Bethersden Primary School, Ashford

Client: Breyer Roofing
Type of works: supply of hand made clay peg tiles

Bethersden Primary School, near Ashford, has undergone a major restoration of its hundred year old roof using hand made clay peg tiles from specialist Kent peg tile manufacturer Tudor Roof Tile Co Ltd.

The £100,000 refurbishment project, undertaken by Breyer Roofing on behalf of Kent County Council’s Property Group, required 28,000 new hand made peg tiles in a mix of 70% medium antique and 30% dark antique to complement the 19th century building and blend with the surrounding conservation area. Each tile was specially kiln stamped with ‘BPS’ for easy identification.

The painstaking restoration work involved stripping, and salvaging where possible, the original Victorian tiles and attaching Tudor’s ‘like for like’ replacements in the traditional way, with aluminium nails through the round peg holes.

As the historic school was a roosting site for the endangered pipistrelle and brown long-eared bats, great care was taken not to disturb the bats’ habitat and to provide easy entry into the roof space through Tudor Roof Tile’s innovative ‘bat access tiles’ in the roof and ridge.

Martin Walsh, Contract Manager at Breyer Roofing said: “We were very impressed by the ‘olde world’ aesthetic qualities of Tudor’s hand made peg tiles, with their subtle variation of colour and texture, as well as the speed and helpfulness with which the company responded to the specific requirements of this challenging and meticulous job.”

All Tudor roof tiles are made from the finest English natural clay. They are manufactured in accordance with BS EN ISO 9001:2000, and tested to BS EN 538:1994 for strength and to BS EN 539-2:1998 for frost resistance.