluminium cladding installed at Jamie Oliver's Italian restaurant
(12/01/2010)

Jamie Oliver’s Italian is one of three units in the Churchill Place development along with Barclays and another Restaurant tenant called Rocket. The exterior of Jamie Oliver’s first independent restaurant in Canary Wharf has been completed with a stylish agenda-setting exterior courtesy of cladding specialist James & Taylor.

Jamie’s Italian is the blueprint for what the celebrity chef hopes will be a chain up and down the country. Oliver will also be opening restaurants in Oxford, Bath, Kingston, Brighton, Guilford and Cardiff.

James & Taylor’s Senses Aluminium cladding, chosen after consultation with architects Adamson Associates, has been set out around the restaurant’s bold curving frontage. The tiling has also been used on the exit doors in order to keep the line of the building clean and intact

In total 270m2 of faceted Senses Aluminium tiling has been installed on vertical T rails resulting in a cost- effective means of providing such a high quality facade.

Architect Michael Gore from Adamson Associates comments: ‘The Senses system offered a number of advantages to the project. As the panels are formed of extruded sections they offered certainty over a crisp, clean appearance that we could not achieve using alternative metal panel systems. The panels are also inherently strong but at the same time light enough to manhandle making them quick and easy to install further reducing the uncertainty and variability of site.’

Jeff Gibson of James & Taylor comments: “This is a particularly interesting project for James & Taylor. Aside from being a high profile restaurant in Canary Wharf, it also represents something of a first for us; Senses tiles arranged around a curve to produce a really striking facade. Jamie’s Italian is an informal restaurant with a relaxing environment. We hope that the initial impression created by our materials adds to what I'm sure will be a wonderful eating experience.”