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Originally renowned for its strong industrial background, Newcastle has now become a vibrant city with numerous and diverse cultural activities and many new buildings of architectural merit. Recently added to the list is the new City Campus East development at Northumbria University where concepts designed with environmental sustainability in mind have already won several accolades for both the university and those involved in the development.
Resin bound surfacing specialists, SureSet are proud to have been associated with this project and have their materials incorporates in many areas of hard landscaping. Lead landscape architects, SLR Insite was sufficiently impressed with the surface treatments potential and versatility for it to be utilised extensively to help fulfill a brief that read 'provide an imaginative and contemporary landscape setting that is both flexible and adaptable to respond to the changing needs of the University and to promote its status as an international learning centre.
Within the main campus, 4,033mē of 6mm Forest Green/Sterling Silver mix has been laid with pedestrian access and also part of a central feature depicting left and right sides of the brain. A further10mē of sterling Silver has been used elsewhere with 42 Tree Pits having been installed aswell, using 10mm Sterling Silver |
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Whilst the new City Campus East development is of most importance and integral to the universitys growth, the project also incorporates a new bridge crossing the central motorway, allowing students and local communities access to the existing city campus.
A striking aspect of its design is the utilisation of SureSet to create the words 'Northumbria University' within the footpath. To achieve the desired result, SureSet initially prepared laser cut MDF stencils from the plans as templates with metal edging being formed into position around the MDF to create the characters. At the same time, these were filled with the 6mm Foredt Green for transportation to site where the background colour of 6mm Sterling Silver was then inlaid up to them. With its 10 year guarantee, SureSet is confident that the resin bound surfacing will have no problem withstanding the bridges constant flow of traffic whilst retaining its pristine appearance.
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The third element making use of SureSet is a landscape 'makeover' for Ellison Courtyard, an area within the original City Campus. The courtyard forms part of the walkway linking existing buildings to the new footbridge and continuing onto City Campus East. Here a mix of 6mm Sterling Silver and 6mm Forest Green blends from each end to give a 50/50 mix at its central point with 10mm Sterling being used for Tree Pits. To quote the University ' the new Ellison Courtyard provides a high quality oasis within the heart of the City Campus to be enjoyed by the whole University, community, visitors and others alike.
For SLR Insite the choice of materials had to balance the competing demands of sustainability and longevity and to this end SureSet was able to source much of its raw materials locally. SLR Insite Project manager, James Brewer, commented "We were looking for a really hard wearing and bright aggregate finish and SureSet gave us this, and some really crisp edging. I am very proud with the result and students often comment on the unusual Northumbria Lettering" |
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