John Brash's Western red cedar shingles with FRT Exterior® Fire Retardant Treatment (AA Rating) have provided the new Welsh Primary School in Swansea with feature cladding to the new build school's curved external walls to create what the project's architect described as a ‘cedar shell’.
The shingles were fitted by specialist roofing company Camilleri & Sons Roofing Ltd which is based in nearby Sully, South Wales. The school is a new build project designed by Cardiff-based architects, Stride Treglown Davies. Commissioned by Swansea City and County, the new school will provide places for 360 pupils.
The BREEAM Schools ‘Very Good’ rating was achieved by the building meeting a selection of credit based environmental performance criteria. BREEAM is the Environmental Assessment Method developed by the BRE (Building Research Establishment), which assesses the environmental performance and sustainability of buildings. All primary school projects over £500,000 and secondary schools over £2m have to achieve a BREEAM Schools ‘Very Good’ assessment.
The BRE Green Guide recently awarded Western Red Cedar an ‘A’ rating for sustainability because of its insulative properties, low embodied energy and natural renewability. Studies have also shown that for every m“ of timber used instead of other building materials, 0.8 tonne of CO” is saved from the atmosphere. These benefits are reflected in the ratings systems used for BREEAM and Code for Sustainable Homes.
A spokesperson for the architect on the project, said: "We are really pleased that Llwynderw achieved a BREEAM Schools ‘Very Good’ assessment, particularly as the client also described the building as visually stunning. Creating the building using Western Red Cedar Shingles has been a real joy, mainly because its lightweight nature gave us much more flexibility in the design."
Christian Brash, managing director at John Brash, explained: “The cedar shell on the Llwynderw Children’s home really is spectacular. This project really shows what can be achieved using Western red cedar shingles both from a sustainable and design point of view.”
