Client: Welsh Joint Education Committee
Architects: Capita Symonds Architects
Type of works: supply of Rosemary Classic Red 80 smooth finish tiles

Redland’s Rosemary Classic Red 80 smooth finish tiles have been specified as the vertical cladding for the new WJEC’s (Welsh Joint Education Committee) headquarters in Cardiff. The WJEC is an innovative and eye catching building, designed to complement the picturesque adjoining parkland. Capita Symonds Architects prioritised the aesthetics of the natural surroundings when they selected Redland’s Rosemary Classic Red.

With this in mind, Alex Robertson, the project architect at Capita Symondsstates: ‘The south elevations of the WJEC face onto a large area of parkland. During the design process, we decided to clad these areas of the building in a material that would appear soft, domestic and with subtle variations in colour. Hanging Redland’s Rosemary Classic Red clay tiles to form a rain screen in these areas provided the aesthetic that we wanted.’

The project also had to accommodate the local wildlife. Alex Robertson explains:‘There were bats present on the site and we were required to provide roosting areas within the new development. We incorporated this into the clay tile cladding, providing handmade access tiles at high level, so that the bats could live amongst the battens behind.’

The Redland Rosemary range is synonymous with natural clay plain tiles, adding distinction and character to UK roofing for over 160 years.Produced exclusively by Redland from the finest clays as single and cross-cambers, Rosemary Classic tiles are offered in a range of warm brindle, weathered and red colours that create attractive roofs and building claddings.

The WJEC’s new offices supply work spaces, meeting room suites, a staff canteen and welfare facilities. Work began in August 2007 and the project reached completion in January 2010.