Kennedy Court

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Forticrete masonry specified for luxury retirement village.

The external facade of Kennedy Court at Audley St. Elphins Park, a luxury retirement village in Derbyshire, has been completed using Forticrete high performance cast stone blocks in three bespoke colours.

Consisting of 15 two bedroom apartments, Kennedy Court is the third phase of development at St. Elphins Park, which is set within 14-acres of landscaped grounds on a 44 acre site in Darley Dale. Forticretes purpose-made cast stone Regency Ashlar blocks were previously specified by M2H Architects after working closely with Audley Retirement and the local planning authority for the main body of the external skin of Robinson Court, an earlier development phase.

The cast stone blocks were used as they seamlessly replicated the existing natural stone finish of St Elphins House, the centrepiece of the luxury retirement village in Derbyshire, a strict requirement of the local planning authority. Varying size blocks up to 600mm in length built in 3 different height courses combined with narrow 5mm mortar joints were used to closely imitate the construction of St. Elphins House.

In order to successfully replicate the texture of the natural stone Forticrete took wax rubbings of the natural stone on St. Elphins House, this was then passed onto the product development department. Forticrete developed a unique masons tooling finish for the face of the Regency Ashlar block, unlike the smooth face of traditional ashlar blocks. The Regency Ashlar block also boasts a unique colour matching capability thanks to a library of several hundred bespoke colours, enabling the manufacture of perfect blends, best suited to complement both St Elphins House and the developments surrounding environment.