Forticrete enters British Paving market

Traditionally, Forticrete – a sister company of Ibstock - have focussed on CMUs (Concrete Masonry Units), cast stone, and retaining walls but now, with the blessing of parent company CRH plc and in conjunction with Belgium's Marlux-Klaps they've decided to bring a touch of European elegance to the British paving market. A specialist division has been set up with a head office at Thornley, near Durham, while much of the stock and the southern office will be based at Forticrete's existing facility at Leighton Buzzard.

If you've ever had a chance to work your way through a European Paving catalogue, you'll appreciate the Herculean task involved in whittling it down to a representative sample of what's tastiest, what's most aesthetically appealing to the rabidly conservative British market and what offers maximum versatility.

The 60-page A4-sized full colour catalogue has been divided into 5 sections: Flags, Natural Stone, Pavers (CBPs), Edgings and finally, Laying Advice. Overall, there's a fairly European feel to the images, which is only to be expected given that there are very few British installations that could be photographed, but I suspect that a trained eye has sought out those images that are not as overtly North-European, so there's not too many of the boxy houses and no “foreign” cars on the driveways.

This is summat new on the British market and deserves further attention. The M-Coat is not some god-awful glossy sealant: in fact, you'd have a job to tell there was a coating on the surface because the flags look and feel just as you'd expect any other high-quality pressed flag to feel. Further, not only does the M-Coat prevent all the usual patio greenery establishing itself on the paving, it also prevents mud, grass stains, barbecue fat and host of other undesirables from adhering to the surface. Has your sausage sizzled and splashed the paving? Simply clean the surface with soap and water and you'd never know it happened – no greasy fat stain, just perfectly clean flags. Now if that isn't a major selling point for patio paving, I don't know what is!

So: to the flags, a range of twelve different products, in a range of subtle colours. Rather than attempt to describe each, I'll pick out those that particularly appeal to my warped sense of taste. Fiorentina® is a 400x400mm shot-textured M-Coated flag available in a beige or grey colour, with special feature flags which incorporate insets of a contrasting stone. By combining the four options, they can be used to create subtly styled patios or floors that are simple and decidedly unfussy.

Granibleu® replicates the look and styling of the famed Belgian bluestone, and has the added benefit of being available in a 60mm thickness, making it suitable for use on private driveways. As the blurb in the catalogue says, it is virtually indistinguishable from genuine bluestone, a super-cool bluey-grey, slightly sparkly stone that is bound to appeal to modern and minimalist designers. It comes in three different finishes: bush-hammered, buffed (polished) and a bush-hammered with buffed border option. Gorgeous with a capital G!

To be brutally honest, the natural stone section is sparse, featuring as it just the one product, a Travertine (yawn!). Yes. It's available in four styles and four sizes, but it is, at the end of the day, just another travertine and I've never been able to understand the appeal of a holey, pastel-coloured stone that gets swamped with dirt and vegetation in next to no time. I can understand the wish to offer a “natural” product and so provide a more rounded, comprehensive range of paving, but there are far better stone products available and why offer something that's already widely (too widely) available?

I'm not 100% sure about the creamy “Antique White” colour; it may be too light for some tastes and I'm concerned about tyre marks if it's used on a driveway, but as a contrast block, it should be fine. The Anthracite is a dark grey, somewhat darker than what we normally see labelled as “Charcoal”, while the “Autumn” is a reddy-brown-multi with a good wide range of colours. Both the standard Bergerac and the Mega version are available in 60mm thickness making them eminently suitable for driveway use.

The catalogue recommends summat called “Roman Pattern” but I reckon this will give more than a few contractors one helluva headache until they familiarise themselves with it. Unlike the usual tumbled blocks, Cahors doesn't have a consistent “width” enabling it to be laid in courses: it includes a size best thought of as a 'jumper' block, spanning two courses, and so creating a fully-interlocked layout. This should help reduce the incidence of channelisation we see on coursed layouts, but it may not be to everyone's taste.

For those more comfortable with the usual, staid, coursed layouts, Steve has selected “Stonehedge®” – yes heDge! This is the familiar tumbled paver although only available in one size, a square 150x150mm. The paucity of sizes is countered to some degree by the wealth of colour options – six of them, ranging from a pale buff “Champagne” to the “Autumn” and an intriguing blue-tinged colour blend they call “Oceanis”. Unlike some other European multi-colours, the Forticrete branded blocks have genuine multi-colour blending within each block and do not rely on having differently coloured blocks that have to be randomised prior to laying to achieve a multicolour effect.

I've never understood why palisade edgings are not used in Britain and Ireland. They are such a simple, elegant and straightforward solution to the problem of raised beds and awkward levels. More than a step yet less than a wall, a palisade edging is an absolute doddle to install but so few contractors and designers know about them that they have never really taken off and become as familiar as they should be. I do hope that Steve and his merry band at Forticrete have the success with this product that it truly deserves. If I had to choose one product from the entire range that I would like to see prospering on the hard-landscaping market in Britain and Ireland, it would be the palisade edging, Gardino.

Overall, this is a good catalogue that has significant appeal to those building a patio, but there's enough in there to attract those considering a driveway project. The photos are straightforward, with very few of them cluttered by human models. In general, they show the products clearly and with a touch of panache. The text is sparse, and very European in places – in fact, some of it reads as though it's been put through Babelfish, although to be fair, Steve is aware of this and promises a thorough review before the next edition. However, it remains a catalogue that deserves to be seen by every contractor, if only to whet their appetite and open their eyes to a different way of styling. Designers, landscape architects, and anyone with a desire for something more stylish in their garden, would be making a big mistake if they miss out on this one.