LANDSCAPING & EXTERNAL WORKS 73 Success cast in stone
Toby Marlow of Haddonstone explains how architects can achieve the best outcomes when using cast stone and what advice they should expect from a manufacturer
T
here is a virtually endless variety to the forms which cast stone can take, from fully structural elements weighing three or four tonnes, to decorative reproductions of different architectural periods. Cast stone is regularly used to create lightweight retrofit designs which can quite literally create a Trompe L’oeil just a few millimetres thick, while appearing to have been carved from a slab of quarried rock.
Sourcing the right products for individual projects, however, means engaging with an experienced manufacturer able to offer the best possible technical and aesthetic advice based on long practical experience of producing bespoke, as well as standard cast stone designs.
Established in the early nineties, the UK Cast Stone Association (UKCSA) has grown over the decades to the point where its 11 full members – as well as an impressive list of associate members – offer a truly comprehensive selection of products ranging from garden planters to large scale structural components. UKCSA members’ capabilities range from producing stonework for modern, new developments to sensitive restorations of historic and listed buildings. In fact, it is Britain’s rich architectural heritage, from Roman times through to influential periods including the Georgian era, that drive customers and their consultants from across the continent, North America and Asia to seek the services of UK cast stone manufacturers. It is a truly eclectic industry, and one which can appear complex to the uninitiated. This means that cast stone manufacturers need to ensure they fully understand their customers’ unique project specifications, as well as being able to educate their clients on the different categories of product available, and their characteristics. Significantly, while cast stone products manufactured in the UK are normally compliant with overseas building standards, the converse is not the case: and UK
ADF OCTOBER 2024
Wet cast material poured by hand into a bespoke mould
specifiers should not assume that foreign made goods will match up in terms of production standards, especially regarding frost resistance – or with our increasingly onerous safety requirements. UKCSA full members manufacture three main types of products, with wet cast being the closest relative to conventional precast concrete units. In practice, these typically use a 5% water content to ensure the cement is properly hydrated, though particle size within the mix affects compaction; and the end results. The biggest contrast to semi-dry alternatives, however, is the use of super- plasticisers, which afford the mix the consistency or slump of structural concrete normally delivered to construction sites, with a strength of around 45 N, which with reinforcing offers superior load carrying capabilities, as well as allowing complex profiles. Then, fibre reinforced, hollow
It is Britain’s rich architectural heritage, from Roman times through to influential periods including the Georgian era, that drive customers and their consultants from across the continent, North America and Asia to seek the services of UK cast stone manufacturers
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