Regency Park, a brownfield regeneration project, has used a combination of Textura cladding, Cedral Weatherboard and Bluclad building boards to create a complete facade solution.
The development consists of five apartment blocks and 57 semi-detached homes along with a community centre and 72 affordable units. The project is due for completion in 2010.
The site of the development is the former Wartling Road coach and lorry park, which was sold to George Wimpey by Eastbourne Borough Council, as part of a design and build project. Clague architects of Canterbury created the stylish design of the buildings using Marley Eternit's light-weight fibre cement cladding and building boards.
The apartments used a combination of grey Textura decorative rainscreen cladding, along with light and dark oak woodstained Cedral Weatherboard, on feature walls. These elements were then accentuated by the use of light-coloured render, which used Bluclad building boards as the substrate.
Textura combines an appealing textured surface finish with toughness in one fully compressed fibre cement cladding panel. Its surface contains small glass beads that allow rainwater to ‘pearl’ across the face of the sheet, reducing the possibility of staining. Textura is supplied in a range of standard shades, as well as any factory-approved RAL colour.
Bluclad, which is a Class O building board with outstanding dimensional stability, was used as a substrate on the rendered elements because it created a moisture, frost, mould and impact resistant system. Use of Bluclad optimises the performance and life expectancy of rendered systems as well as reducing maintenance.
The houses at Regency Park were fitted with Marley Eternit’s horizontal Cedral Weatherboard in a mixture of white or black to create a timber-like traditional look to the homes that respected their seaside location. Marley Eternit’s Cedral Weatherboard, which has the visual appearance of natural timber, is a low maintenance and rot-free alternative to wood.
Paul Hawkins, Project Manager at Taylor Wimpey, said: “We were impressed that Marley Eternit’s range of fibre cement products offered a solution for all the different facade requirements on this project. Initial feedback from prospective homebuyers has been extremely positive and we are sure that it will provide a long term low maintenance solution on these properties. ”
Taylor Wimpey had used Marley Eternit’s fibre cement cladding and building boards on other residential and commercial projects and therefore knew that it could be installed easily with stunning results.