GLENDYNE SLATES RESTORE BEECHWOOD HOUSE TO FORMER GLORY
Release Date: 1 Sep 2008
Glendyne natural slates from roofing specialist Cembrit have been used in the refurbishment of Beechwood House, a class I1 listed building in Newport, Gwent. The high quality slates were selected for this prestigious re-roofing project to replicate the original slate as they are an approved alternative to Welsh Ffestiniog slates.
27,000 Glendyne slates from Cembrit were used in the project and were fitted by Camilleri Roofing. Construction work started in October 2006 and was completed in July 2008 with Beechwood House set to open as an Entrepreneurship Centre in late summer 2008. In addition to returning the exciting building to its former glory, new craft workshops and a café have been added to bring further uses to the project. These lean-tos also benefit from Cembrit’s Glendyne slates and have been designed in a simple, modern manner using traditional materials and sit in an area formerly occupied by greenhouses.
“We chose Glendyne natural slate from Cembrit as this is a cost effective alternative to the traditional Welsh slate of the area whilst maintaining the same high quality” explains Mike Camilleri from Camilleri Roofing. “The slates were good to work with and, as Beechwood House has an unusually low pitch, the fact that Cembrit could provide us with extra wide slates to suit the roof was ideal.”
Cembrit is able to supply a wide variety of both natural slate and fibre cement slates in many colours and sizes to suit all projects. Glendyne is a distinctive blue-grey and is produced in the town of Saint Marc du Lac Long, Quebec, Canada. The quarry was first opened by British slate quarreymen in the early part of the 20th Century and roofs with Glendyne slate can still be seen in the area today, some 90 years later.
Built in 1877-78 by the architects Habershon, Pite and Fawkner of Cardiff and Newport, Beechwood House was the private residence of George Fothergill, a tobacco manufacturer and former Mayor of Newport. In 1900, Newport Borough Council bought the house and the grounds were opened up as a public park. Over the years it has been used as a convalescent home, was occupied by American Forces during WW II and became a hospital for the treatment of tuberculosis. The house had remained empty since 1987 and was severely damaged by fire in 1992.
Public Building - Refurbishment
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