This ambitious ‘Building Schools for the Future’ project combines six learning centres on a single site, including a nursery, primary school, secondary school, centre for students with learning disabilities, student support centre and a vocational college.
Marley Eternit’s Textura fibre cement cladding material was specified throughout the development because the designers were looking for a long lasting, low maintenance decorative rainscreen facade.
The highly glazed surface on Textura contains small glass beads that allows rainwater to ‘pearl’ across the face of the sheet, reducing the possibility of staining. This was an important consideration as the school was looking for a facade that retained its long term visual appeal.
Marley Eternit’s fibre cement Textura range is available in 15 standard colours and can be produced in a wide range of RAL colours. Three shades of Textura were specified on the Bridge Learning Campus, with Royal Blue for the administration block and two shades of yellow for the learning blocks.
The Textura Panels were fabricated by FGF of Bristol and installed by Sterling Cladding, based in Bromsgrove. Wilkinson Eyre, one of the UK’s leading architectural practices, designed the building.
Chris Donoghue, Associate, Wilkinson Eyre Architects, explains: “The Textura panels offered us the ideal solution for this project, they are visually stunning whilst low maintenance. We had used the panels on other projects and therefore had no hesitation in specifying them at the Bridge Learning Campus.”
Diana Bullock, Campaign Manager - Cladding & Profiled Sheeting at Marley Eternit, explains: “The new school looks stunning and we are confident that our Textura cladding will ensure it retains its visual appeal as well as providing a hardwearing and long lasting facade.”