NORclad have been supplying the timber cladding on this project over the past couple of years, a mixture of Tongue and Groove boards, feature fins, and open rainscreen profile.

Areas for accommodation and high footfall required to also receive EuroClass B fire treatment.

A HomeGrown Larch was selected for this project, having a fair spread of knots and character to be in keeping with its surrounding, a great example of selecting a suitable timber species that fits. Potentially if a timber with a lower knot content, or less defined grain would not have worked as well as this, in these natural surroundings.

With English Grown Larch only being classified as slightly/ moderately durable by TRADA, the decision was made to use a high pressure treatment on all of the timber supplied for this project. NORclad Lite preservative treatment was selected, which allows the timber to naturally weather down to the silver grey as you’d expect from timber after being exposed to UV light, the treatment also offers a 30 year warranty against rot & insect attack.

Flimwell Park is a pioneering new mixed-use woodland centre set amongst 46 acres of broadleaved, coppiced woodland, in the heart of the beautiful East Sussex countryside, the project has received great press coverages, having recently being featured on BBC Countryfile, Architects Journal and The RIBA Journal.

The Flimwell Park project is nearing the end of its 10-year process of designing and constructing a series of 17 timber buildings on a brownfield section of a 22ha ancient woodland in rural East Sussex near the Kent border.

Getting this mixed-use project through planning was challenging due to the protected nature of the site and the fact that the land stood well outside Flimwell’s development boundary. Flimwell is also the northern gateway to the High Weald Area of Outstanding Beauty entered from the London side on the A21 Hastings Road.

Recent changes to the planning system allowed local communities to have a powerful say on whether sustainable community-based projects could be approved as an exception. The client-builder was trusting and unusually intrepid, and the community supported the project from the start. With an enlightened parish council and a district council planning department supporting sustainable modern architecture, the project was on its way.

An early interest in the project, as a woodland teaching centre, from the Bartlett School of Architecture gave a boost of confidence that the project could become far more than a community park with a built-in working and residential community.
Steven Johnson, architect, The Architecture Ensemble

Architects View;

NORclad is delighted to have been a part of this project, proud to feature in many beautiful builds, NORclad is dedicated to supplying quality timber to create striking sustainable façades.

Attractive and durable, NORclad can preserve and treat timber cladding to ensure longevity.

Interested in bespoke timber cladding for yourself? Contact our specialists.