Cork Render, Port Soderick

The old arcade, brought back from the sea.

Heroes On The Water, which promotes kayak angling for former members of the armed and emergency services as a therapeutic activity, has breathed new life into the old arcade at Port Soderick. The work has seen the former arcade — which had lain empty and open to the elements for many years — reborn as a kayak storage unit with easy access to the sea.

"We can't thank the tradesmen enough who have worked on this project from the start to get the building to the high standard that it is at."

Heroes On The Water Isle of Man

We have been greatly honoured to be chosen to be part of this amazing project by Heroes On The Water Isle of Man — it will offer such a great opportunity for so many. All the team at Venetian have thoroughly enjoyed working at this beautiful location for such an amazing cause. A big shout out to Corksol UK, who not only supplied the ThermoCork for this project but also kindly donated some materials to it as well.

Why ThermoCork?

CorkWall is a natural cork render for new build and renovation projects. It provides a sustainable, innovative solution for homes, and for residential, commercial and industrial buildings.

Recommended by Kevin McCloud, presenter of TV's Grand Designs, it offers an eco-friendly and high performance alternative for plasterers and render companies. Cork is taken from the cork oak tree, but no trees are felled. Instead the bark is stripped away, and this releases oxygen into the air, which reduces carbon dioxide in the environment. That's good for the planet. The tree's bark grows back each time, so it's a sustainable resource — unlike quarried materials. The raw material goes to make ThermoCork.

The benefits of CorkWall

• Highly durable and flexible coating to prevent cracking
• Super adhesive — when it's on, it stays on, covering a range of surfaces including steel
• Patch repairs possible, avoiding costly or time-consuming whole-wall re-rendering
• Strong thermal insulator, and reduces thermal bridges
• Good sound insulation — reduction in noise and vibrations by up to 12dB
• Fire resistant (Euro-class B safety rating), water resistant and breathable, which helps prevent mould and damp and gives people a healthier living and working space

On a building standing this close to the tide, most of that list stops being marketing and starts being the specification. It went on over patched, weathered walls rather than a full strip-back; it flexes rather than cracks; and it breathes, which matters on a structure that had spent years soaking up whatever the Irish Sea threw at it.

And it has been tested twice over since. The first autumn gale came through in October 2019, only weeks after the render went on: it took a real battering, and still looked great. Then storms Ciara and Dennis arrived in February 2020, and we went back down to Port Soderick to check. It had survived those too.

A render that has spent a winter on this shoreline and still looks like the day it went on is not making a claim. It is showing you the evidence.