Arch protects historic Culloden battlefield centre

Newly opened visitor centre at historic battlefield of Culloden in Scotland has been protected by two of Arch's unique fire retardant treatments, Dricon and Non-Com Exterior.

The stunning new building, built by Morrison Construction and which houses an interpretation of the battle, its prehistory and aftermath, and includes educational and conference facilities, a cafe, restaurant, shop and staff accommodation, has had its internal and external oak cladding protected with Arch fire retardant treatments to help ensure its natural beauty and fire safety are maintained.

The exterior oak cladding used on the building, which sits on the site of the last battle fought on British soil, is Non-Com Exterior treated, providing a surface spread of flame in accordance with BS476:Part 7.

Similarly, the interior oak cladding has a Dricon protection, the only fire retardant treatment for timber with BBA accreditation.

The building was designed by Gareth Hoskins Architects' after winning the international competition for a major new visitor centre at Culloden.

Morrison Construction have built the 2,300 sqm, single-storey attraction which opened during Scotland's Year of Highland Culture in 2007.

The project has been developed for the National Trust for Scotland and uses the landscape along with an interpretive exhibition to tell the story of the battle.

The project which has an approximate value of just over GBP9m uses oak for both internal and external cladding which was treated at Arch's facility in Castleford.

Culloden is the largest project undertaken by the Trust and reflects the huge impact the Battle of Culloden had on the course of world history.

The project involves restoring the Battlefield to how it looked in 1746 and the state-of-the-art visitor centre.

Dricon treatment was also used to fire treat 145 display panels, printed by Leach Colour Limited of Huddersfield using specialised UV printing techniques The boards boards measured approximately 2.4m by 1.4m and were CNC cut into random quadrilaterals before being fitted together like a giant jigsaw within the centre.

The quality of the printed images was maintained even after being pressure treated with Dricon by Arch.

Andy Cope, Project Manager from Leach Colour said: "We are delighted with the results.

We had searched for a solution to make the boards fire retardant whilst preserving the quality of the graphics.

We were about to resign ourselves to the fact that it may not be possible, when Richard Adams, Fire Retardants Manager from Arch Timber Protection stepped in to help us through the process.

Using the two sets of very specialist skills we were able to deliver exactly what our client required to a very high specification.

The GBP9m project was designed by Gareth Hoskins Architects' after winning the international competition for the new centre.

Morrison Construction completed the 2,300 sq m, single-storey attraction which was commissioned as part of Scotland's Year of Highland Culture in 2007.

The project has been developed for the National Trust for Scotland and uses the atmospheric landscape along with an interpretive exhibition to tell the story of the battle.

Culloden is the largest project undertaken by the Trust and also involved the restoration of the actual battlefield to how it looked in 1746.

"We are delighted to be involved in such an historic project as the Culloden visitor centre," explained Arch marketing manager Janet Brown.

"It is gratifying to see natural materials being used to create a building that blends into the landscape yet loses not of its impact as a structure in its own right.

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