Carea Cladding Is The Perfect Fit At New £35M Hengrove Leisure Centre

Carea cladding has provided a stylish, robust and slate-like aesthetic to the external façade of the new £35 million Hengrove Park Leisure Centre – part of a major regeneration programme to transform South Bristol into one of the most sought after areas in the South West.Designed by LA Architects and built by main contractor Kier Western for Parkwood Community Leisure, the PFI (Private Finance Initiative) project was funded by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. The completed building includes an Olympic-sized pool, 20m teaching pool, sports hall and climbing wall, gymnasium, two dance studios and a community healthy living centre.

For the new building, a cladding system was required that would provide a dark grey, slate-like contrast to the building’s predominantly white exterior with gold shingle cladding. Combining a stylish aesthetic with long term performance, Carea’s Ardal cladding proved the perfect solution.

Installed by specialist contractor MIB Facades, part of The MIB Group, the façade features 11mm thick, 900mm x 450mm Ardal cladding panels in a dark basalte finish. Arranged in a regular pattern across the entire ground floor, the cladding is used to create a strong base to the building’s exterior which combines to create a truly striking contemporary facade.

Each Carea panel is formed using 90% natural minerals and 10% binding resin to provide the perfect aesthetic solution for both the client and the designer. Installation is quick and simple with the Carea facade system, as each panel is supplied with specialised horizontal rails that fit onto vertical cladding supports. With precisely routed grooves on the top and bottom, the simple fix provides a totally seamless finish to maintain the stunning appearance of the project.

As well as providing a stunning exterior, the Carea cladding system offers superb thermal and acoustic insulation, alongside excellent performance qualities. Carea Ardal cladding panels are resistant to climate and are unaffected by graffiti due to their non-porous composition.

While aesthetics were of importance, the specification of Carea cladding brought an array of other benefits to the development. The cladding provides a long lasting and cost effective solution, offering a high degree of insulation that will play a pivotal role in improving the leisure complex’s thermal efficiency and lowering its heating needs to aid sustainability.

The new leisure complex at Hengrove Park combines first class aesthetics, performance and facilities to deliver a stunning, community building which will continue to provide high quality leisure services for generations to come.