Pomery slate grows in popularity

Hard landscaping materials supplier, Pomery Natural Stone, has expanded its range of materials by adding slate, both traditional blue-grey and a mottled brown.

Hard landscaping materials supplier, Pomery Natural Stone, has expanded its range of materials by adding slate, both traditional blue-grey and a mottled brown.

A number of architects have already spotted the potential slate offers, not only as a traditional roofing material, but also as a decorative addition to hard landscaping designs.

Several contracts have already been completed.

One, a private house in Belper, Derbyshire, is cut into a hillside overlooking the Amber Valley.

The architect, Hudson Architects of London, specified Pomery Natural Stone to supply 500sq.m of its Brown multi-colour slate as a means of reflecting the colours of the roof terraces of properties below and to pick up the rural textures of the surrounding fields.

Sothall Roofing Specialists of Sheffield undertook the roofing using a peel rivet system, not unlike that used in shipbuilding.

The roof was first clad using a steel sheeting with an insulated core, then the roof slates were drilled and the peel rivets fired through them and into the steel sheet, to peel back on themselves making a secure watertight roof.

In the same way, the slate was also used as cladding on the upper walls of the front elevation.

"I've not heard of this method of attaching slate being used before," said Julian Pomery, "but it worked well and all credit to Sothall Roofing for being prepared to take on the job using an innovative method".

Pomery Natural Stone, which is based in Slough in Berkshire, has also supplied a blue-grey slate for an entirely different purpose at another private property, this time near Marlow in Buckinghamshire.

The slate has been used as a striking garden feature by Blakedown Landscapes of Hampton in Middlesex, with the slate being laid in a series of semi-circles, one inside the other, to form a patio.

The slate retains its sheen during dry weather, but darkens dramatically in wet weather.

"We are delighted with the way both jobs turned out," said Julian Pomery.

"Slate is not a material we've supplied in any great quantities before, but when you consider the number of different ways it can be used, and the beautiful effects it can create, I see architects specifying it more and more.

Back to top