This has included new waterside property developed by Coombs Construction, consisting of both houses and flats. The scheme is situated at the seafront in between the train station and the grounds of Dreamland amusement park. The park houses Britain’s oldest rollercoaster and its shape and contours inspired the design for Rollercoaster House.
The facade of Rollercoaster House is made up of render, a curtain wall system and
Hardie® Plank fibre cement cladding. It is the first time that site manager David Tomlinson has worked with the product, who states that the coastal environment conditions were the main factor when deciding which type of cladding to use.
‘With timber, David says, ‘however good a product you are going to get, it wouldn’t have had the same lifespan as Hardie® Plank cladding at the end of the day. PVC discolours, especially the darker colours, but I am expecting and hoping that
Hardie® Plank cladding will stand the test of time.’
Since installation, there have been some high winds and gales testing the product and installation of it, but David is happy with the performance so far.
David continues ‘the touch up paint matched up very well and proved a really good product. Many times you get touch up paints that don’t come out the same colour but your touch up paint matches the product really well.’
Now that David has worked with Hardie® Plank weatherboard he feels very confident about using the product in the future I certainly wouldn’t have any qualms using Hardie® Plank cladding again. At the end of the day it often comes down to cost. It doesn’t matter how good a product is, the bottom figure is what we look at.
‘When you take on board the cost of preparation and maintenance that comes with wood cladding, then
fibre cement makes a strong competitive case.’
David concludes: ‘The planners are over the moon how this project has come out and what it is doing for the seafront image.’
And it is not only the planners who are pleased with Rollercoaster House, Coombs Construction have also scooped an NHBC ‘Pride in the Job’ Quality Award for delivering a top social housing project of this size in the London & South East region.