One of the largest Western Red Cedar cladding projects ever commissioned in the UK, requiring over 4,000m² of material, has been protected with Arch Timber Protection’s NON-COM Exterior fire retardant treatment.
The cladding was supplied by John Brash, a specialist timber importer and manufacturer, and used on The Rock, a £350m mixed use residential and retail development in Bury, Lancashire. The timber has been used to create a rear-ventilated rainscreen cladding system on all fa莽ades of the new Debenhams store and block ‘B’, a mix of residential and retail units. A mechanical secret fix system was specified to fasten the Western Red Cedar to the Debenhams building and a face fix system was used on Block D.
Western Red Cedar was specified by Building Design Partnership (BDP) because they were looking for a natural, sustainable material that would add an aesthetic contrast to the grey fibre cement cladding used on other aspects of the development. NON-COM Exterior is the only leach resistant fire retardant protection for timber that is listed and approved by the UK Wood Protection Association and does not require a decorative coating for exterior applications, which allowed the natural beauty of the Western Red Cedar to be a key feature.
Arch’s Fire Retardants manager, Jacqui Hughes, said: “NON-COM Exterior is the ideal fire retardant for this type of application. The appearance of the Western Red Cedar remains virtually unchanged by the treatment and it has the assurance of a permanent Euroclass B / class 0 fire protection that needs no further maintenance.”