Rugby School Boarding House

Stepnell and GSSArchitecture use Haddonstone for Rugby School’s new boarding house

The client

Stepnell serve a broad spectrum of private and public sector clients and combine the focus and accessibility of a regional contractor, with a depth of technical competency, professional capability and national reach usually reserved only for larger organisations.  An established, mature business with 150 years’ heritage in the industry, Stepnell remain a family business at heart and have the resources and infrastructure to deliver larger, more challenging projects with a value up to £30 million.

GSSArchitecture is a national, award-winning practice where collaborative working promotes a creative, dynamic and forward-thinking approach.  They deliver inspiring and sustainable architecture across a variety of sectors including education, healthcare, commercial and industrial, sports and leisure, arts, residential and heritage works. With offices in Kettering, Gloucester, Harrogate, Milton Keynes and Newcastle, they operate across the whole of England and Wales.

The brief

Haddonstone was approached by Stepnell to supply high quality architectural stonework for Rugby’s School’s new boarding house.  Scheduled for completion in early 2019, the project marks the first phase of the School’s major refurbishment programme to invest in the improvement of all its existing boarding house buildings.

Designed by GSSArchitecture the boarding house, a 2465sqm, three storey development, will provide en-suite rooms for 60 students, additional staff accommodation, a dining room and further communal spaces.  The sustainable building will use carbon-saving green technology with energy-efficient boilers and solar photovoltaic panels.

GSSArchitecture specified Haddonstone as the supplier due to the quality and properties of the material which was important on such a prestigious site, but also for the reliability of delivering to the project completion dates which were important with it being an educational facility.

The solution

Haddonstone’s dedicated Project Manager worked closely with Stepnell and GSSArchitecture to fully understand their brief and applied meticulous attention to detail throughout the project, from initial concept through to completion. 

Using our own in-house team of experienced pattern makers, studios and steel workers, and using the very latest technologies, Haddonstone were able to deliver architectural stonework to the highest specification and with the utmost level of precision.  Each cast stone component was made to measure and with all the necessary cast in lifting sockets, fixing sockets, channels and so on, to enable fast and effective installation on site.

Our wet cast Tecstone was selected due to the robust properties of the product and because they needed to incorporate cast in fixing channels and sockets, which is only possible with wet cast.

Prior to start of installation, Haddonstone invited the sub-contractor and main contractor to our factory for our installers’ training day to advise on cutting, pointing, drilling, lifting and protecting the stone.  As well as teaching them the necessary skills, it gave the main contractor a benchmark of quality for signing off the sub-contractors’ works.

The result

Work started on site November 2017 with completion date in early 2019.  We supplied quotations, drawings and stone deliveries all on time or ahead of time. 

Stepnells Site Manager Kevin Hudson commented:

I have been impressed with the quality of service and product from Haddonstone”.

Ben Asbury, an Associate at GSSArchitecture who worked on the project with us said:

“Haddonstone was specified as a robust, and high quality product for the new boarding house at Rugby School.  GSS have been impressed with the level of service from Haddonstone, starting at the initial design stages through to delivery on site, and we look forward to working with them in the future.”

 

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