CONVERTED CINEMA GETS A GRAND DESIGN WITH KNAUF MARMORIT EXTERNAL RENDER

Brilliant white, weather resistant external render from Knauf Marmorit has helped to give a new lease of life to a disused cinema near Doncaster which has been converted into a unique family home. Taking over two years to complete, the ambitious building project by the ap Harri family has been filmed for a future edition of Channel 4’s Grand Designs television series.

The Kensington Palace Cinema in Thorne opened in 1927 with seating for 1,000 in stalls and circle levels. After becoming a Bingo Hall in the 1960s and then a night club, the Palace was left empty in 1998. Only its dilapidated façade and part of the foyer remained when it was purchased by Gwyn ap Harri in 2011. Now fully refurbished as part of the residential conversion, the art deco style façade provides an impressive front elevation for the family’s new build house.

Around 150m2 of Marmorit white render was sourced for the project from Travis Perkins in Thorne, comprising SM700 Pro basecoat and a top coat render finish of Conni S. Developed by Marmorit with special textile fibres, SM700 Pro is a multi-purpose adhesive and basecoat reinforcing mortar. It combines high adhesion and strength with the ability to repair cracked surfaces, making it ideal for refurbishment and new applications alike For the renderwork in Thorne, reinforcing mesh was embedded into the basecoat to provide further crack-resistance beneath the top coat of Conni S with a 1.5mm aggregate size. This pre-mixed silicone-based render finish has an adjustable consistency to suit different substrates and may be used to create a variety of textured finishes. After full drying out, the render provides a water-repellent, vapour-permeable finish with long term protection against driving rain and high resistance to algae and fungi.

Gwyn ap Harri says he couldn’t be happier with his new home’s Marmorit external render, which was quickly and expertly applied by local renderer, Kieran Taylor. Summing up, Gwyn ap Harri comments: “The finish to the render is absolutely beautiful and perfect for our project. It’s rock solid, looks great and seems to magically clean itself!”

Knauf Marmorit’s render systems are proven in use on all types of building project and are backed by excellent quality control and technical support, including helpful standard details to assist in the design and specification process. In addition, all of the company’s products and systems are certified to BSI 9001 and ISO 14001, the highest quality management and environmental standards.

Knauf Marmorit UK GmbH provides a comprehensive range of solutions for external wall insulation and rendering projects. These include the company’s Warm Wall insulated wall systems, base coats, finishes, render and scratch render to suit a variety of building types. It also offers render systems for framed system solutions, façade paints, primers and insulation products. Knauf Marmorit is part of Knauf, a family name synonymous with high quality building materials and systems, and a corporate group of global dimensions. For more information please go to www.marmorit.co.uk