Cembrit, has helped transform a beautiful but neglected town hall in Yorkshire, and bring the building back to the centre of community life. 10,000 of Cembrit’s Duquesa slates have been used on a £3.7 million major extension project to Hebden Bridge Town Hall and provide a complement the building’s historic stone exterior.
Hebden Bridge, located on the Yorkshire side of the Pennine Hills, has a rich literary history. The Bronte sisters wrote their famous novels just a few miles away and the American poet Sylvia Plath is buried at Heptonstall on the hill overlooking Hebden Bridge. The Town Hall is a Grade 11 Listed building in the centre of the town and was built in 1898.
The project worked on restoring the existing Town Hall, with great importance placed on ensuring the new wing, which will house a multi-function hall, meeting space, rehearsal room for the Light Opera and Youth Theatre groups, and a small enterprise space, fitted with the existing Victorian building. The materials used on the new wing reflect the features and characteristics of the surrounding buildings and landscape especially in the use of natural stone facades and the Duquesa slate roof. Architect for the project was Bauman Lyons and Strategic Team Group, based in Castleford, were the main contractor.
“It was important the materials complimented the building’s traditional features and exterior,” explains Tom Vigar, Architect at Bauman Lyons. “We specified Cembrit’s Duquesa slates due to its attractive finish and the fact that they are in keeping with the existing town hall building. These slates also allowed us to pass through the planning stage a lot easier.”
Duquesa is a high quality natural slate from Cembrit which is produced by some of the finest quarries in Spain. Regarded as one of the best Spanish natural slate brands available in the UK, it is a tough material with a smooth texture that will provide an attractive and long lasting roof covering for a wide variety of projects.
Duquesa is available in two colours, blue black and grey and in a variety of sizes to suit individual requirements. It has a smooth, even texture, which, as well creating an attractive appearance, also aids the preservation of the finish. The hard surface also ensures the slate can withstand the most severe weather conditions and remain unaffected by sunlight, ultraviolet light and even acid rain. When laid correctly, Duquesa will last the lifetime of a building and is ideal for use on any major project including supermarkets, schools, city offices and prestige homes.
Duquesa slate is a tough natural material which has been tested to ensure it meets the current national standard, BS EN 12326-1:2004. This requires detailed and regular testing of the output from every source marketed within the EU. Cembrit ensures all its slates meet the relevant regulations, as it gives specifier’s the peace-of-mind that any product coming from Cembrit is up to standard.
Cembrit offers a wide range of natural and man-made roofing slate, shingles, cladding panels, and corrugated sheet. Quality levels at group factories are rigorously maintained to high standards with many products manufactured under the control of ISO 9001 and British Board of Agrément. Cembrit UK is a member of Cembrit Holding A/S (formerly the Dansk Eternit Holding A/S) of Denmark, one of Europe’s major building material producers of fibre reinforced cement products for the roofing and cladding industry. The ultimate parent company FL Smith recently celebrated its 125 year anniversary.