Stoneflex Ltd - Help architects with a little retail therapy
Architects Ostick & Williams have used two types of rainscreen
cladding panels from Stoneflex Ltd to change the face of retailing
in Ireland
They specified lightweight Stoneflex panels with a natural stone
surface along with Smoothflex high-pressure laminate partly to
provide an aesthetic that would reflect both traditional and
contemporary materials for two retail parks - Letterkeny on Canal
Road, Donegal and at Boucher Road, Belfast.
Architect Jonathan McDonald of Ostick & Williams explained:
“Primarily, the local planners did not want to see a metal clad
building so we looked at the potential of a render finish and at
fibre cement panels but chose the Stoneflex Ltd products for their
cost effectiveness.”
At Letterkeny, some of the buildings had been finished with a
composite panel but were overclad with the Stoneflex Ltd
architectural products to improve their appearance and blend in with
the others, by sub-contractor Hynds Architectural Systems.
Stoneflex Ltd panels are specified to clad new-build traditional
build or steel- or timber-frame buildings or for over-cladding
existing buildings as part of refurbishment both in the private and
public sectors. They are lightweight and low-maintenance and are
dry-fixed quickly and easily – another reason why they were
specified by Ostick & Williams for the two retail parks.
“The combination of composite wall cladding panels with the visual
aesthetic of the Stoneflex Ltd panels fixed to the exterior provided
a fast construction method to achieve wind and water tightness to
allow works to commence on the internal areas of the buildings,
facilitating tight programme constraints,” said Jonathan McDonald.
Stoneflex panels are manufactured by a continuous process in which a
substrate of glass fibre and granulated stone chippings is built up,
resign impregnated and consolidated. Stone chippings are then resin
bonded to the outer surface and the panels oven cured. They are also
inorganic, chemical and rot proof, immune to attack by insects and
vermin and will not nourish mould growth. Under normal use and
exposure, they are warrantied not to chalk, discolour, crack or
incur unacceptable aggregate loss for 20 years.
Smoothflex panels are an external-grade, high-pressure laminate (HPL)
of high strength and durability that provides an optically flat
cladding in a choice of 17 colours, wood grain being specified by
Ostick & Williams (the Stoneflex panels in Indian ivory) for the two
Irish retail parks. Available with colour-matched or concealed
fixings, they are unaffected by extremes of climate or UV light and
have a minimum life expectancy of 40 years. Both the Stoneflex and
Smoothflex panels are fire rated to Class O.
Ostick & Williams had not specified Stoneflex Ltd panels previously
but said they “would be confident specifying them in the future”.
Email:
tracy@tlcpr.co.uk
Arundel Jones Associates Ltd
Hill Farm, Linton Hill, Maidstone, Kent ME17 4AL
Tel : 01622 745333
news@buildingdesign.co.uk
Registered in England and Wales No. 07334149
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