When it came to expanding the beautiful Alvaston Hall Hotel in Cheshire, maintaining the attractive Victorian aesthetic of the original building was a top priority.
Warner Leisure Hotels needed a materials provider to match the scale and ambitions of their £12 million expansion, to provide new leisure facilities and accommodation. To match the style of the older buildings, Redland’s Plain Tile, a concrete tile with a traditional plain tile appearance was used in the Breckland Black colour.
These slate grey tiles are finished with a red-tinged streaking effect to simulate the look of a weathered roof, ideal when the requirement was to mimic the look of the original Victorian building.
Speaking about the project, Jackie Perrett of PWP Architects said: “The Redland Plain Tiles were a perfect match for the project, as they were the right colour and aesthetic for what we wanted to achieve with the hotel.”
A major challenge for the project was minimizing disruption to hotel guests, as Alvaston Hall remained open whilst work continued to on site. By delivering materials straight to the site, Redland minimised delays and potential disruption which would have caused further inconvenience to visitors. With more than 150,000 tiles needed to complete the job, having reliable suppliers was vital to keep to the strict schedule.
Dave Boughey of Pochin Construction Ltd, who was responsible for the project, was wary of this issue: “With the hotel still open, we were under pressure to complete work on time and to our usual high standards. Having materials delivered on time and when expected meant that half of the battle was already won.”
Redland is able to liaise with roofing contractors on jobs of all sizes to provide flexibility in providing materials and assistance on site for clients. In this case, tiles were sent directly to site following a scheduled program of deliveries, helping contactors to cope with the huge numbers of tiles needed to complete work on the hotel.
This was highly beneficial to roofing contractors Walker Roofing. Commenting on the project Malcolm Walker said: “The supply of tiles was quick and prompt. This was a relief as it was a very long job. We had two thousand metres of roofing to complete, and needed about sixty tiles per square metre. I feel like I aged about twenty years in twenty months! We were under a lot of pressure to get the job done.”
Despite all of the logistical challenges, the project successfully captured the beauty of the original building whilst giving guests the benefits of lavish new facilities. Dave Boughey said: “We actually received another job from the Warner Leisure Chain as a result of the great work our team did at Alvaston Hall; it’s always satisfying to see hard work recognised and appreciated.”