The overall aesthetics of this new brewery in Ashford were incredibly important to the overall design process with no detail left unchecked including the style of the fastener heads used to fix the impressive jet black cladding panels.

Designed by Guy Hollaway Architects, the Curious Brewery combines two functions in a single ‘supershed’. Alongside the stainless pipes and vats of the production facility is a new visitor attraction comprising space for tastings, a shop, restaurant and bar. The building makes a bold statement about modern brewing in Britain with a suitably ‘curious’ black facade which gives little away until visitors step inside where it then opens up the modern brewing process to visitors with an immersive approach to the brand experience.

The building, set in a 1.6 acre site, houses a total of 19 fermentation tanks, with a total capacity of 2,900hl, meaning that the brewery can hold almost 500,000 pints of beer at any one time.

A sense of the theatricality of brewing also extends to the production facility. Several of the brewery’s giant tanks, including grain and yeast silos, are located on the outside of the building, gleaming against the black flank of the shed, and together with metal stairs and ladders lend a hi-tech air.

Visitor facilities are located at one end, where the building rises to a pitched roof to give additional capacity internally, and some external architectural presence to the most prominent corner of the site. Inside, the bar features a charred Ebony timber front and waxed steel bar top, and a black aluminium lattice ceiling creates the perfect acoustic environment and references the external black diamond cladding.

Fixfast worked closely with the contractor to create the best possible finish by specifying their low profile stainless steel composite panel fasteners with powder coated heads which blended in perfectly with the cladding. These fasteners can be matched to any BS, RAL and NCS colours with a huge selection of these colours already in stock for a quick turnaround.

"We are extremely impressed with the aesthetically pleasing fasteners chosen for this project. Fixfast colour coated low profile fasteners and washers with very little lead time were a cost effective solution to an aesthetically pleasing building." - Jamie Cook, Managing Director.