A tasty project for Bristol’s Chocolate Quarter

Guttercrest have supplied over 100 large cast rainwater hopper heads, each with personalised name plates and over 700m of aluminium downpipes to the £60m redevelopment of the old Cadbury factory site in Keynsham, Bristol.

An important part of Bristol’s industrial history once housing a 5,000 strong workforce, the now redundant Somerdale site was one of Bristol’s best known employers before operations were moved to Poland in 2011.

The new development, named the Chocolate Quarter will include 136 retirement apartments and a 93-bedroom care home including retail and leisure facilities.

Guttercrest provided design support to P.B Cook Roofing with detailed drawings to tender for the contract, supporting the contractor to gain approval from their client.

The RHW208 hopper head, launched last year by Guttercrest is a supersized version of existing designs, cast from marine grade aluminium. Designed to fit across a range of property styles, from modern structures to period buildings, it accommodates a wide range of downpipe sizes, including the RW5 150mm round downpipe used on this development.

The CNC-machined name plates have been inscribed with the initials SMT for St Monica Trust who will run the care home element of the site. CQ for the Chocolate Quarter and AWP to represent building consultants Andrew Wilson Partnership.

The state-of-the-art CNC machining used by Guttercrest allows them to produce precise, complex three-dimensional shapes and lettering to a hopper. The end result is a totally bespoke hopper which can be used to personalise a building.

Rainwater hoppers are more than just functional items and are often used as architectural features that dramatically improve the aesthetic appearance of a building.

Guttercrest can assist architects and designers in the design and specification of individual aluminium hoppers.

To find out more about Guttercrest’s range of hoppers and downpipes, visit the website.