The Wickes Farnbrough DIY store is one in the latest Wickes stores to have been developed by Travis Perkins as part of its ongoing plan to double its UK store network to 400 by 2020.

Work on the Farnborough store started in May 2017 and was completed in November 2017. The extensive reconfiguration and refurbishment of an existing building was undertaken to house two retail units, one at 1,895m2 for the Wickes Farnborough store.

The challenge

A high quality, sustainable building envelope with guaranteed long-term performance were key considerations when choosing the cladding solution for the Travis Perkins-owned DIY chain Wickes. Supporting Wickes’ brand identity, a pre-finished steel in non-standard colour was supplied in corporate colours.

The Wickes Farnborough store was refurbished in two phases to allow the Wickes Store to continue trading with the minimum amount of disruption. Once Phase 1 was completed, this section of the building was sealed off and the DIY store opened to the general public, while work on Phase 2 progressed.

The solution

Nearly 7,000m2 of insulated panels manufactured using predominantly Colorcoat HPS200 Ultra^® and a small amount of Colorcoat Prisma^® pre-finished steel were used to transform the existing shell using a combination of colours to match Wickes corporate identity.

The project used Trimapanel® micro-rib 90mm on the front elevations and Trisomet^® 80mm for the rear wall elevations; Trisomet^® 120mm was used for the roof; and parapet gutters lined with a Colorcoat Aquatite^® PVC membrane.  (HR50) site assembled built-up system, which is being used as a feature on a number of the Wickes Stores, ran across the top of the Trimapanel® on the front elevation acting as a separator between the two units. LP1000 liner panels were also used internally.

Completed late 2017, close working with the installer, Country Roofing (Gloucester) Ltd, on the roof fix calculations helped to check that the fixings used would work with the spans and supports that were being used.