Our Stone-Coat architectural mouldings are increasingly popular for satisfying a number of challenges laid down by local planning regulations. For example, over the years, there has been an upsurge in conservation areas and restrictive planning permission.
This has resulted in our manufactured product being commissioned to enable refurbished properties to haromonise with the surrounding buildings and thus comply with local planning permission.
Sometimes, however, it’s a planning requirement for the property to be returned to its previous state. This was the case for a project we recently completed in the Gloucestershire town of Moreton-in-Marsh.
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A principal market town on the former Roman Fosse Way, Moreton is a typical ‘English’ town, popular with visitors from around the world attracted by the area’s natural beauty and sleepy limestone villages.
It is also home to over 3,500 residents. Designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), Many homes are constructed from the renowned Cotswold stone. This yellow Jurassic limestone, often described, when weathered, as honey or golden, is what gives many Cotswold villages its ‘chocolate box’ appeal.
However, in 2018, a new local plan was agreed for the building of an additional 7000 homes by 2031 as well as the refurbishment of existing houses. As part of the regeneration programme, we have recently been involved in an EWI pilot project with Nuneaton based, Rockwarm on behalf of their client, Bromfield Housing Association.
Bromfield Housing Association owns or manages around 44,000 social housing homes in Central and South West England with plans to increase their housing stock by around 7000 new builds in Gloucestershire alone. The company also has plans to refurbish their existing homes.
One of the key areas is to improve insulation in accordance with government guidelines. The pilot scheme in Moreton in Marsh, Gloucestershire, involves a traditionally built semi – detached being completely modernised with improved insulation, new windows and external stone / brick work.
As the house was not located in the Cotswold AONB or conservation area, the scheme did not require planning permission. However, permitted development was granted by Cotswold District Council on the basis that the external fittings replicated the original look of the building.
To enable this, Rockwarm installed Permarock brickslip finish. To comply with the permitted development notice, we were asked to create a number of bespoke architectural mouldings that matched the existing façade as well as complement the new Permarock brickslip finish.
These included reproduction quoins, window surrounds, edging and stone cills – all manufactured off site and delivered to the project on a ‘just in time’ basis.
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Our Stone-Coat products were chosen for their flexibility and versatility.
They are made from a lightweight material that can be manufactured in almost any shape or size and coated with a unique material that ensures it looks like stone, feels like stone but is considerably lighter than natural stone. This provides for a safe and easy installation that does not require heavy equipment and specialist skill tradespeople.
For more information about our Stone-Coat architectural mouldings, make sure to contact with our team.
