FIBRE cement panels in three colours of grey allowed the architect for an education complex to emulate the appearance of stone or slate bands.
Marley Eternit’s Natura product was specified by architect Sheppard Robson to clad the new £35m BREEAM ‘Very Good’ St Catherine’s Academy and Firwood High School in Bolton. This appearance was further enhanced by fixing the panels in a vertical configuration. The through-coloured material allows the texture of the fibres to show.
Jonathan Davis of Sheppard Robson explained: “We specified a Marley Eternit fibre cement facade to represent externally the interconnected blocks of the building. By using three different Grey colours of Natura, with a random arrangement, we were able to emulate the appearance of stone or slate bands and create the degree of articulation that we required.”
The material’s qualities include fire classifications A2-s1, d0 to EN 13501-1, durability, strength and an installed life expectancy of at least 50 years.
The building has been designed as a ‘super school’ to accommodate the amalgamation of an all-age academy with 1,160 students and a co-located special educational needs facility.
Natura panels are secret fixed to Marley Eternit’s aluminium frame system using structural adhesive to create a sheer, smooth facade. The rear-ventilated cavity created between the panels and block wall provides the building with enhanced weather performance benefits. The building itself is constructed using double leaf blockwork with 100mm of glass wool insulation within the partial fill cavity.
