CASE STUDY – ST MICHAEL’S MOUNT
TOURIST INFORMATION CENTRE
THE BRIEF
Home to an ancient castle, the St Aubyn family, and a subtropical terraced garden, the island of St Michael’s Mount is a national gem with an endless rich historic legacy, dating back to the 1650s. The tidal island hosts an abundance of visitors each year, which has led to the development of a new tourist information centre, which was a former boat house.
The island is connected to the mainland by a causeway, which is only accessible during low tide for approximately four hours each day. The nature of this meant that the construction project was extremely time critical with a short window for contractors to deliver and discharge any products for the development. It also meant that any products coming from the mainland needed to withstand any water damage from nearby wet areas.
The development of the old boat house was led by Penzance-based Sprayrend, which stipulated the need for an innovative screed solution for the flooring works, which would work around challenging environmental factors and also offer high performance.
The project began in February 2023, and was set for completion ahead of Easter 2023, ready for its National Trust visitors to enjoy.
THE SOLUTION
The varied environmental challenges at the project, including a short window to access, deliver, deposit and return to the mainland, meant a ready-mix screed was the ideal solution.
Having been approached by Sprayrend to supply screed for the project, Aggregate Industries recommended high-performance Cemfloor Therm, which met the brief for a ready-mixed and water-resistant floor screed. A total of 9.4m3 of ready-mixed Cemfloor was supplied from Aggregate Industries’ Bodmin plant, with a short window to deliver and deposit the product around the tide times.
Factors including traffic, accidents and weather all had to be considered, otherwise there was a risk of missing the opportunity to access, and return from, the island before the next tide cycle.
Given the location and time critical requirements of the project, this was a unique brief which called for an innovative solution. By using Cemfloor, the team was able to pre-mix the product – saving valuable time and storage space on site – and deliver it in a timely and efficient manner in collaboration with Sprayrend, who then laid the product.
Cemfloor is a fantastic solution that offers easy installation and quick drying times compared to traditional screeds, so it was ideal for the project at St Michael’s Mount.
