Shackerley’s Sureclad® ceramic granite cladding system has brought a cohesive appearance to a visionary development scheme comprising two very different award winning buildings on the banks of the River Thames in Kingston.
An attractive combination of ceramic granite facade panels, manufactured to give the appearance of natural oak and limestone, has been used to clad the exteriors of Kingston Riverside luxury apartment complex and Kingston Heights, a mixed-use development incorporating a hotel, private apartments and affordable homes.
The cladding was specified by NHP Leisure Developments who acquired the site fifteen years ago and drew up the detailed plans for the scheme with Paul Brooke Architects, securing planning permission from Royal Borough of Kingston Council in 2008.
Redrow London subsequently purchased the Kingston Riverside development and the complex of 210 luxury apartments was completed for its new owner and their scheme architects, Broadway Malayan, by main contractor Midgard and their project architects, Sprunt.
Kingston Riverside features two blocks of 11 and 15 storeys connected by a six-storey link block. These ‘towers’, with spacious private terraces stepping back from the river, are framed by curved ribs that give the development a contemporary maritime style which is consolidated by Shackerley’s ‘wood-look’ ceramic granite. The building earned Redrow London the 2014 WhatHouse? Silver Award for ‘Best exterior design’, and was ‘Highly Commended’ in the ‘Best design of four storeys or more’ category at the 2014 Housebuilder Awards and the ‘Residential High-Rise Development’ category at the 2013/14 UK Property Awards.
Kingston Heights was constructed for NHP by main contractor United House and includes a 142-bedroom hotel, 81 private apartments (pre-sold to Redrow London) and 56 affordable homes (managed by Affinity Sutton). The development incorporates a ground breaking district heating scheme abstracting solar energy stored naturally in the River Thames and has won numerous environmental awards.
Whilst architectural plans have changed over the years, NHP’s ceramic granite cladding specification has remained constant. “We were looking for premium quality cladding that conformed to a very precise colour palette and resembled natural oak and limestone,” says NHP MD Mike Spenser-Morris. “Shackerley’s Sureclad® façade system provided exactly what we were looking for. Unlike timber and stone, ceramic granite has almost zero porosity and is totally resistant to all climatic extremes, UV light and airborne pollution so our stunning façades will never weather, fade or rot.”
“We are confident that we have specified a superb low-maintenance cladding solution for this outstanding development scheme that will stand the test of time and look just as good in fifteen to twenty years as it does today.”
For further information on Shackerley’s extensive range of Sureclad® ceramic granite ventilated cladding systems, please call the technical team on 0800 783 0391 or visit www.shackerley.com