Case Study - Private House, Collingwood Blend, Nr Ringwood

WINNER Clay Roof Tile Awards - "Best Self Build Clay Roof"

Clay Roof Tiles
Dreadnought Collingwood Blend plain tiles, bonnet hips and valleys
Roofing Contractor:
Prestige Roofing
Architects:
Mr. Richard Sheerin, Ringwood, Hampshire

Background

The site for this new build is on the edge of a hill with different levels that have been incorporated within the design of the house.  Mr and Mrs Denning wanted to centre their home on the magnificent view of the lake and by angling each of the wings at 45 degrees to the main feature of the house, 3/4 of the rooms are positioned to enjoy these dramatic views. This design has resulted in a most unusual roofscape where the different facets of the roof cut in at different angles.  The multisided nature of the design is further emphasised by the linear shadows cast by the unusual number of verges on adjoining roofs. Only plain clay tiles could have achieved the elegant sleek lines of the roof, or could have coped with the small triangular roof areas, which are central to the modern design of this property. 

Only natural roofing materials were considered, to blend in with the rural surroundings and add a rustic feel to this modern house.  Slate was also considered, but was deemed too heavy.  The regularity of shape of Dreadnought plain clay tiles enhanced the modern design helping the clean lines while the variety of natural brown/red colours within the Collingwood blend reflect the natural colours of the surrounding woodland.   

Because all Dreadnought tile colours are achieved naturally, entirely through the firing process without the use of artificial stains and pigments, the colours blend together without appearing contrived.  The local planning authority, accepted the choice of these tiles without any issues as they were deemed to be in keeping with the development policy DW-E1 of the adopted New Forest District Local Plan First Alteration.

Challenge

The roofs intersect at greater than 90 degrees on plan so there are numerous non standard hip and valley runs.  The architect decided that mitring the hips and valleys and using lead soakers, provided the neatest solution and best suited the contemporary design.  However, where the roofs did intersect at 90 degrees, he used over 600 40 degree Valley tiles and on the “spider hip”, an octagonal type roofing feature, where several hips converge to a single point, standard Bonnet Hips were used.  The design incorporates an unusual number of verges and abutments, even including a raking verge.  As a result, there were many tiles to cut, and the consistency in the shape of the Dreadnought machine-made tiles helped provided crisp and accurate finishes.

The tiles were supplied as 2 separate colours which Robbie Acott mixed himself by loading out the roof in piles of 30 tiles consisting of 21 brown heather and 9 country brown thus producing a 70 : 30 mix.

Solution

The main design criteria was to build a house where the majority of the rooms enjoy the dramatic views of the lake and beautiful New Forest Countryside beyond.  The available space within the site was insufficient to allow a linear design centring on these dramatic views.  The solution was to angle 2 side wings at 45 degrees to use the different levels of the plot as the core concept within the design of the house.  This resulted in there being 3 main facets to the roof.  The main feature is the glass fronted gable with its external solid oak beams which provides the central living area of the house, the hammerhead end joins the house at 45 degrees and the various porches cut into the roof at different angles.

Result

Comments

Robbie Acott of Prestige Roofing stated that he “frequently uses Dreadnought Tiles and likes working with them.  The carpenter had done a good job coping with the many changes in direction of the roof timbers and maintaining the correct pitch which made my job easier.”