Nu-lok Roofing case study: Preseli Venture Lodge

Nu-lok ceramic slate roofing chosen because the product is easy and practical to use, it is cost effective and has exceptional good looks.

When Nick Hurst and wife Sophie decided to upgrade the lodge accommodation at their Preseli Venture adults adventure activity centre, they had to take into consideration how appealing it would look to the 40 visitors it accommodates, whilst being realistic about durability and lifespan in the harsh North Pembrokeshire weather conditions.

The Preseli Venture lodge is located deep in the heart of the West Wales countryside overlooking a beautiful wooded valley and is set in three acres of grounds.

It's a one mile walk through National Trust woodland to Abermawr, a local beach which is stunning and unspoilt.

Perfect for moonlit walks and a place where seals sometimes sleep.

With this in mind it becomes clear why the roofing on a single story new build there, must not create a blot on the landscape.

Nick explained: "We needed to enlarge and upgrade the lodge and the Nu-lok roofing is now on the first phase of the new build project".

"We began researching suppliers last year and decided to visit the Homebuilding show at Birmingham's NEC.

"There we met Glen Addy, Nu-lok's Sales Director who has been extremely helpful from the initial chat about suitability of the ceramic slates, through to the logistics of fitting the Nu-lok roof out on the north Pembrokeshire coast".

"Glen informed us that we would need 600m2 of Nu-lok ceramic slate roofing for the accommodation at our Preseli Venture adventure lodge".

The lodge sleeps up to 40 people in shared rooms with a minimum of two people per room and a maximum of six per room".

"Pretty much everything except the activities takes place in this building".

"It consists of dining rooms, lounges, bar, bedrooms, toilets, showers, catering kitchen, office and reading room".

"The new lodge is based around an attractive courtyard which will eventually become an external seating and bar area".

"It boasts stunning views down the valley to the sea".

"The new build is single storey and the roof is very visible, so it is vital that the Preseli Venture clients are surrounded by a roof that is aesthetically pleasing".

Nick continues: "This is what stood out about the Nu-lok roofing.

Not only did we receive a 50 year written guarantee against colour fade and structural defects, but the Nu-lok roofing is really nice to look at - something that isn't often said about a roof!" The Preseli Venture project is ongoing and is due to be completed in September 2007".

"Phase 1 will be useable and open to clients by March 2007 Work on Phase 1 of the project is due to finish during February 2007".

"During Phase 1 the Nu-lok roofing was installed within four days".

"Preseli Venture joint proprietor Nick Hurst, decided to fit the Nu-lok roofing himself, together with Nu-lok Training Manager Brendan Adam".

"Nu-lok always send Brendan out to train and assist clients during the first one or two days of fitting their roof".

"This is a complementary service".

"Nick and Sophie then chose for Brendan to stay with them at the lodge for an additional two days".

Nick Hurst explained: "I'm not an experienced roofer, but with two free training days from Brendan it was really straightforward".

"Brendan was excellent".

"The easiest thing about fitting it was the way the slates slid satisfyingly into the groove".

Nu-lok offer clients the entire roof package, including the ridge and hip.

Nick and Sophie opted to source their own dry-fit hip and ridge system locally.

Phase 2 will involve more roofing from Nu-lok, and Phase 3 will also involve more roofing and is due to finish during September 2007".

Nick added: "We chose Nu-lok because the product is easy and practical to use, it is cost effective and has exceptional good looks.

"We are also concerned about carbon dioxide emissions and climate change - so our new lodge is all about being as low on carbon emissions as possible.

Nu-lok is an ecologically sound company as well, which was a bonus".

Nick and Sophie constructed the new building out of an Insulating Concrete Formwork (ICF) system, called BecoWallForm, which is based on large hollow lightweight block components which lock together, without intermediate bedding materials, to provide a formwork system into which concrete is poured".

"Once set the concrete becomes a high strength structure and the formwork remains in place as thermal insulation".

"The building achieves a U-value - the measurement of heat lost - of 0.19W/m2K, compared to the current building standard of 0.35W/m2K.

The building will therefore be very highly insulating and by its construction also extremely air-tight with no heat lost through draughts".

"The other very important factor for the new lodge will be the heating system for providing the heating and hot water".

"Nick and Sophie will be able to dispense with the gas boiler and install a ground source heat pump".

Glen Addy, Nu-lok's Sales Director added: "At the moment we are receiving a lot of interest from new build clients such as Nick and Sophie, as well as an influx of self build clients".

"In the past our core client base has been developers, specifiers, builders, public authorities and architects - but we're pleased to say that word is getting round that Nu-lok roofing is very versatile".

"Nu-lok clients can now benefit from increased quality assurance when choosing a roofing system as we have recently gained British Board of Agrement (BBA) certification.".

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