Siding with tradition

Modern materials don't get a warm embrace from developer Malcolm Payne. He builds just 12-15 houses a year in resolutely traditional styles. "We're too small to compete with the Bloors and the Barratts," he explains. "So we go for quality, not quantity. Our properties have open log fires. We even still build our own skirtings."

But in his latest development, the conversion of an old industrial site at Rattlesden in Suffolk into six houses, Payne has had to admit defeat. Originally a windmill, the building spread over the centuries and was last used as a factory.

"All old mills had white weatherboarding," says Payne. But with Building Control insisting on a spread-of-flame break between the five-storey-tall mill and an adjoining building, using timber would require special treatment and impose hefty redecoration-at-height costs on occupiers. He decided instead to clad it in Hardiplank cement siding – fireproof and guaranteed to hold its colour for 15 years, although the shadow cast below each plank is thinner because the siding is only 9mm at its base compared with 28mm for timber.

"Building Control like it," says Payne. "They thought it was realistic and sympathetic. I've had 50-odd visitors down here looking at buying a house and not one has noticed – they all assumed it was wood." Cement siding also removes an entire finishing trade because it doesn't need the final coat of paint, like timber.

Would he use it again? Not unless pushed. "I wouldn't consider using it unless I needed a fire break or I had a tall building," he says. "House buyers want reasonable redecoration costs, and hard-to-reach wooden planks put them off."