Weber External Wall Insulation transforms Cruddas Park, Newcastle

The site occupies a prominent gateway to the Newcastle City Centre with panoramic views across the Tyne Valley, and has been a long standing priority for urban regeneration.  The four-year project has been planned to provide affordable, edge of City Centre living within a rejuvenated 4.5 hectare area of green space that provides communal gardens, walking trails, public art and increased parking. The scheme brings benefits to existing residents of these 1960’s hard-to-treat properties in terms of improved homes for rent in a well designed and attractive mixed tenure community.  

This complex project is backed by Newcastle City Council, Bridging NewcastleGateshead, and New Deal for Communities.  The main contractor was Wates Living Space and the weber.therm XM External Wall Insulation system was installed by Astley Facades.  

Dave Woodcock, Commercial Manager, Wates Living Space, is justifiably proud of the project. “Residents now have technically advanced homes and the whole area has changed quite dramatically for the better. The weber.therm XM EWI system has proved the right choice for looks and thermal efficiency.”  

The external refurbishment of these 15-storey towers with weber.therm XM External Wall Insulation has dramatically improved thermal efficiency and simultaneously completely rejuvenated the external aesthetics of the towers. The u-value of the walls prior to the work was in the region of 1.45 but this was reduced to a far more comfortable 0.29 through the use of 100mm of mineral fibre, fixed to the substrate with mechanical screw fixings.  The main render basecoat is weber.rend LAC with a reinforced meshcloth for added strength and movement control. The primary finishing coat at Cruddas Park is dry dash finish render applied to weber.rend PTC polymer topcoat. The detail panels have been coloured using a special blue weber.plast TF acrylic finish.

weber.therm XM External Wall Insulation is one of several external wall insulation systems designed by Weber for use in refurbishment or new build applications and suitable for masonry or steel framing substrates.  The systems are particularly effective in thermally improving non-traditional low and high-rise dwellings and carry full certification by the BBA. Funding for social housing schemes is available via Weber under CERT and CESP schemes.  

Steve McGowan of Astley Facades is enthusiastic about the visual and technical merits of the weber.therm EWI system. “Using Weber EWI does not reduce the room space but does dramatically change the thermal qualities of the properties. The clean render finish makes the properties weather proof to a high standard and also changes the visual aspect totally. The blue detail panel highlights add real character. The regeneration is quite outstanding.”