PRESS RELEASE

MASS Shines for TV’s Grand Designs

MASS, the concrete surface specialist, has played a starring role in the Channel 4 show Grand Designs.  The show – watched by millions – recently featured the creation of a stunning new family home, built in just five days, near the centre of picturesque Bath.

MASS was specified for the project by leading kitchen designer Johnny Grey.

“I think MASS is the best concrete company in the UK,” Johnny Grey says. “It is bringing a fresh awareness of concrete to the kitchen consumer.  The style is very easy to like and sits well in contemporary kitchens. Thanks to their manufacturing process, it is possible to design unusually-shaped work surfaces.”

MASS is a new generation of hi-tech concrete and a market leader – with good reason.

The material is not the typical hard-edged raw stuff, but a calmer and surprisingly sensuous hi-tech concrete, suited to worktops, stair treads, wall panels and the softer living area. It uses a patented concrete technology that produces a light yet strong and durable surface material.  MASS requires little maintenance: it is heat resistant up to 200oC and very stain resistant – red wine and lemon juice have no effect.

Its standard finish is silky satin – a contemporary look that compliments glass, stainless steel and timber. Unusually for a cast product, MASS surfaces are velvety to the touch, with the randomness of silica and the character of a hand-crafted product.

Such qualities were on full display on Grand Designs.

Bath is a world heritage site famed for its Georgian architecture. The show told the story of a home erected on Bathwick Hill, one that is Modernist in style yet built in sympathy with its historic surroundings.

The owners, Tiffany Wood and husband Jonny, had a very clear idea of what they wanted.  They chose a prefabricated house, brought across from Germany.  The house is a timber construction with partial cladding in the local Bathstone.  The kitchen is equally distinctive.

“The kitchen is very central to the vision of how the house will work, indeed to the whole design of the house,” says Tiffany. 

Johnny Grey adds: “The contemporary kitchen is a living room in which you cook. We wanted Tiffany and Jonny to enjoy long, sociable evenings talking with their kids and friends.”

Why concrete?  These days it’s highly favoured among pioneering designers.  Its understated look complements the pared down interiors look.  New technology means it can be easily installed in domestic projects, and it comes in various exciting finishes and textures.

Why MASS?  It’s the quality of the product and service. MASS features on projects such as the National Gallery, Armani, Hilton Hotels and hundreds of other bespoke kitchens.

“We have some friends who have a MASS worktop in their kitchen – it looks stunning, “ says Tiffany.  “So we were confident that the MASS worktops, as part of Johnny Grey’s design, would be equally stunning.”

Johnny Grey adds: “Its smoothness makes MASS very sensual and comfortable on the hands.  It’s closer to terrazzo with a more immediate appeal.”

MASS supplied the sink-run surface, two surfaces for either side of the Aga, and the appliance garage surface.

The colour was tailored to match the kitchen’s white limestone-coloured floor tiling.  This is lighter than the standard MASS limestone finish.  “The paleness of the concrete sets of the timber (sycamore and walnut) beautifully.  It brings it all together,” says Tiffany. “It’s so streamlined and easy to use and wipe down.”

MASS created and cut all the pieces to fit templates supplied by the cabinet-maker. A special stone router was used to machine in curved drainer grooves so that they ran parallel with the radiused front edge. The Johnny Grey team also specified the maximum and minimum thicknesses available from MASS.  The Aga surrounds were the thickest, at 100mm, and the rest were just 30mm.

The result is startling – a curvy kitchen with no sharp corners in which the furniture becomes a series of sculptures that work together.  Such a kitchen has never been seen before on Grand Designs.  “It’s a joy,” adds Tiffany.  “We’re thrilled with it.”