The eye-catching curves of the iconic Redcar Beacon – the landmark development for the redeveloped seafront at the North East England resort – were made simpler and faster to achieve by using Knauf Aquapanel Exterior Cement Boards as the render carrier board.
Blending the designs of two buildings associated with the seaside – the lighthouse and the helter-skelter – the Redcar Beacon is a seven-storey circular building with an extremely tight diameter of just 6 metres that was created by Seven Architecture to provide a focal point to the newly-strengthened sea defences.
Main contractor Willmott Dixon engaged Farpod, the Ossett-based drylining and joinery contractors, to install Knauf Aquapanel Exterior as the backing for the curved rendered walls for the external and semi exposed internal walls, using a double layer in many cases for impact resistance.
Neil Farr from Farpod said: “We estimate that we saved about a third of the time we would have spent using conventional cement board and achieved a better finish because we would usually have to install two layers of 6mm thick cement board – which then leaves facets in the curve, rather like a 50p piece.”
The 24m tall building will encourage tourism so that visitors can take in panoramic views from the top-level viewing platform, buy refreshments from the ground-floor café and visit the art and crafts workshops that will occupy the floors between.
