Kilsaran landscaping products refurbish campus

Kilsaran International, a leading manufacturer of paving and concrete products, has recently supplied a hard landscaping scheme as part of an extensive refurbishment of Lancaster & Morecambe College.

In partnership with Kier Construction Nothern for the first time, Kilsaran paving has transformed a tired college into an all new, high impact educational facility, without any demolishment or disruption to college life during construction.

Originally built in the 1950s, Lancaster & Morecambe College is ranked among the top ten educational facilities for young people in the UK, offering 16-24 year olds a wide range of vocational programmes, ranging from business, media and management training to engineering, horticulture and hairdressing.   

The project employed an unusual retrofit refurb scheme, without any requirements for the demolishment of the existing buildings. As the existing 1950s framework remained intact, Kilsaran worked closely with the project’s architects, EWA Architects, in order to fit the modern paving design into the existing areas. To match the existing space, Kilsaran were flexible to fulfill bespoke depth and width material requirements.

The process of retrofitting a renovation scheme can be time consuming and costly, as modern methods of construction are often far removed from existing designs and lay patterns. The need to accommodate for tailoring of supplies highlights the level of detail required when retrofitting an existing project. Given the scale of government funding, there has been a trend for schools and colleges to start from the ground up, demolishing the old premises to create new educational academies. This is generally considered to be a cheaper and easier solution than undertaking an extensive renovation.

Michael Giblin, associate at EWA Architects, commented: “Educational establishments, such as Lancaster & Morecambe College, are often looking to overhaul their environment but they don’t have access to unlimited resources, so it was critical to engage with suppliers who understood the requirement for a value engineered solution. The team at Kilsaran went the extra mile wherever required to ensure the scheme worked in the best possible way. They provided impressive flexibility and bespoke solutions to deliver a harmonious fit with optimum design flair, whilst adhering to tight budget constraints.”

“Having worked with Kilsaran on the Irish Heritage Centre in Manchester, we sought them out as we knew we could trust their products, guidance and expertise. We were confident that they would work with us to ensure the scheme was delivered to budget, while succeeding with all of the ambitious aesthetic and practical prerequisites as well, and we were not disappointed.”

In order to balance the budget constraints and aspirational aesthetic specifications, Kilsaran offered two landscaping packages, Gold and Silver. The desired package was then selected subject to the amount of footfall in the area, delivering the premium ‘Gold’ 80mm Pembroke paving solution to the busiest areas which attract the most traffic and visitors and ‘Silver’ 60mm Tara for the comparatively quieter vicinities.

“This was in addition to retrofitting the landscaping elements and keeping the campus up and running during the renovation, as well as balancing the aesthetics and budget. The main challenge for the project was designing the laying patterns. We used the laying style to maximise the appearance and performance of the products, while fitting to the existing platforms and reducing wastage,” commented Robert Davenhall, specifications manager at Kilsaran International. “Throughout the whole process, our aim was to transform Lancaster & Morecambe College into a facility of which the tutors and students can be proud. The site has been completely uplifted with a whole new look and feel.”

With a total supply of 3000sq metres of hard landscaping, the Pembroke and Tara paving products were hand laid in a detailed pattern on a standard bed, in Silver and Black Granite colour options. As a heavily textured product, Tara was selected due to its excellent skid slip resistance of a typical USRV 70 result, delivering a safe walkway for the high volume of students.

Both products are part of Kilsaran’s market leading eco range. Boasting an ‘A’ BREEAM rating in accordance with the Green Guide Specification, the eco range contains 100% recycled water, a minimum of 25% non-primary aggregates, up to 10% pre-consumer aggregate replacement and a carbon-neutral replacement for 50% of the cement.

David Wood, Principal of Lancaster & Morecambe College, said; “In order to modernise the College, we invested a substantial sum of our own reserves, together with government funding, to renovate our existing premises. The buildings were originally constructed over 60 years ago and showed typical signs of wear and tear, becoming old and tired with a very dated aesthetic. Our aim was to reflect the College’s educational standing and reputation in the physical environment. The renovation has successfully transformed the College, giving it a modern and professional appearance.”

Lancaster & Morecambe College remained open for teaching through out the works. David continued, “We expected far more disruption than we actually experienced, not a single college day has been missed! Despite the scale of the transformation, everyday college life continued as normal throughout the process, thanks to the careful and considerate planning of our architects and suppliers.”