HEAVY 3 slate for award-winning new build arts and crafts home

CUPA PIZARRAS’ thick Heavy 3 natural slate roofing has been specified and installed for an exceptional, Arts and Crafts-style large, private family home in Scotland’s Gleneagles.

The product is being used to provide a durable and lasting high quality finish across this impressive 680 square metre roof.

Designed to accentuate the traditional appearance of this stunning three-storey new build house, the diminishing course natural slate roof features a 50-degree pitch, with each course getting progressively shorter in length towards the roof’s ridge.

Fiona Robinson, design architect and founding director at Thomas Robinson Architects, commented: “After discussion with the client, it was agreed that an attractive Arts and Crafts-inspired house would suit the plot best.

“Although, natural slate isn’t a typical roofing choice for this architectural period, a loose code was set by the Gleneagles Estate to maintain quality and harmony in the area. This naturally made slate our first choice with it being familiar locally.

“Working alongside CUPA PIZARRAS’ Specification Manager, Allan Liddell, we specified the Heavy 3 natural slate as we knew it would provide the refined, traditional look we wanted to achieve and, more importantly, would deliver the hard wearing finish our clients were looking for.

“We’ve used it on multiple projects in the past so were 100% confident in its performance – the weather can be pretty unforgiving here in Scotland.”

The blue black Heavy 3 is supplied as a 300 x 200mm slate and, unlike the artificial products, the colour and the properties stay unalterable through time with no maintenance required.

Split to an average thickness of 7mm to 9mm and featuring non-rusting metallic particles and thin laminations, which form a riven surface, the finish suits this traditional architectural style.

The roof also includes mini-dormer windows to break-up the expansive roof space, giving a fine detailed edge to the appearance of the house externally, as well as creating a pleasing effect from the inside.

With a combination of warm and cold roof construction dependent upon internal arrangements, the specification of the warm roof generally comprises 245mm-deep timber rafters built-up with a 190mm thickness of insulation, a 50mm air gap, traditional sarking boards and overlaid with a layer of Proctor Roofshield breather membrane.

The Heavy 3 slates are securely fixed with copper nails combined with complex leadwork detailing, which included lead soakers and wood roll verge detail.

This approach resulted in a robust cohesive system to provide excellent weather protection, which fully complies with Scottish building regulations.

Installed by expert roofing contractor John Carey, the installation was completed in a seven-week timeframe

“The CUPA PIZARRAS team provided exactly the support we needed for this impressive residential project,” John commented.

“We worked closely with the design team and the CUPA PIZARRAS specification manager to ensure the correct product was used, with additional support throughout the installation as and when it was needed. This really helped to keep the installation process on track.

“I’ve been fixing CUPA PIZARRAS slates for the last twenty years and use them on every job I do. The quality is always reliable and the products are consistent.”

This prestigious project earned Thomas Robinson Architects the accolade of Winner in The Herald Property Awards for Scotland in the ‘Individual New Build’ category.