Corobrik's Burgundy Piazza Paver and complementary charcoal Corocobble pavers came into their own again with the extension of Ballito's Lifestyle Centre in the centre of the seaside town's thriving commercial precinct.

"Midway in 2011, we delivered 1050 m2 of Burgundy Piazza Pavers which were laid in herringbone pattern with a header course as a border to the new building. We also delivered approximately 900 m2 of Burgundy 60 mm Pavers to provide additional parking bays on the northern side of the parking lot," explained Mike Ingram, Corobrik Director of Sales, KZN and Border.
The 3 500 sq/m expansion to the Ballito Lifestyle Centre accommodated a new Edgars concept store and ten smaller outlets providing fashion, accessories, cosmetics and food. Convenience, accessibility and the relaxed, outdoor feel of the centre were retained whilst a significant addition was made to the overall shopping experience and offering. It opened in October 2011, ahead of the busy festive season.
According to Westville based Evolution Architects which specializes in retail architecture and green buildings, the imaginative extension to Ballito Lifestyle Centre changed a former 'strip centre\' layout scheme into an attractive 'lifestyle\' destination that cleverly extended and complimented the existing centre with an exciting sequence of environments. Evolution set out to integrate its new design with the centre's original "street scene" concept, providing an ambience that was "more tastefully contemporary than fashionably modern". Some changes were made to existing finishes and colours so that the new segment blended with the old.
Architect Raewyn Gowar explained that the pavers were used for the covered pedestrian walkways that form part of the outdoor shopping mall. "We were looking for a durable, hard wearing finish with aesthetic appeal that would provide some texture and colour to contrast with the main building which has smooth refined finishes and shades of white, grey and black as a colour pallet."
According to Gowar, the red colouring of the burgundy piazza pavers appealed to the architects as it was in keeping with the rest of the building's true to materials ethic. "The piazza pavers were selected as opposed to the standard pavers as the width of the paved area was narrow. The format of the Piazza pavers was therefore suitable for the design proportions. The pattern selected was herringbone which reinforces a strong diagonal, giving the optical illusion of a narrow width being wider than it really is," she said.
Ingram agreed that, because the Piazza paver is a thinner and not as wide as standard pavers, it provided and interesting effect when used and was becoming increasingly popular.
Gowar added that the choice of the Piazza paver for the Ballito Lifestyle Centre was not restricted to aesthetics. On the practical side, Piazza pavers are durable and easy to clean and therefore make for practical floor finishes, she said.
When it came to environmental considerations, she said that pavers were an environmentally responsible choice as they were manufactured from natural materials, are incredibly durable and are reusable and recyclable.
Ingram said the practical and uplifting aspects of pavers - especially when used as the Ballito Lifestyle Centre - included features such as durability under the harshest conditions, pattern versatility, colourfastness, flexural strength and skid resistance which not only made them ideal for the higher trafficked areas, but well capable of dealing with seaside environments.

He added that flexible segmental clay brick paving was particularly apt for such applications where changing tenant needs and outside space modification requirements required the lifting of selected pavement areas that could be easily lifted and returned without undue impact on the overall aesthetics.






Enquiries - Contact: Mike Ingram 031 560 3252
Shirley Williams 083 303 1663