James Hardie cladding installation in Loughton, Essex

The quality and range of building materials has made huge strides in the past 30 years and today’s story from Buckhurst Hill, Loughton, Essex is a great example.

Back in the 1990s this block of flats was fitted with white PVC shiplap cladding, the only colour available at the time. It had lasted perfectly well and, of course, it never needed painting or maintenance. But the flats were starting to look a bit dated.

Fast forward 30 years and we find that technological advances have not only produced many different colours, but also created such subtle variations in texture and grain that it’s hard to tell the difference between synthetic cladding and natural timber. It was time for a makeover.

A chance encounter

One day the chairman of the management company for the flats, a man named John, was walking his dogs round the block and came across our team from Summit Cladding working on a job nearby. The team was fitting the latest James Hardie composite cladding to five houses, and each of the owners had chosen a different colour.

John was struck by the variety of cladding now available and immediately got in touch with Summit to discuss how to modernise his block of flats round the corner. We were delighted to help, as this was a major project with over 30 flats in the block.

The white PVC cladding had been a replacement for the original timber shiplap from when the building was constructed in the 1970s, so now it was time for a second makeover to bring the building up to date.

Trendy new colour – Anthracite Grey

Summit removed all the white PVC, as well as some hanging tiles left over from the original construction and replaced it all with the latest James Hardie cladding in Anthracite Grey, a very popular colour and right on-trend.

It’s fair to say the building has been transformed from a rather ordinary-looking 1970s block of flats into something much more stylish and eye-catching. And it’s not just us saying that – Summit Cladding has received lots of positive comments from the residents.

Categorised in: James Hardie Cladding

This post was written by Summit Cladding