Location

London

Products Used

Minchenden School in Southgate, London was first established in 1919. Having been relocated shortly after, today the school premises consist of three buildings including the Grade II Listed Southgate House. At present the school is being re-developed to provide places for 120 pupils.

SSQ’s Technical Director Richard Cook was approached by BHP Architects to identify the slate that was installed on the original roof nearly 100 years ago.

After the initial roof survey, he established the slate to be Norwegian Voss phyllite in true random.

He was consequently invited by the architect to put forward a suitable alternative for the existing slate together with a working specification, as well as to monitor the site during re-roofing.

Due to the site being a Grade II Listed Building, the Voss slates were required to be stripped, re-graded and reinstalled on all the visible slopes. As a suitable alternative to Norwegian phyllite, Mr Cook put forward Riverstone phyllite, not just due to their colour similarities, but based on the technical properties of Riverstone. Riverstone Random was accepted by both the Building Control Department and English Heritage as being equivalent to the original slates and approved for use on the rear slopes of the building.