Designing three detached properties to replace a pair of existing houses in the beautiful coastal town of Poole, Ström Architects developed stunning and practical residences with façades fully clad in Dekton® Milar. The Partridge Walk development has been designed with the lower storeys set into the ground and the top storeys set to one side, allowing neighbouring properties to maintain their seaside views. “Dekton® is a fantastic option for a façade material because of its versatility,” says Matt Slark, General Manager at Cosentino. “It’s available in multiple thicknesses, a wide colour range and can also be optimised in terms of the panel sizing for any design brief.”

Dekton is not only chosen by architects, designers, developers and builders for its aesthetics. Combining safety, sustainability and energy efficiency, Dekton® has LEED and BREEAM certifications in environmental and sustainable design along with the highest classification in fire resistance. “This allows it to be used on residential buildings as well as on a larger national application,” adds Matt.

The design for Partridge Walk was brought to life by Kubo Homes, specialists in sustainable property design. “The design brief from Ström Architects was to look at the orientation of the site with its views across Poole Harbour and to orientate them for the passive haus principle,” says Andy Taylor, Director of Kubo Homes, “which was to ensure minimal energy loss as well as looking at the shading and solar gain. We also wanted to maintain the Swedish minimalism that Ström is famous for and look at the materiality of how to create that aesthetic. With Cosentino we were able to visit the factory so that we could look at the slabs and their full size, which gives a much better representation of the colour differentiation and how it might work on our buildings and they were extremely helpful in providing us with an introduction to a steel framing system that we could then utilise to hang the tiles onto the building. They’ve been incredibly supportive of us as a business and allowed us to simplify the whole process of ordering of the tile with the façade design, the implementation and fixing of it to the building. That’s why we’re going to continue to use Dekton® in future projects.”

The properties are designed with the front entrance on the middle floor, which also contains the bedrooms and a generous hallway with a staircase leading to the first floor. The kitchen, dining and living space are all on this upper level to take advantage of the stunning views over the harbour. The lower level then contains two further bedrooms and a narrow lap pool. The façade in Dekton® Milar was the ideal choice for the exterior cladding, as Matt Slark of Cosentino explains, “Dekton was a perfect material for Kubo Homes because we can guarantee the cradle to grave lifecycle of the material. It’s a carbon neutral product, which was really important to them, and its production process uses 99% recycled water and 100% recyclable electrical energy. We wanted to make sure that it was not only the right product for them in terms of the application but also that we fulfilled all of their sustainability pledges as well.”

“It’s incredibly important for us at Kubo Homes that ultimately we create homes that perform to the 2030 Climate Challenge from RIBA and that are carbon negative,” says Andy Taylor of Kubo Homes. “We were also looking at the energy efficiency of the procurement of items as well. Dekton® has some wonderful attributes in terms of their usage of recycled water and their energy neutrality, so that was important to us to include that and ultimately, it’s what the clients demand.”

Dekton® was also selected for the kitchen worksurfaces and splashbacks. Highly scratch resistant, stain resistant, fire and heat resistant, it’s the ideal practical and hardwearing surface suitable for everyday use. Made from 80% recycled materials, Dekton® Radium was the surface of choice. Fabricated by County Stone & Granite, experts in bespoke design, the colour and finish both beautifully complement the sleek, handleless kitchen with its open plan layout and generous island unit.