LAUREATE GARDENS, HENLEY ON THAMES

Leca LWA was specified for the scenic green roof on the Henley on Thames. This project was a development of old and new structures in the creation of a new apartment building. The existing building was renovated to create a car park for a new apartment block. The architects wanted to create a green roof which offered a green space that acted as a scenic and colourful space for its residence.

In the development phase, the architects were faced with load capacity issues on the existing building where a car park was created and material such as expanded polystyrene (EPS), which was originally proposed for the project offered no drainage capacity. Leca LWA was proposed which offered a lightweight solution with the drainage properties required for water retention during storms but it also provided the growing properties offered through soil.

After careful consideration, 2.2m3 bags of Leca LWA were delivered to the site by a crane. The site itself had extremely limited access with the site being on a roof top, the delivery of Leca LWA in 2.2m3 bags provided a further useful solution for the contractors on site.

On the day of installation, the contractors were unfamiliar with Leca LWA and they originally treated the material as a type 1 material which could not be compacted in wet weather. Once the site team were aware and confident that the material could be compacted and positioned in wet conditions following a torrential rainfall – this accelerated their ability to continue their work.