Marks and Spencer’s striking new food hall uses Accoya wood to show off stunning façade in Ashby de la Zouch. The brand new building houses a food hall and café and has created 55 new jobs for the area.

The modern sleek design of the building, with its distinctive wooden appearance around the top with large windows to let in maximum light, was named the best new build in the last 10 years at North West Leicestershire District Council’s Good Design Awards.

The finished dimensions of the fins were 66 x 142mm in varying lengths, made from 75 x 150 Accoya that had been finger jointed.

The coating system was a factory-applied 3-part Teknos translucent film-forming coating comprising a basecoat of 2907 Aquaprimer and two coats of 2600 Aquatop. The colour code was FI026.

Shortly after Marks and Spencer’s new façade was installed, one of their neighbours on the Ashby retail park, B&M Home Sores, followed suit. The “low cost brand” opted for Accoya wood finger-jointed battens that look fantastic and will stand the test of time.

In 2021, M&S and B&M were revisited. The Teknos coating is performing brilliantly, keeping both façades looking great for generations to come.

Project Statistics

Architect: Marchini Curran Associates

Accoya supplier: Dresser Mouldings (part of the James Latham Group)

Construction: Pioneer

Completed and opened to the public: 1 November 2017