Rainscreen design comes to fruition thanks to Birkdale fibre cement slate

Marley Eternit’s Birkdale fibre cement slate has been specified on a new and prestigious police training centre project in Birmingham. It was chosen as the perfect answer to fulfil part of a complex and challenging rainscreen design. The architect wanted to utilise traditional roofing materials such as a roof slate within an unusual contemporary design and Birkdale’s performance, design flexibility and colour match has helped deliver a stunning overall roofing vision. The new single story training centre, which will be used by the West Midlands police force, was designed by architect Rob Martin from Nicol Thomas in Birmingham. It consists of a fully grassed roof with Birkdale slates used as a form of a raked rainscreen cladding to elevate the building, seeking in the architect’s eyes to provide a ‘scaled’ protective skin created by a distinctive ‘basket weave’ design. Rob Martin explains some of the background: “I was interested in the response of applying a traditional material with a contemporary solution. The scale of the Birkdale slate was deemed appropriate for the single storey nature and overall size of the building, and supported the concept of the building being wrapped in a ‘protective’ skin. The slates dressed edge further reinforced the concept giving the skin a heavier feel as opposed to the clinical lighter feel a square edge would give.” Rob continues: “The fact that the building sits in a green field site meant that the choice of materials was critical in enabling the scheme to appropriately respond to its context. We had to find a solution which would also respond to the surrounding urban environment and would naturally ‘bed’ into the landscape. The familiarity of the traditional slate look of the tile helps the building settle well into its surrounding urban environment whilst the green tile and the use of the zoomorphic basket weave creates a softer ‘naturalistic’ feel which we felt lent itself to the grassy site in which it lays. The naturalisation of the building is completed with the introduction of the grass roof which due to its sunken position can be visible from the nearby roadside.” Rob concludes: “I had come across the basket weave effect previously and wanted to see if we could replicate it at the new training centre. After speaking with Marley Eternit to source the right colour fibre cement slate, we were happy to discover that the Birkdale could be satisfactorily specified from a technical standpoint with the distinctive and unusual use we wanted. So a combination of Birkdale’s colour, edge finish, and modular scale size and design flexibility supported our design vision to use a traditional material in a contemporary and unusual manner.” The success of the project also depended greatly upon top quality craftsmanship from the roofing contractor, as Rob testifies: “The skill and quality finish delivered by Dent and Partners the roofing company is exemplary. The work, for example, on the mitred corners is immaculate and the overall roofing design has been realised thanks to such quality tradesmanship.” The Birkdale fibre cement slate boasts a finely detailed surface, semi-matt finish with dressed edges to reproduce the attractive appearance of natural slate. It is light weight, has real strength and consistent performance characteristics, as well as being easy and quicker to install than natural slate products. A total of 4,000 Green Birkdale fibre cement slates were used on this project. Steve Harris for Marley Eternit says: “When the architects approached us with their queries around product suitability and technical questions to achieve the desired and unusual look, we were happy to assist this project to fruition. Our technical services support ensured that the correct roofing product solution was identified so that the architect’s vision could be satisfied. The completed roofing desi

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