Walling Materials

All Character Areas

Due to the sloping nature of the site, there will be a requirement for retaining walls within the public realm. Materials used should reference local materials and reflect the sustainable aspirations of the development.

  • Suitable walling materials include:

  • Flint

  • Kentish Ragstone

  • Conrete walls

  • Engineering brick

Flint

Flint is a by-product of the chalk quarrying industry. This has traditionally been knapped and used in Kent’s vernacular architecture (1,2).

Kentish Ragstone

Kentish Ragstone is quarried locally at the Hermitage quarry. This is the only hard and durable stone in the area and has been used as a building material since Roman times (3).

gabion wall -kentish ragstone-.jpg

Engineering brick

Engineering brick - blue-grey colour references flint and this extremely durable material is available in a versatile range of special shapes (4).

Engineering brick.jpg

Concrete walls

Cement has been manufactured at Ebbsfleet for a very long time. There are aesthetic and structural advantages to this material as it is a versatile median with strong aesthetic links to the pale grey of the chalk cliffs. To cut down the use of cement- 60-80% of the cement can be replaced with inert fillers such as pulverised fuel ash and blast furnace slag (5,6).

Play on the way materials

All character areas

Play on the way is an integral element to a number of the public realm typologies. For each typology ‘play on the way’ will need to be carefully developed to suit the setting, and to ensure that children are playing within areas that are suitable and safe. Specialist play equipment providers should provide guidance on siting equipment, soft fall requirements, maintenance and inspection.

It should be noted that almost any element of the public realm can be developed through thoughtful design to provide a play function. For this reason, play on the way elements may take various forms and require a varied palette of materials for successful inclusion. Based on the design guidance provided in Section 4, suitable materials for play on the way features could include the following:

  • Paving variation in concrete block or natural stone

  • Metal play elements selected to fit with the site’s landscape character area

  • Timber play elements, such as stepping logs or low level balancing logs

  • Concrete stepping stones or natural stone boulders