Urban Design Guide - Section 2 Enhance and ... - Islington Council

2.3 ELEVATIONAL TREATMENT
Colour needs to be used with care.
Colour that is carefully chosen and intelligently
integrated within the façade can sometimes add
interest.
Quality, Ageing and Sustainability of
Materials
Good quality materials and fixings should
always be used. This is especially the case
with contemporary buildings, which have less
decoration, and rely more on the finish of the
materials.
The choice of materials should be influenced
by the way they age, as well as their wider
environmental impact. The Green
Construction Supplementary Planning
Guidance provides detailed advice on the
latter. Materials should normally be
selected that wear well with age and last
a long time, and those that are known to
weather badly with age should be avoided.
Consideration should be taken given to
weathering properties of materials at the
beginning of the design process. Care needs
to be taken with finishes that require more
maintenance such as some timbers. Other
materials such as some cladding and render
finishes can fade and appear rather dull after
they have been sun bleached. Examples of
how materials appear after they have been
weathered should normally be sought.
Use of Bright Materials
Care needs to be taken with bright or
colourful materials where they inappropriately
draw attention to particular buildings, and
away from the street or adjacent spaces. This
is especially the case with large or prominent
buildings which already stand out where the
use of neutral colours or, materials that match
their context may be more appropriate. Highly
reflective materials may also be problematic if
they create glare.
Tower block finished in neutral colours
that do not shout out loudly.
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Islington Urban Design Guide December 2006