Pura Facades, the architectural cladding specialist, has become the sole UK distributor of VetaBric, the latest entrant to the fact-growing brick slip panel market.Acting as a lightweight panel alternative to traditional bricks, VetaBric can accurately reproduce the aesthetic of the majority of brick brands. Available in a new, ultra-thin, pre-mortared joint, VetaBric panels weight just 12.5kg per m2, offering a sleek and modern look to the facade. While architects love the creative possibilities of this product, contractors appreciate the speed at which the panels are hung – up to a third quicker than traditional bricklaying according to Pura’s commercial director James Butler. “Given the dearth of skilled labour and long lead times of bricks in the UK, solutions such as VetaBric are becoming much more popular with developers, architects and contractors. And despite being only 25mm thick, we’re finding the product to be dense and rigid; therefore very robust once installed on site,” commented James Butler. “A project we were recently involved with – a residential development in Thornton Heath, South London – shows how effective brick slip can be. The project was finished on time and within budget, thanks in some measure to the adoption of VetaBric,” he added. VetaBric is manufactured off-site in Lille, northern France, meaning it is supporting the UK’s move toward modular construction methods. It can be fixed onto a wide range of substrates including masonry, lightweight steel or timber frames – all using the extensive range of fixings provided by Pura. VetaBric also provides a joint free solution to facades, as any visible fixings are hidden by mortar applied once the panel is installed.

West Midlands Safari Park chose the Kingspan TEK Building System to provide research and educational space that will have minimal impact on the site due to the lightweight system. Delivery partners Glosford SIPS pre-cut to specification 5000 m2 of the Kingspan TEK Building System in a 142 mm thickness. “We needed to provide large teaching spaces within a quick construction period that would leave no footprint on the land if it was returned to grazing land in the future. The Kingspan TEK Building System was an obvious choice as it is low maintenance and lightweight. It also provided a well-insulated structure to help us meet Simplified Building Energy Model (SBEM) compliance,” explained Richard Painter, director of Painter Architects. Manufactured off-site, the building envelope was transported to the park and then craned into position above screw pile foundations. “With the installation having to be completed during the closed season, there had to be a quick turnaround. We have had lots of experience working with Kingspan though and the system is really quick – the entire envelope was up in two weeks! We also really enjoyed working alongside the Safari Park construction team and the wild animals too,” said Mike Fleming, director of Glosford SIPS. For the design, the Kingspan TEK panels were clad with cedar and African art panels on the walls. Dark green corrugated tin sheeting was then added on the mono pitched roof to blend in with the landscape and fit the aesthetic of the park. By erecting a Kingspan TEK Building System envelope, the project could accomplish ‘excellent’ levels of thermal performance by achieving U-values of 0.20 W/m2.K or better for the walls and roof. The insulated spline jointing detail, in combination with its OSB/3 facing bonded to a highly insulated core, was said to have ensured minimal thermal bridging through the insulation layer and resulted in a very airtight building shell which offered air permeability of less than 1 m3/hr.m2 at 50Pa. Once the system was sealed with a breather membrane, the entire structure became watertight.

Dulux Trade Paint Expert, part of AkzoNobel, secured four accolades at the Painting and Decorating Association’s 30th annual awards ceremony, following nominations for 11 projects across seven categories. The company took home the prize in the commercial sector after working on a high school in Neston, Cheshire, where its products transformed the school. Moreover, the global paints and coating manufacturer was awarded for its role in the reinvigoration of St Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church in Oldham, Greater Manchester, with its products having been specified by Bernard Watson and his team to carefully and sensitively redecorate the church, which dates back to the 1800s. The third accolade was won in the Residential category, in which Dulux Trade was specified by the Caring Homes Group for the redecoration of a social housing project in Cheltenham. The firm transformed a space using colour beyond aesthetics, allowing Ian Williams Ltd to create an environment that will enhance the lives of residents, with the right colour palettes, design and tonal differences to meet the needs of those who live in and use the space. The fourth and final win was offered for its work on the American Embassy in London, which has moved to Nine Elms, where the stunning piece of architecture now overlooks the River Thames. After partnering with Wokingham’s AC Beck Contracts Ltd on the new build project, the award was presented to the project partners in the New Build category. “Putting colour into people’s lives goes far beyond what is in our paint tins. For all of us at Dulux Trade, it’s about enriching and improving lives through enhanced environments, and partnering with our valued Contractor customer to achieve these outcomes. Being recognised in this way alongside our contractor customers is testament to the work that the entire team does day in, day out,” said John Kourtoulos, Sales Director, across contractor and specifier markets at AkzoNobel, who was there to collect the awards.

Armstrong Ceiling Solutions provided the award-winning refurbishment plan of the Grade II listed Hackney Town Hall with customised wall panels. The folded bronze anodised aluminium panels were selected by regular Armstrong specifiers HawkinsBrown architects for the end walls of two underused interior service courtyards that have been transformed into full-height multi-functional atria as part of the redevelopment. The wall panels mimic the original walls behind, including aged brickwork, Crittall windows, drain pipes and services. Their purpose is to conceal new ducts linked to the smoke ventilation system, featuring an acoustic fleece behind the panels to absorb sound. Specialist Omega sub-contractor Roskel Contracts installed some 110m2 of the 1.5mm WH-1000 2m x 1m panels, for contractor Osborne onto a lightweight steel framing system on the walls at the eastern ends of the north and south atria. These were then complemented by anodised trough boxes containing continuous strips of LED lights at the top of each three-storey wall. “We wanted to choose a standard proprietary acoustic wall cladding system for which we could customise the perforation pattern and selected the W-H 1000 Armstrong product after advice from the representative that this would meet our performance requirements and design intent,” said Chloe Marshall, HawkinsBrown associate director. “It was important to us that the perforation pattern could be customised to create a new feature within the rooms rather than a dominating plain rear wall. A bronzed finish was selected to link to the historic building materials of the 1930s interior and to interface well with the London Stock brickwork and painted steel structure of the new ETFE roof,” she added. Hackney Town Hall was built in 1937 by architects Lanchester and Lodge in an Art Deco-style design and for 12 years it has been subjected to an exhaustive 12 year and 12,500m2 restoration and refurbishment programme throughout which it has remained fully open. As well as creating 66% more office space, the refurbishment of Hackney Town Hall is part of a wider masterplan for the London Borough of Hackney, which has made the building more energy efficient. During the programme, 97% of waste was diverted from landfill.

Floor strippers, just like beer, must be operated with tool at the right pitch (angle to the floor) for them to be as efficient as possible. Jim Sullivan, territory sales manager at National Flooring Equipment, explains how changing the angle of a stripper blade can improve the efficiency of floor removal and extend tooling life. It is important to be efficient during surface preparation because it reduces the time and labour needed to remove a floor, which ultimately impacts on a project’s return on investment. If a job’s square footage per hour is down, this could indicate that the machine is not working as it should. A good way to prevent this from happening is to maintain sharp tooling at the correct pitch. The pitch of the blade should be set according to how hard the coating or material is and how it is stuck to the floor. It should also be adjusted to the sweet spot between the material on the floor and the concrete for maximum efficiency. The sweet spot is important, as with too much pitch the machine could dig into the subfloor, causing the blade to wear more quickly. The blade can also snap if the operator hits something, which can result in damage to the machine. A different pitch must be used for a different tooling. The tool choice is determined by the material on the floor, so it is vital that the correct blade is used for the right application. Certain tooling types, like wood or ceramic, may have a recommended pitch. However, with carpet and tile floors, finding the sweet spot can only be done by testing. National Flooring Equipment offers scrapers with a dual lift feature, where the pitch and angle can be changed in two places, which means that the machine is stronger. The operator has multiple adjustments at their fingertips to allow correct blade adjustment, without manually adjusting the front end of the machine. This is more important when removing ceramic and wood, as the specific angle needed can only be achieved with multiple adjustments.

Improvements concerning the home know no bounds. Since the inception of decors, for walls and ceiling for the house hit the market it has been growing ever since. With the change in the trend of home improvement facilities, people try to keep up with it by renovating and altering certain parts of their homes. Year after years a new décor replaces the old ones, and people have the opportunity to exploit it to their advantage. However, all such changes also impose quite a lot of charges that most people cannot afford. For any home, its interiors or the walls must represent their style or the current trend, but it is not always possible to keep up with the altering fashion especially when the cost is unreasonable and to install it takes quite a lot of time. Everybody is on the lookout for something fashionable or in-style, but it should meet the budget, does not take long to finish, and most importantly have a strong factor without having to replace or remodel every time. In all the improvements introduced for adorning the interiors of a home, wall panels have proven to be the best in the pool as an architectural element in both residential and commercial buildings. The trend of wall paneling has been taking over the market from other wall finishes, which failed to deliver the kind of quality material and use that wall consoles provide. There are many reasons for the success of the wall panels instead of the other wall finishes available in the market ranging from hygiene to cost and durability. Wall panels are a single piece of flat material like wood, cut into rectangular shape to install as the visible and exposed covering for a wall. Wall panels can be cheaper than high-quality tiles, intricately decorated wallpapers or expensive paints. The advantages of using wall panels are many, and people that are using it have not had any problems with repairing, soiling or wasting money on reinstallation or maintenance. Getting the interiors of your home panelled with some of the most classy or vintage designs will make it look beautiful as well as exquisite while staying within the budget. Unlike the tiles that need particular kind of driller to make fixtures on the wall, when using panels, some specific features and provisions fit accurately or easily makes a hole for fixing nails. It is also superb for concealing flaws and unsightly elements such as cables and exposed wiring, while it is not possible when using wallpapers, paint or tiles. Wall panels can easily stick to various surfaces like ceramic tiles, wood, brick, concrete, etc. Today every traditional store, manufacturing companies, or online stores display a massive amount of various designs of wall panels. It allows buyers to have their pick from the pool of options and not limit the design. Other than its aesthetic, appeal the functions of the material play an essential role in guaranteeing durability, hygienic use, economic, etc.  Another fact about using wallboards is that it does not need special or expensive chemicals to keep it clean as a simple sponge and some water suffices to do the work, unlike cleaning tiles which is tedious, time-consuming, and its upkeep is expensive. When using other wall materials like paint, there is the danger of flake starting to come off after some years, using tiles poses risks of cracks and chipping, while wallpapers are intrinsically made of paper so any liquid or sharp object can soak it or tear it resulting in damage of the walls. Such untimely damages lead to more repairs and remodeling of the walls, which is bound to cost quite a lot for homeowners. Therefore, if you are planning to get your home remodelled choose wall panels, as it is sure not just to make the house look beautiful but also withstand the natural wear and tear that occurs with time. Wall panels are available in several types in the market according to the intended purpose, which includes- 1) Structural Panelling The method of structural paneling employs easy and quick framing of homes and business premises using pre-cast concrete on the exterior. Thus, it succeeds in eliminating time-consumption and hassle-free work. 2) Utility Panelling The material used for utility paneling commonly finds its uses in garages and kitchens as well as commercial buildings. Here the boards have tiny holes, which will mainly be operative to hang objects using nails or pegs. Utility paneling uses perforated hardboard for functionality as well as for looks. 3) Decorative Panelling A lot of process and methods go into making the material of decorative paneling. The primary material used for decorative paneling is wainscot usually made from either wood or synthetic material and decorated with patterns, carvings, and designs. Using a variety of attractive looking materials like the wainscot helps in improving the appearance of the wall. Conventionally the lower half of the wall has the decorative paneling installation, however; the exact height can vary depending on the structure of the room. People can opt to design their desired material of decorative paneling or else use the pre-fabricated one. Other materials commonly available in the market are stainless steel, plastic, laminate, etc. 4) Tile board Panelling It has a ceramic finish like appearance, which gives it the looks of real tiles. Tile board paneling make use of resin or melamine, carefully textured and colored to resemble ceramic tiles, and attached to a moisture-proof board. The easiness to clean or wipe off dirt and non-appearance of grout lines makes it a popular among many people. Another plus point to this kind of paneling is the affordable price ranges it comes in. It is clear now that instead of wasting all your precious time, energy, and money on materials that are sure to cost you so much, it is better to choose wall paneling. The array of wall panel materials and its functionality should be enough proof to opt for wall paneling instead of using other weak