Osborne House for English Heritage
East Cowes, Isle of Wight
Resin bound approach roads for Osborne House, built between 1845 and 1851 for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert as a summer home and rural retreat.
“The resin bound is in keeping with this prestigious site and it looks great. Working with Clearstone was easy and I’m really pleased with their attention to detail”Timothy Fagg, English Heritage’s Maintenance Project Manager.
Clearstone's client: English Heritage
Project Brief:
Osborne House, once the palatial holiday home of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, is a favourite with visitors to the Isle of Wight. With its splendid interiors and stunning views across the Solent, it attracts thousands of visitors a year.
But, over the years, this traffic has taken its toll and the Macadam approach roads were in a poor state. English Heritage needed to replace them with a tough, long-lasting surface that looked as if it had been laid in Queen Victoria’s time. Also, the colour of any new surfacing had to match the existing shingle loose chip of the courtyards and pathways and the warm sandstone colour of Osborne House.
Project Solution:
With 2000m2 of resin bound surfacing to install on approach roads and driveways that were in constant use by staff and delivery vehicles, traffic management systems had to be put in place. Timothy Fagg, Maintenance Project Manager for English Heritage, arranged a pre-start meeting with Chris Tunbridge, M.D. of chartered surveyors BLB and Clearstone Paving at which contract requirements, H&S regime, process for liaising with contractors on site, security and timeline were agreed.
To find the right colour for this historic site, Clearstone laid a selection of resin bound colours from which the committee selected Mocha – the perfect match for buildings and landscape.
It was essential that the road sub-strait was adequate for the traffic loading and so test pits were dug. Work then commenced with Batten Civil Engineering planing-off the existing road surface and relaying it with a new base-coat for the resin drive bound gravel finish.
With such large expanses of resin bound, it’s necessary to separate the paving into smaller areas – usually using metal beading – but Osborne House required a more traditional solution. Clearstone sourced and installed stone edging in Fossil Mint.
Then Clearstone’s experienced installers laid the resin bound in Mocha – the colour blending beautifully with this Italian Palazzo style property.
Project Conclusion:
Works started in January and Osborne House was scheduled to open for February half-term, so time was tight. Yet, despite poor weather and the logistics of transporting people and materials across to the island by ferry, Clearstone craftsmen laid 2,000m2 of resin bound – the equivalent of four football pitches – in 11 days.
Project Installation Details:
- Contract: JCT Minor Works Contract.
- Edging: Kinsley Systems
- Transitional Setts: Fossil Mint sandstone
- Area: Installed area 2000 m2, laid at a thickness of 18mm.
- Installation Date: January and February 2017
Clearstone are proud to work for English Heritage an organisation that cares for over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places.
“We feel extremely privileged to have been chosen to work for English Heritage at Osborne House. With the complex logistics of getting materials and equipment to the Isle of Wight.; working around the public and keeping them safe, we’re proud to have delivered the project on-time and on-budget,” says Clearstone Sales Director Andy Forsey”
Resin Bound Colour: Mocha
