As part of an aim to improve leisure industry tourism facilities in the area, Pembrokeshire Watersports Centre is a non-profit making project to provide water sports and sea safety training on the western coast of Wales.
Owned by Pembrokeshire County Council, the centre recently received a £5 million investment to extend and improve its facilities across its two main centres - the Cleddau River Centre (and its annexe, Pembroke Castle Pond) and the Fishguard Harbour Centre.
The funding has led to increased purpose-built accommodation and extended training facilities. Due to its geographical location, the coatings for the new timber-clad buildings needed to offer strict performance assurances, and products from the Akzo Nobel Sikkens range were specified as the most suitable for the project.
Sikkens Cetol HLS was applied to the whole of the external shiplap weatherboarding. The Sikkens Cetol range offers exceptionally durable woodstains for the protection of rough sawn and smooth planed softwoods and hardwoods. Used as a base stain, Cetol HLS is readily absorbed into timber to provide the necessary anchor for finish coats. Its strong pigmentation gives excellent resistance to the effects of light and helps even out variations in the natural colour of certain timbers. Its fungicidal content helps combat the formulation of moulds within the coating film.
The joinery was finished with Cetol Filter 7. Its unique resin and pigment dispersal system combined with UV absorbers allow the product to achieve maximum light reflection, thereby restricting the degradation of timber surface in direct sunlight.
The capital funding
of the project was the result of a partnership between Pembrokeshire County Council, the Welsh Development Board, Wales Tourist Board, the Sports Council of Wales and the European Union, and has assured the centre as one of the foremost training and residential centre for watersports and safety training in the country.