Case studies
Osborne Place, Belfast
When Belfast developer, Liam Napier decided to move in to his dream home he turned to people-power to give the plush south Belfast development some extra kerb appeal.
The house, nestling in up-market Osborne Place, close to the city’s Malone Road, had been built by a local developer, but, although wowed by the property, Liam knew there was something missing.
"I suppose it was a case of really loving the house, but not being too excited about how the place was presented externally. While everything was tidy enough and the workmanship was good the overall first impression was lacking colour, design and personality," says Liam.
In order to make his dream a reality, however, Liam knew he was going to have to persuade his four neighbours in the private development to invest in some professionally designed external landscaping.
Within a short period of time, with the neighbours in agreement, Liam was soon nominated as pro bono ‘project manager’ and wasted no time in recommending to his new ‘partners’ Tobermore paving and walling to bring their treasured homes to life.
Tobermore designer, Lynn Carpenter was invited to visit the scheme; discuss the project objectives and produce a set of drawings.
"This was an exceptionally valuable part of the process" says Liam, "While Lynn gave us some very definite guidance we also had an opportunity for input in terms of colours and textures of materials."
Lynn explains: "The residents wanted a really old style courtyard feel to give it a more up market look and they wanted to incorporate the car parking area into the courtyard to give it a more unified feel.
"It's a look which is very easy to achieve with paving and Tobermore's Tegula, with its rumbled finish making it appear aged, was the obvious choice.
"The parking area was designed in Heather Tegula in such a way as to give it a patio feel and make it accessible to both pedestrians and vehicles.
"It also meant the design could be divided up very subtlety as you can use the brick in different ways to give definition between boundaries, but still make it feel like a large area.
"I also used some flags for the access areas to the houses to give the step definition and incorporated little beds next to the houses to soften the scheme a little.
"The overall effect was really quite striking."
Liam, has nothing but praise for the Tobermore team.
Not only has the Tobermore product transformed the first impressions of the homes, but it has also roused the curiosity of passers-by, who are keen to find out where the products came from.
Figures have shown that adding kerb appeal is one of the most effective ways of adding value to a home. While Liam and his fellow neighbours haven’t had their homes re-valued he is convinced their external landscaping project will provide a sound return on investment.
"That’s always the added bonus," he says.