Brett Landscaping has successfully enabled a Headmaster with a side-line flair for design to pave his own success, by creating and implementing the installation of an impressive 3,000 sq m of road and footpath paving using Brett materials at Chase Grammar School in Cannock.
The paving project at Chase Grammar, which academically is among the top 16 independent schools in the country, has been executed to improve the school’s previously tarmacked front grounds to better accommodate its expanding pupil intake - which has nearly tripled in recent years.
School Head of 17 years and former engineer Mark Ellse used his previous career experience to oversee the complete design, supply, modification and completion of the project, This incorporates Brett block paving to create an attractive hard landscaped footpath area, with the further addition of a reinforced road to complement the pedestrian paving.
Architectural practice, J. Mason Associates of Cannock, supplied site plans for the project, which combined the paving with an attractive landscaped vista. Effective drainage was essential to the paving scheme’s design; so graduating slopes leading to a central flower bed containing pin oak and landscaped side beds were incorporated within the design for rainwater from upper areas to flow into.
The choice to select Brett as the project’s supplier was made from a recommendation by builders’ merchant Ranton Building Supplies, as well as Mark’s own ground-level research of other suppliers’ installations in the locality, which confirmed the aesthetic and functional qualities of the Brett range.
Mark selected Brett’s classic Omega rectangular block, and the homely feel of tumbled Alpha Antique in Autumn gold to deliver the right practical and visual solution. This combination successfully divides the space and offering contrast, while also providing traffic guidance.
The paving has been supplied in 60mm for pedestrian, and the thicker 80mm for roads to withstand the greater vehicular pressure.
“Designing and project managing the paving scheme at Chase Grammar has been an exciting and rewarding challenge, enhanced by my choice to select Brett Landscaping as materials supplier,” explains Mark.
“The tumbled finish of the Alpha Antique slab supplied by Brett instantly conveys the feeling of maturity, and delivers a finished result that has transformed the school’s exterior superbly, with parents and pupils astonished by the transformation.”
To minimise disruption, the installation has been phased to tie in with the school calendar so the final sections are still to be installed.
Mark concludes: “By using Brett’s products we have designed a solution that combines practicality with aesthetic appeal, while constantly keeping to a tight budget.”
