Bluclad had it covered for Stoneham Construction Ltd on its award winning Oakvale mixed tenure development in Ryde on the Isle of Wight.

That’s because Marley’s calcium silicate Bluclad render boards offered superior dimensional stability for a seamless finish.

And, being easy to install therefore made it the ideal solution for this developer as part of a rainscreen cladding system.

Bluclad can be used as a substrate for a variety of thin coat polymeric renders, textured finishes and other surface coatings. Its outstanding dimensional stability reduces substrate movement that can result in surface cracks.

The contractors on the Oakvale Development preferred using Bluclad because, again, its dimensional stability avoided the need for applying adhesives at butt joints.

Being factory hydrophobised means that Bluclad can be exposed to weather without rendering for up to four weeks. Available with a full range of accessories, boards can be used with other systems and therefore contractors are not tied to one particular method.

“We listen to the people who design and work on our developments and they put forward Bluclad because they felt that it was a superior render board,” said David Harris, Purchasing Manager at Stoneham Construction. “After specifying it across the entire development we are delighted with the results because it has created a seamless finish that we are confident will stand up to the test of time. We have since specified the same product on other successful schemes.”

Bluclad is a flat, Class 0 and EN13501-1 fire performance building board and has an installed life expectancy of at least 50 years. It is 100 per cent recyclable.

Available in a standard 10mm thickness, Bluclad has a smooth surface on the front and is textured on the reverse. The textured face is for thin coat polymeric renders.

A combination of cement render, brick and timber cladding is used across the facades at Oakvale. High quality workmanship throughout the timber frame design, along with environmentally friendly materials resulted in the dwellings far exceeded the minimum requirements for acoustic performance, air permeability, and U-value standards.

Oakvale is a Code for Sustainable Homes Level 3 development comprising of 156 flats and houses. The scheme was designed by London architects PCKO Ltd and won the Local Authority Building Control (LABC) ‘Commended’ award for best social housing development in the south east, and also a south west regional ‘Pride in the Job’ award from NHBC.