Marley Eternit fibre cement slates chosen for high spec care home
A state-of-the-art care facility for elderly people has recently opened in Croydon, with fibre cement slates supplied by Marley Eternit. These help the roof to achieve a modern slate effect while keeping costs within budget.
Designed by Capita Architecture, Addington Heights Resource Centre, one of Croydon’s brand new facilities for elderly people, was formally opened on October 1 2010. The centre provides a 50-bed residential home, a 24-place day centre and a 12-place specialist daycare unit providing essential facilities for older physically frail people living in the local community.
Arshad Moghal, project architect at Capita Architecture, said: “This centre is part of the London Borough of Croydon’s ‘Homes for the Future (New4Old)’ initiative - a programme to modernise residential and day care services for older people in Croydon. The project is intended to transform care for older, vulnerable people in Croydon by replacing dated and inadequate residential buildings with modern facilities conforming to the highest standards.”
Work on the site of a former Addington Heights residential home began in October 2008 and was completed in May 2010 with residents coming in a month later.
Moghal continued: “The building ranges between two and three storeys in height dependent on location. The roof was finished with 1079m2 of Marley Eternit’s Rivendale Fibre Cement Slates which helped us to achieve our ambition of a natural slate look within a set budget. We frequently specify these particular fibre cement slates because they’re simple to handle, lightweight, eco-friendly and very easy to cut on site.”
Charlotte Hughes, campaign manager at Marley Eternit, commented: “The wide ranging performance and aesthetic requirements for healthcare buildings are easily met by Marley Eternit fibre cement slates which create durable, low maintenance roofing solutions.
“With a finely detailed surface and dressed edges, the Rivendale reproduces the attractive appearance of natural slate, but without the environmental consequences of using a natural product that is energy intensive and damaging to the landscape.
“The Rivendale is lightweight and offers strength and a durable performance, whilst also delivering an economic, authentic and easily installed alternative to a natural roofing material such as slate. In addition, all Marley Eternit’s fibre cement slates are manufactured in the UK and are the only slate product of its kind that can achieve an A+ rating, for the lowest environmental impact, as defined in the Building Research Establishments Green Guide to Specification.”
The roofing contractor on the project was Russell & Russell Roofing while the main contractor was Osborne Construction.