Project Description

Modern cladding update for remodeled school

Belfairs Academy in Leigh-on-Sea aims to deliver a ‘culture of excellence’ in education, and is passionate about making a difference to the lives of their students, ensuring that they have every opportunity to succeed by identifying and nurturing each one’s individual talents from Year 7 through to Year 13.

Originally opened in 1955, the school was rebuilt in July 2009 under the government’s ‘Building Schools for the Future’ scheme. The school is now undergoing another large-scale refurbishment to remodel parts of the existing building and construct a new three-storey general teaching block which will provide an improved and extended gymnasium and weights areas, ancillary storage and general teaching rooms. Eden Facades were working with main contractor Borras Construction Ltd and multi-disciplinary property consultants Barker Associates to complete a cladding project for one of the extensions.

The extension which Eden Facades were working on was adjacent to an existing building. The school wanted to ensure that the new building would blend with the aesthetics of the older building. Over the years, the metallic finish on the older building had weathered, and taken on a very distinctive colour. The challenge here was to find a product that could mimic this weathered look whilst still allowing for the benefits of installing a modern cladding system.

Eden Facades recommended that the main contractor should engage with Kingspan, as their range of different cladding solutions is wide and varied, with a vast colour choice. With aluminium as a base, the cladding can be coated with any RAL or BS colour in order to give the appearance of other metals. Their Hook-On Cassette façade cladding is also easily serviceable. Following discussions between the main contractor and architects, Kingspan recommended that the best and most cost-effective way to achieve a secure and watertight finish while still giving the desired aged effect would be to use Kingspan Benchmark cassette cladding and powder coat it twice to achieve the colour.

Lucy Whalley, Head of Marketing for Kingspan, commented, “We have worked with Eden Facades for a number of years now and it is a pleasure working with a contractor who understands and values our projects almost as much as we do. Their innovative and can-do attitude really do our products justice.”

The final finish which was achieved was a perfect match for the original building thus bringing the extension perfectly in line with the overall aesthetic of the school.

Elizabeth Humphries, Associate Partner, Architect at Barker Associates commented “This is the first project we have worked with Eden Facades on and we have found their quality of work and attention to detail to be second to none. We would be happy to work with them again on future projects”.

And in addition, Bev Williams Principal & CEO of Legra Academy Trust, had some kind words of her own, “We have received many positive comments from all who have seen the work undertaken by Eden Facades. They are a great company to work with, utterly professional with high expectations of standards. I would recommend them to any company who want this kind of work.”

So all in all, we’re happy that we’ve done a job that has met the high standards of everyone involved in this project.