As retailers re-open and shoppers return to the high street, malls and retail parks, the importance of combining practicality with decorative design is still important to ensure the shopping experience is enhanced.
Decorative casings, such as column casings and building linings, are a fundamental part of retail design and in addition to providing a practical method of concealing interior and exterior structural steelwork, they also add to a building’s aesthetics.
For almost 15 years, Encasement has been manufacturing and supplying column casing and building lining solutions to a diverse range of retailers covering the grocery sector, homeware, clothing, furniture stores, restaurants and automotive dealerships.
The company’s range provides architects, specifiers and designers with a wide choice of materials and finishes, as well as bespoke shapes and dimensions, so it should be no surprise that their products are used by many well-known brands. These include, Halfords, Porsche, Tesco, ASDA, Oak Furnitureland, Kia Motors and Greggs, as well as major retail parks and shopping centres across the UK.
Encasement’s Circa and Quadra column casings ranges are manufactured from pre-formed plywood, while Forma casing are fabricated from metal. Both Polyma and Gypra casings are produced from moulds in glass reinforced plastic (GRP) and glass reinforced gypsum (GRG) respectively.
Circa and Quadra allow circular, square and rectangular profiles to be specified while also providing a wide range of finish options with the most popular being decorative laminates. These have very good resistance to damage, scuffs and scratches, making them ideal for high traffic retail environments. They also offer specifiers a diverse palette of finishes including plain colours, wood grains and metallics, as well as textured and real wood veneers.
While all Encasements column casings can be used for building interiors, the Polyma and Forma ranges are also widely used for exterior retail projects, due to their inherent weather resistance and durability.
Available in aluminium or stainless steel, Forma offers a diverse range of options and can be specified in circular, square, rectangular or hexagonal forms, as well as unique bespoke shapes. A wide choice of finishes is available including polyester powder coating (PPC) coating in any RAL colour, as well as brushed, anodised, embossed or textured finishes such as Rimex.
Strength, durability and colour choice are also features of the Polyma GRP range. As they are produced from moulds, a high degree of design flexibility is possible with shape; size and colour options all open to specification to meet bespoke project requirements.
Alongside Encasement’s column casings, its ‘Vecta’ building linings system provides a high quality solution for interior wall linings, bulkheads and reveals and are regularly specified for supermarkets, automotive retail, restaurant and food brands including Tesco, Prêt a Manger, Mini and Greggs.
By offering six different column casing ranges and Vecta decorative building linings, specifiers are able to source a range of specialised interior finish products from a single company, supported by high levels of experience in this sector. The company also offers a full supply and install service to support contractors.