Sometimes it pays to be patient.
We were first approached about this project back in 2014 by the design consultancy appointed by Severn Fine Indian Cuisine in Bewdley, Worcestershire.
After fitting new duct work for the restaurant kitchen, local authority planning department Wyre Forest District Council, insisted on it being concealed in a more traditional material.
The restaurant falls within a conservation area, which covers most of Bewdley centre. A plywood structure had been built around the ducting, but had succumbed to weathering over time.
Unable to construct a traditional brick surround, we were called upon to provide a Brick Effect Flue Cover in box sections to slip over the existing structure.
Weighing in at just 8kgs per square metre and being moulded from actual brick, the product offers an incredibly easy way to mimic classic materials without the associated wet trades and preliminary works.
Colour samples were submitted to the design consultant and planning department for approval. And then...things went quiet for a while.
A change in designer/contractor to Plan-It Contracts Consultancy & Design Ltd, resurrected the project in early 2018 and things got back on track.
The cover was made in four sections which slid over the plywood and fixed through the mortar lines of the GRP (fibreglass) cladding.
A capping enclosed the top, with the extraction outlet on the unseen face of the structure.
Fitting was performed from a simple scaffold formation and took just half a day to complete.
The completed project was approved by planning and provided closure on what had been a long running issue.
Having introduced Plan-It to the benefits of GRP in construction, we hope to engage in similar schemes in the near future.
For more examples of this kind, please click here.