If you stay at the new Aloft Hotel when you go to ExCeL London for the Natural Stone Show next year (30 April-2 May) you will be able to enjoy an excellent example of the work of natural stone landscaping supplier CED.
The 750m2 of paving consists of Alta and Oppdal quartzite and Silver Grey granite, with cladding‚ copings‚ benches and blocks also in the Silver Grey granite.
CED Ltd was approached by the award-winning‚ London-based designers Place Design & Planning‚ to help design and specify the natural stone element for the main forecourt and external hard landscaping of the new Aloft Hotel at the ExCeL London exhibition centre.
After some in-depth consultation with Giles Heap of CED Ltd, the design was finalised and the order for the stone placed by the contractor, AT Knotts, in July 2011. The stone was delivered just four weeks later.
The design incorporated long lengths of the three European stones chosen to create a ‘shimmering’ theme that both reflects the cladding of the new hotel and was technically able to withstand the constant use it will get from pedestrians‚ taxis‚ mini-buses and coaches. The stone was also used for a water feature and a number of large‚ solid-stone benches.
By incorporating riven Alta and Oppdal Quartzites from Norway, with their grey-green colours‚ reflectivity and superior technical abilities‚ alongside a slightly less reflective silver grey granite from Portugal‚ CED was able to create a subtle palette of colour that alters according to whether the conditions are wet or dry and the time of day or night.
Although the Portuguese granite was slightly more expensive than the Chinese alternative originally considered‚ it was chosen for the block benches‚ the specially designed rills and rough-hewn paving lighting blocks in the water feature because it enabled CED to control the quality of the units and speed up delivery in a way that could not have been achieved with granite from China.
“This is one of my favourite schemes of the year,” says CED’s Giles Heap. “It’s not the biggest‚ but it is certainly one we are very proud to have been a part of. The Aloft Hotel scheme is a perfect example of what can be done when a designer teams up with a specialist natural stone supplier like CED and a good contractor like AT Knotts, and is willing to think a little outside of the box.
“For me‚ being able to work with Place Design & Planning and to specify some of the more unusual European materials made such a nice change… because Europe has so much to offer. Yes‚ it is a little more expensive than China at the moment but that disparity in pricing is starting to disappear and, to be frank‚ there is a lot more to stone than G603!”