Close to the town centre, and also boasting a lively mix of restaurants and bars, the landmark leisure complex is integral to Darlington’s regeneration strategy.
The ceramic granite cladding was specified by Darlington-based Niven Architects who were keen to give the development’s tallest and most prominent buildings a high quality external finish. ‘Although we were working within an affordability envelope, we had no intention of compromising on quality or design,’ commented Director, Peter Hodges. ‘We selected Shackerley’s SureClad® ventilated façade system in contrasting colours and finishes for the Premier Inn, and a combination of render and SureClad® ceramic granite façade for the Vue Cinema.’
To bring a cohesive feel to the development, semi-polished cream ‘travertine’ ceramic granite was used on both buildings; paired with highly polished black panels on hotel elevations, and with natural, unpolished grey on the cinema. ‘This offered a cost-effective solution whilst achieving a modern quality feel that fitted with our design aspirations,’ said Peter.
The Premier Inn’s demanding acoustic and thermal specification called for additional insulation to be fused into the building’s structural panels. Shackerley’s SureClad® Access system was employed to overclad this high performance insulation with ceramic granite, fixing through to the structural framing system.
Tony Blake, Commercial Director at specialist contractor Speedclad, said: ‘SureClad® ceramic granite cladding is a high quality, well engineered product and the Access system gives us complete flexibility on site. Being able to install panels non-sequentially makes it easier to set the building out, and if we need to leave any panels out we can come back to complete gaps later.’
‘The Feethams complex is an important part of Darlington’s regeneration journey,’ commented Paul Spensley, Project Manager at Urban & Civic Plc, the property development and investment company responsible for the project, ‘We’re very proud of the development and believe it would be difficult to find a better leisure scheme in the UK in terms of quality of finish and operator line-up.’
