Using Cembrit Alpina natural roof slates is a breeze on the Devon coast

Cembrit’s Alpina natural slates have been used to great effect in the redevelopment of an award-winning holiday park in North Devon. The aesthetically pleasing material harmonises seamlessly with the coastal surroundings.

Located on the coast of North Devon, Woolacombe Bay Holiday Village is a seaside resort which lies at the mouth of a valley in the parish of Mortehoe. Voted as Britain’s Best Holiday Park in 2015, the development is a popular destination for family holidays. A recent construction project saw £4m redevelopment and extension of the resort’s entertainment complex. This included a brand new roof with the Cembrit Alpina slates providing an impressive, stylish roof covering.

Woolacombe Bay Holiday Village welcomes thousands of visitors every year, many attracted by its close proximity to the Tarka Trail and Combe Martin Wildlife and Dinosaur Park. The old entertainment complex was a listed, low rise (single storey) deep plan, flat roof, brick building constructed in the 1970s. Designed by Peregrine Mears Architects, the project presented an interesting design challenge – how to create a large building that is a suitable extension to a listed building. This called for a sensitive, imaginative design approach. In order to break up the mass of the building and at the same time, reflect something of the form of the original structure, a series of pitched roofs was created, with the form being influenced by the beach huts on nearby Woolacombe Beach.

Cembrit’s Alpina natural slates have been chosen due to their attractive appearance and long-lasting benefits. Barnstaple-based Roofing Contractor, DJT Roofing, specified and installed approximately 35,000 Grey/Green Cembrit Alpina natural slates on the multi-pitched roof. The company used the hook fixing method to secure the slates and lock them together tightly to achieve a neat finish.

“Being close to the coastline, resistance to wind lift was a major performance criterion for this substantial project,” comments Darren Todd, Owner, DJT Roofing. “Cembrit Alpina natural slates can withstand the most severe weather conditions and are unaffected by sunlight making them the perfect product for this type of coastal development. The design was also complicated and the Alpina slates were a joy to install, despite the challenges posed by the many pitches of the roof. The finished roof is also attractive and blends into the surroundings perfectly.”

Alpina is a Brazilian natural slate, selected from the finest deposits and produced at some of the best facilities in Papagaios, Brazil. It is available in two colours, graphite and grey green and in a variety of sizes. With its flat surface and pleasing shade variations, Alpina slate can be relied upon to create an attractive, high-performance roof.
Alpina slate is a tough natural material which has been tested to ensure it meets the current national standard, BS EN 12326-1:2004. Alpina slate has virtually no unstable minerals such as pyrites, graphite, carbon and un-oxidised irons and will withstand the most severe weather conditions: they are unaffected by sunlight, ultraviolet light and even acid rain. Laid correctly Alpina slate will last the lifetime of a building and are ideal for use on any type of project.