Dollis Hill

Location

London

Main contractor

Talina Builders

Architects

Guttfield Architecture

Products

Cupaclad Slate Cladding

Overview

Dollis Hill is a 3-bedroom residential project located in North West London and includes a basement studio and workshop to allow the owners to comfortably work from home.

Taylor Maxwell worked with manufacturer CUPA PIZARRAS to supply CUPACLAD® natural slate cladding to the project. Expertly installed by Talina Builders, the slate cladding gives the house a striking and contemporary facade amongst the existing buildings of the housing estate where it is located.

Concept

To optimise the space around the existing trees on site, it was decided that the house would be built flush against the street boundary and the existing timber fence. Due to the timber fence being such an integral feature of the building, it was important that any materials used on the rest of the building complemented the natural material. CUPACLAD® slate cladding was identified as a facade system that would work well with the timber, whilst also matching the slate used on neighbouring buildings. The use of slate, to visually harmonise with the building’s surroundings, meant challenging planning applications were more easily resolved.

Once CUPACLAD® slate cladding was identified as the ideal facade material, the project team selected the 201 Vanguard fixing system, which utilises visible fixings for a reduced installation time. The 201 Vanguard is a ventilated rainscreen cladding system that is BBA approved. The slate cladding offers a lifespan of over 100 years and is 100% non-combustible, providing additional benefits to the project team.

“

Our company does a lot of demolition, so we see a huge amount of waste in the industry. When you’re working with slate, you know that if it’s going to go to landfill or be crushed up, it’s a natural product that’s not going to do any harm to the environment, which is reassuring.

”

Ronan Glynn
Developer - Talina Builders

Completion

Throughout the construction process, the use of the CUPACLAD® 201 Vanguard system was kept in mind, with the dimensions of the individual slate pieces determining the placement of windows, vents and corners. This allowed for minimal wastage of the product and resulted in a clean and linear finish to the facade. Once the slate pieces were fixed into place, they were clipped into the fixings, which created a pinstripe effect along the rows of slate.

The timber fence, which initially wrapped around the street boundary, was replaced during the house build to give a fresh finish and create a striking colour contrast to the dark slate used on the top half of the building. At the back of the property, the trees which cover the site give the illusion of being in a peaceful woodland area, a rare view from a house in built up London.

Taylor Maxwell is the exclusive distributor of CUPACLAD® natural slate rainscreen systems in the UK. For more information about CUPACLAD® click here.

View a video of the finished project below.