SSQ takes extra care at Thingoe House

Originally built in 1973, Thingoe House extra care development in Bury St Edmunds required a complete renovation. As such, SSQ Slate provided 25,000 of its Del Carmen slates to help bring a new lease of life to the existing roof.  

Located in a conservation area, there was a requirement to ensure that all renovation works carried out at Thingoe House were sympathetic to the look of surrounding buildings, with selected materials also meeting very strict building regulations too.

As a heritage accepted slate, SSQ’s Del Carmen was ideal, being commonly accepted as a viable alternative to indigenous slates.  

Due to the height of the building and to help avoid future maintenance issues, SSQ’s Del Carmen slates were also selected to help avoid issues with staining and breakages.

With that in mind, SSQ’s Del Carmen slate is tested to NF228 standards – the world’s leading slate standard introduced in France which tests for water absorption levels, flexural and transversal strengths, density and the carbonate and non carbonate content. This independent testing procedure ensures that NF certified slates will not rust or leach and importantly, will not fade over time.

“We’ve worked with SSQ’s Del Carmen slates on a number of projects and have always found them to be of the very best quality – with that in mind, we knew that they would be well suited for use on the Thingoe House project where strict criteria needed to be met,” said Phil Lodge, Director of Lodge Roofing Limited.  

“Installation was carried out across one large area, together with a number of lower extensions. To help achieve an attractive aesthetic, slates were then fixed into place using twice nailed copper nails – this installation method went some way to complementing the rich deep blue/black rippled characteristics associated with Del Carmen slate,” he continued.