Roof
tiles and materials
When an ambitious village
cricket club in Leicestershire wanted a ground to
match Grace Road and their clubhouse built in
double-quick time, the architects were not stumped
for fast-track building materials.
RG+P architects specified Decra’s steel Stratos
tiles for a multitude of reasons, not least the fact
they would stand up to the occasional “six” bouncing
off the roof, then sub-contractors Jarvis Roofing
installed 2,000 of them on a complex, curved roof in
two thirds of the time of more conventional tiles.
The new clubhouse became necessary when Kibworth
Cricket Club sold to developers the site in Kibworth
Beauchamp which had been its home for more than 100
years and moved to a three-acre farmer’s field next
door.
RG+P architects were commissioned to design the
ground and over the next two years two pitches were
cultivated, seeded and nurtured. No such growing
period was available for the clubhouse however –
this had to be ready for the next season.
The £1.2million building was constructed with a
steel frame, timber trussed roof, cavity brickwork
on three sides and a glazed front façade in just
seven months. The ground floor houses a large
plant/equipment room, second bar, toilets and
treatment room while the first floor features the
function suite, four changing rooms, president’s and
treatment rooms.
The main clubhouse is complemented by a smaller,
timber-framed clubhouse on the second pitch that is
also roofed in Decra’s Stratos tile whose charcoal
colour resembles slate … but at a fraction of the
weight.
The brief to RG+P was to create the best cricket
facilities in Leicestershire outside of Grace Road.
This meant efficient changing and catering
facilities for two teams as well as the junior and
senior teams.
RG+P’s managing director Bill Smedley said: “We
worked with the club’s development sub committee and
came up with a variety of designs and sites but
eventually we all agreed on the first scheme which
was to provide as much accommodation on the first
floor as possible. Everyone wanted to be able to see
the cricket.”
The materials had to be robust, low-maintenance,
quick to install, and where the roof was concerned
light, so as much space as possible could be
utilised underneath it.
Bill Smedley added: “One of the advantages of the
Decra tiles is that they won’t break if a cricket
balls hits them. It will just bounce off. If we had
wanted to use concrete or slate tiles we would have
had to replace them.
“The Decra tiles are also lightweight which enabled
cost savings as we could have a single span across
the function room to give us flexibility of design
on the first floor. They allowed us to make the
building look a lot larger than it actually is. The
colours also suit the completed scheme. From a
distance it looks like a slate roof. “
He added: “The Decra tiles got the job completed
about 30% quicker than conventional tiles.”
The 30-metre-long by eight-metre-wide building
features an 88m radius that follows the line of the
boundary rope so that all the spectators within have
the same field of vision of the pitch and it was on
the hallowed ground that Jarvis Roofing, who have
installed Decra tiles for 20 years but never before
on a curved roof, laid out the tiles to check the
curve could be met.
General manager Barry Jarvis said: “It was certainly
a different project for us but once we got our heads
round it, it was relatively easy. Because the curve
was gradual it made it easier. Once it was set out
the tiling was the easy bit.”
Email:
tracy@tlcpr.co.uk
|
Editor's Note: DECRA provide:-
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
DECRA - VILLAGE MARKS A CENTURY OF CRICKET WITH A NEW DECRA ROOF
Arundel Jones Associates Ltd News Categories : Roof tiles and materials |