INCA EWI Case Study: Drapery Student Accommodation, Northampton

The residential scheme in Northampton town centre by specialist student accommodation provider Zone Developments is made up of two main buildings. The first building was constructed in traditional brickwork of two complementary rustic bricks, a deep red and a buff yellow. Although very successful, the first building was slower to build than was ideal but did benefit from the storage space that was to be the second building, following on almost immediately behind the first and directly opposite on the other side of College Street.

From input of the installer KE Peck, the self-delivery developer Zone were attracted to the fast-build nature of an Alsecco EWI system and were intrigued as to whether the Meldorfer slips could be manufactured to perfectly match the traditional bricks on the first building. This was a critical requirement of planning as well as the aesthetics which needed to tie the sister buildings together.

After a few slight iterations, a suitable sample panel was approved by the architect and passed through planning. The installation programme ran very smoothly with the sheer lightweight and space-saving benefits of the lightweight Meldorfer brick slips assisting hugely in the logistics of the build. The construction was completed to schedule and the client was delivered a superb development of 101 studio apartments in the heart of Northampton.