Westerleigh Group is a leading private developer and operator of crematoria in the UK.

Westerleigh appointed Rose Project Management to manage the design and construction of their new Crematorium at Melrose in the Scottish Borders.

The brief was to assess the Client's design and oversee the delivery of a building that met all the operational requirements of a modern Crematorium facility, while remaining sympathetic to the location, situated as it is in one of Scotlands' National Scenic Areas.

The design included a chapel with capacity for 98 seated mourners; a fully abated crematorium capable of handling circa 900 cremations per year; staff accommodation; car-parking and landscaping works to manage the natural water courses from the surrounding hills.

Rose Project Management oversaw all aspects of the construction process from the initial design stages through to the detailed structural and civil engineering works required to deliver a new building on a green-field site.

We worked with the client's own operations team and the cremator manufacturer to ensure that what was specified and constructed met and exceeded Westerleigh's operational and statutory requirements, while creating a facility that sensitively meets the needs of the local community.

It is considered by many to be 'one of the finest crematoriums in the UK.

The specification also contained a number of measures to minimise Melrose Crematorium's operating cost and carbon-footprint, these included:

• a sedum roof
• rainwater harvesting technology
• photo-voltaic array