Kerakoll

Astley Castle, a 12th century castle, located in Astley, Nuneaton, was a ruin before it was restored by the Landmark Trust. Witherford Watson Mann, who won the Stirling Prize for Architecture for the project, specified Kerakoll adhesive and grout for the tiling. The architects picked Kerakoll because of the company’s reputation for high quality environmentally friendly products. The accommodation was inverted with the bedrooms and the bathrooms on the ground floor, and the kitchen and living room on the first.The lower level floor was tiled with a mixture of black terracotta and black quarry tiles. The same tiles were used on the bathroom walls.The adhesive needed to be suitable for walls and floors and fully stable in the presence of water, as there were places where the tiling touched the original castle walls which were still drying out. For the same reason, a low absorption water repellent grout was specified.Kerakoll grouts contain NHL, a natural fungicide preventing bacterial and fungal growth without harmful chemicals.

Kerakoll products were chosen for the screeding, vinyl application and tiling in the redevelopment of on of John Lewis’ most high-profile commercial buildings in Exeter. The existing 1960’s building posed a range of design issues for the Architects Glen Howells including limited floor depths to accommodate the required new build-up. Kerakoll’s specialist team were able to assist with technical advice and product guidance for the specification of a thin bonded screed throughout the 11,000m2 building. The tiling contractors Spot On Services (SW) Ltd laid 9,500sqm of screed and 7,000sqm of tiles, utilising a workforce of approximately 30 tilers, screed specialists and labourers.Damp proofing for the basementThe basement of the store needed damp proofing to isolate the new screeds from contaminants introduced by rainwater during construction and Kerakoll’s EP21 was chosen for this task, as the 2-component product is ideal for use in renovation work. This was then topped with a Keracem Eco screed and movement joints were filled with a Kerakoll joint sealant.4000m² of low-thickness, highly stable screedsKerakoll Keracem Eco hydraulic screed binder was selected for use in 4000m2 of the store, due to its ability to be laid at low thickness, rapid-drying properties and high dimensional stability. The Keracem Eco screed was bonded to the sub-floor using Keraplast Eco P6 bonding slurry.By bonding the screed with Keraplast Eco P6 to the concrete substrate, the Keracem Eco screed could be laid as low as 20mm while maintaining its high compressive and flexural strength. Keracem Eco has a working time of 3 hours which allowed the screeding teams to complete large areas without day joints. Keracem Eco screeds allow for foot traffic after only 8 hours, allowing follow-on trades to continue working while screeding progressed, assisting with programme times. Elsewhere, the floors were levelled with a Kerakoll water-mixed, fibre-reinforced levelling compound, taking care to minimise the imposed loads over the existing slabs. Then tiling and grouting was completed using Kerakoll products. Vinyl flooring and carpet tiles were laid throughout the office areas using Kerakoll adhesives.