Shackerley’s Sureclad ceramic granite cladding system has enhanced the appearance of a visionary development scheme comprising two very different award winning buildings on the banks of the River Thames in Kingston.
An attractive combination of ceramic granite facade panels, manufactured to give the appearance of natural oak and limestone, has been used to clad the exteriors of Kingston Riverside luxury apartment complex and Kingston Heights, a mixed-use development incorporating a hotel, private apartments and affordable homes.
The cladding was specified by NHP Leisure Developments who acquired the site fifteen years ago and drew up the original plans for the scheme with Paul Brooke Architects, securing planning permission from Royal Borough of Kingston Council in 2008.
Redrow London subsequently purchased the Kingston Riverside development and the stunning complex of 210 luxury apartments was completed for its new owner and their scheme architects, Broadway Malayan, by main contractor Midgard and their project architects, Sprunt.
Kingston Riverside features two blocks of 11 and 15 storeys connected by a six-storey link block. These ‘towers’, with spacious private terraces, are framed by curved ribs that give the development a contemporary maritime style. The building earned Redrow London the 2014 WhatHouse? Silver Award for ‘Best exterior design’, and was ‘Highly Commended’ in the ‘Best design of four storeys or more’ category at the 2014 Housebuilder Awards.
Kingston Heights was constructed for NHP by main contractor United House and includes an upmarket 142-bedroom hotel, 81 private apartments (pre-sold to Redrow London) and 56 affordable homes (managed by Affinity Sutton). The development incorporates a ground breaking district heating scheme abstracting solar energy stored naturally in the River Thames and has won numerous environmental awards.
“We were looking for premium quality cladding that conformed to a very precise colour palette and resembled natural oak and limestone,” says NHP MD Mike Spenser-Morris. “Shackerley’s Sureclad façade system provided exactly what we were looking for. Unlike timber and stone, ceramic granite has almost zero porosity and is totally resistant to all climatic extremes, UV light and airborne pollution so our stunning façades will never weather, fade or rot.”
“We are confident that this superb low-maintenance cladding solution will stand the test of time and look just as good in 15 to 20 years as it does today.”
