Fairfax House, located in the Arena Quarter of inner-city Leeds is the latest building to undergo a complete renovation, converting a no-longer needed office space into residential accommodation. The 1960’s, seven storey office block, will be transformed into 154 studio and one-bedroomed apartments, with an additional two- storey extension.
Recent fire safety and building regulations insist that relevant buildings above 11m require that only non combustible materials are used on their exterior. It’s no surprise therefore that KEIM Mineral Paints, which conform to these most stringent standards, were specified by Colbre Projects to be used as the exterior paint on Fairfax House.
Paul Milligan, Business Development Manager at KEIM UK helps to explain, ‘We have been involved with various housing associations and councils as awareness of our fire resistant paint becomes more prominent. Our KEIM Soldalit exterior paint meets the A2-s1,d0 fire resistance standard, and this is just one of the properties which make our products ideal for residential buildings and wholly unique. Not only are all of our products made from natural mineral ingredients, they are also breathable, non-toxic, low VOC, and most relevant for Fairfax House, fire resistant.’
It made sense for KEIM to work with a specialist architectural spray-painting company, ORS Limited, that had the knowledge and capabilities needed for such a tall and prestigious project.
Jo Thornicroft, Sales Director at ORS Limited explains, ‘We have completed over 400 site rollouts for customers including Habitat, BMW, and Next providing retail shop fronts, cladding and curtain walling. The Fairfax House project utilises our vast architectural spray-painting experience. This application technique ensures that the KEIM Soldalit is applied evenly, and effectively. Imagine painting a seven-storey building! This method is far more time efficient, and therefore better for the building, and the client, to reduce application time and minimise disturbance.’
The project which started in April 2023, is due for completion at the end of this year and uses the combined skills of Leeds based buy to let property company YPP, and Brewster Bye Architects.