Lockview Court & Holyrood Court

 

Project Background:

These two mixed tenure 10 storey high rise blocks, comprising of 182 flats are located on the Dumbie Dykes Estate in Edinburgh were originally built during the early 1960’s.  After being identified as needing external refurbishment, they were transformed in a multi-million pound upgrade as part of the Edinburgh improvement programme to multi storeys.

After years of continual fixing and patching jobs the insulation and render was in a poor state and unable to be satisfactorily repaired.  Furthermore, it had become a health and safety hazard with the tenants suffering from ongoing problems due to being unable to heat the flats sufficiently.

Considerations:
The blocks were located in close proximity to the Scottish Parliament buildings and Heritage area, therefore it was felt that it was important for the blocks to positively reflect Edinburgh and so be aesthetically and thermally pleasing. In addition, due to the high proportion of privately owned properties within the blocks it was essential that the cladding solution was cost effective.

Design Solutions:
The primary aim of the project was to improve the external fabric of the blocks to meet the Scottish Housing Quality Standards targets.  To achieve this, the client’s key requirements were two fold.

Firstly, to match the original external style as closely as possible in both colour and texture so that planning permission did not have to be submitted.

This was achieved by covering the majority of the two blocks in NSC3 including a dry dash receiver with white render forming the background colour and accentuating key elements of the buildings using Sillisettef, a smooth coating from Structherm’s Italian range, in different coloured renders.

The gables are covered in NSC5 and rendered in a bespoke deep red crushed marble aggregate which strongly contrasts with all the other colours used.

The windows in the outside walkways are framed by columns of pale grey. The background colour is subtly broken up by individual balconies and a central column covered in a natural colour. The second key criteria was that all products used must be fully fire proof due to Scottish building regulations on buildings over the height of 18m.  Structherm used products which had been thoroughly fire tested including stainless steel mesh, stainless steel fixings and mineral fibre boards.

Results:
The thermal efficiency of the blocks prior to refurbishment was very poor achieving a U-value of only 1.65W/m2K.  After refurbishing the buildings this significantly improved the U-value to 0.32 W/m2K.

Both The City of Edinburgh Council and residents alike were extremely pleased with the results.