Coloured Hygienic Cladding for Harefield Hospital

We were kindly asked by Abbey Builders, who had been contracted to carry out the work for this interesting project, to support them with the installation of a range of colourful hygienic cladding.   

Hospital facilities at the Harefield site date back to the first world war. Over the years the hospital has grown to become one of the country’s leading transplant centres.

Coloured Hygienic Cladding Planning Stage

The Architect employed to draw up the plans wanted to combine contrasting colours and finishes to provide a striking look. However, this type of design can present certain difficulties for hygienic cladding installers. When joining contrasting colours together, the sheet layout and joint positioning needs to be carefully planned. This is essential because cladding two contrasting colours on adjacent surfaces is unforgiving in hiding any errors. 

In addition, the decisions had to be made with regards to which colour weld to use. Further planning involved choices for joints to benefit from either a direct colour match or a clear silicone finish.

The Solution

Following in-depth discussions between all the stakeholders on this project, it was decided that three different Hygienic Cladding colours from the Trovex range would be used, these were:

• “Caribbean Sea” from Radiance range (satin pastels)
• “Stone” from Ambience range (richer pastels) 
• “Smoked Elm” from Essence range (woodgrain effect) 

An additional challenge was the variance of thickness between the Radiance/Ambience sheets (2.5mm) and the Essence sheets (2mm). This is because Essence sheets are originally designed to be used, not for wall cladding, but for Trovex Washroom products (such as Trovex Hygipods), and therefore they are slightly thinner. 

However, on this project, Essence sheets were chosen to be installed as hygienic cladding. This meant our installer had to carefully plan the installation of the sheets of different thickness. Adjacent sheets required a modified installation method to ensure the different types of sheets joined at the same level.

Naturally this was a time-consuming process and required our installers to have a very close eye for detail. Despite the need for accuracy to deliver the high standard required, our team worked diligently, and the project was delivered on time. 

Finally, if the complexities of thickness and colour schemes were not enough, another challenge presented by the project was the hygienic cladding to three windowsills. All of which were of an unusual shape, which is quite frequently the case on retrofit projects, especially so for this hygienic cladding installation in London.

The installation team carefully shaped the sheets ensuring the hygienic cladding was installed perfectly, maintaining the windowsills integrity. 

The Benefit

The blend of colours and styles of the hygienic cladding delivers a high performance and visually impactful alternative to conventional cladding schemes. The Goss installers overcame every challenge, installing the different coloured hygienic cladding effectively and with minimum disruption. 

It’s quite rare to see Architects being given enough freedom to experiment with more expensive ranges and strong colours, so it was great for us to be involved with the project.

Trovex have a range of colours and finishes: Ambience; Radiance; Brilliance; Essence and Resilience and for more information on these hygienic wall protection products and indeed, for installation on your project, contact:

Goss Environmental Coatings Ltd
office@gosscoatings.co.uk
01727 830352