INCA EWI Case Study: Annexe Extension to The Heights, Harrow

The Heights is a large residential block on Lowlands Road Harrow, a busy residential and commercial road close to Harrow town centre and rail station. In keeping with all London areas, the pressure to provide more housing is immense and the building owners were keen to extend the property within the limited space available to the front of the building. Strict planning considerations had to be observed as the proposed extension would be very prominent and the desire was to blend in with the existing frontage of traditional brickwork of two colours.

From a construction perspective, the extension needed to be high performing for both the benefit of the occupants of the new extension and to meet building regulations, as well as needing to be constructed at speed and with tight restrictions for materials storage and transport movements. As such, the architect and main contractor explored the opportunity to use an Alsecco external wall insulation system, the Ecomin 400 system. The preferred finish would be a lightweight Meldorfer brick slip which, the client was assured, could match near-perfectly the existing bricks on the building.

Caparol (manufacturers of the Alsecco system) visited site on a few occasions to undertake the brick matching and the final samples were presented to the planners, and the positive decision to proceed was successfully granted. Installation took place alongside the SFS and sheathing board using a 210mm mineral wool insulation board and mesh reinforced render system. As the slips in particular are significantly more economical than traditional bricks, the full facade materials could be stored in the ground floor storage area making the logistics extremely convenient for the building teams.

As the submitted images show, the extension to the existing block has resulted in an aesthetically pleasing outcome which, although clearly new, nevertheless seamlessly blends into the overall property and enhances the street scene, demonstrating the versatility of the Ecomin EWI system and the authenticity of the Meldorfer lightweight slips.