Cromer: 350 square metres of Scottish larch on the Norfolk coast

The brief

A modern elevation that has to survive the North Sea

Cromer sits on the exposed north Norfolk coast, and this project put a large timber elevation directly into that weather. AJB Group was contracted to fit over 350 square metres of Scottish larch cladding on the property, transforming it with a material chosen to look good and to protect against the elements.

The design intent was modern: clean lines and a contemporary finish, creating a striking visual against the coastline. The client also wanted a sustainable material, which is one of the reasons larch was specified over a manufactured board.

Norfolk is a favourite patch for the company. It is one of AJB Group's three core counties alongside Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire, and the north coast in particular keeps coming back around: the same team had recently machined and built a Scottish larch watch tower at Wells-next-the-Sea, along the same stretch of coast.

What we did

Over 350 square metres of Scottish larch

The install ran to more than 350 square metres of Scottish larch cladding across the property. At that area, cladding stops being a finishing trade and becomes a package in its own right: the boards have to be ordered, delivered, stacked and acclimatised on site, and the setting out has to be planned across whole elevations rather than worked out wall by wall as you go.

Why larch on this coastline

Larch is a sensible specification for an exposed marine elevation. It is naturally durable, so it does not depend on a chemical preservative treatment to survive, and it holds its shape reasonably well in the wet and dry cycling that a coastal wall goes through. Left alone it silvers as it weathers, which on the Norfolk coast means it moves towards the same greys as the sea, the flint and the sky rather than sitting against them.

It is also a material that suits a client asking for sustainability. Larch is grown and sawn in the UK, including Scotland, so it does not carry the transport burden of an imported hardwood or the manufacturing burden of a composite board.

The wider cladding range

Larch is one of six cladding materials AJB Group installs, alongside timber, cedar, composite, shiplap and uPVC. The company has fitted rough sawn 6x1 timber cladding with a protective black coating across an events hall and workshop at Alford in Lincolnshire, cement board cladding on a domestic extension at Long Sutton, and an oak faced internal lining over PIR boards in the Wells watch tower. Different materials, same trade: getting a weather line right on a building that has to last.

What we need to price a cladding package

Elevations, a material and a target finish is usually enough to get a real number back. If the material is not yet decided, tell us the exposure and the look you are after and we will put a specification against it. Larch, cedar and composite all behave differently on a coastal wall, and choosing on appearance alone is how people end up recoating a house four years early.