Cast stone offers a number of major advantages in adding the features that make a prestige development unique, and can also offer custom colours and finishes, with the reassurance that there is little risk to project timescales, as might be the case with natural stone. The features can be chosen from catalogues, or alternatively produced direct from architect designs or CAD drawings.

Procter Caststone specialise in the design and production of such cast features, and even produce a pdf guide to such products for architects and specifiers (Link).

Providing products suitable for unusual designs gives some challenges to the industry, and a report from Alumasc explains how they managed to insulate and waterproof the barrel vaults on the roof of a new prestigious office in Cambridge, using Korklite Plus insulating panels (from sustainably grown cork), which when scored could be formed around the contours of the roof. This was then covered with a torch applied Derbigum high performance membrane, dual reinforced with a high tensile polyester core and a glassfibre reinforced weathering surface (Link).
A different challenge was faced on the Isle of Skye, where a thoroughly modern, low-maintenance take on a shed was planned by architect Mary Arnold-Forster: orientating her new ’shed-like’ home to maximise the views of the beautiful sunsets also meant it gets the full force of the south-westerly winds. Marley Eternit’s fire-resistant fibre cement sheeting was used on the roof and parts of the elevations, because of its thickness, resistance to erosion, self-sealing around fixings and its sense of solidarity. An increasing number of architects have taken Marley Eternit fibre cement profiled sheeting away from its roots in agriculture, where its vapour permeability (which minimises condensation) and acoustic insulating qualities make it ideal for livestock buildings (Link).

While these are some of the more unusual Buildingtalk stories reported this week, once again the main themes reported seem to cover economical but sustainable ‘green’ technologies and energy saving ideas. As a contrast, Tyco Thermal Controls describe their latest underfloor heating installation, for comfort heating in the changing rooms in the GBP8million destination spa at The Gleneagles Hotel (Link). However, in these lean times, Octavian Security reminds us that dormant building sites offer rich pickings for thieves, and when slowing down construction it is important to step up the security (Link). The Exclusive story this week, from Procter Bros, also considers school premises perimeter fencing, and has a check list of points to consider when drawing up a suitable specification (Link).
Next week Howard Chapman will return to bring you his normal view of the week’s news, but the last story to bring to your attention now is a high-tech health and safety aid, a pioneering electronic monitoring and protection device from Reactec that can monitor worker exposure to excessive hand-arm vibration (Link).
This comment was originally published in the Buildingtalk Newsletter