News > GRP serves up ideal solution to Restaurant Owner's planning headache

Posted on 07 May 2010

An innovative West Midlands company has pioneered a solution to a planning problem which was holding back the development of new restaurants.

GRP Building Products Limited has worked with a London based architects practise to design a lightweight cover to mask the large metal extraction flues used in catering premises.

The brick effect cover has proved an ideal solution to an issue which was threatening to blight a new restaurant development in the Capital.

Damian Connolly, of Connolly Architects, said: “While working on plans for a restaurant in the Westminster area we received instructions from the planning authority that the extraction flue would have to be covered so that it would blend in with the brickwork.

“We have now discovered that this is an issue with the potential to affect many planned developments, certainly across London and possibly throughout the UK.”

GRP Building Products specialises in architectural features for industrial buildings and homes including brick effect cladding, chimneys, downspouts and guttering, slate roofing sheets and stone effect window surrounds.  

The company based at Ham Lane, Kingswinford, has now delivered 11.5 metres of camouflaged fibreglass brickwork to be attached to the listed building in Crawford Street, Westminster.

Les Hunt, Managing Director of GRP Building Products, said: “We were contacted by Connolly Architects who were searching for a solution to this specific planning issue.

“We were able to supply a 11.5 metre cover which, to satisfy the planning officers, had to be made to exactly match the Flemish Bond style bricks on the wall of the Grade 2 listed building.

“The cover is made in sections with the fibreglass laid onto a lightweight metal frame.  It can be easily screwed to the side of the building.

“The fine detail and exact colour match with the original brickwork means that it will look like a brick chimney.”

GRP Building Products’ skilled craftsmen can replicate any building feature in finishes including brick, stone, iron and slate.

Damian Connolly said that they had undergone extensive discussions with the planning authority lasting several months to come up with an acceptable solution.

“The only alternative would be to actually build a brick chimney or to commission someone to paint a brickwork effect on a wooden cover.

“We believe that GRP Building Products have provided the ideal solution.  Les and his team have been very flexible in their approach and worked hard to meet our exact specifications. This offers developers major savings in terms of time and cost of labour on site.

“Without this solution, the restaurant development that we were working on may not have gone ahead.”