AccuRoof’s Estate Management Strategy provides continuing assistance for Multi Academy Trusts (MATs) to make the best use of their budgets. This collaborative approach, partnered with a system agnostic refurbishment, enabled a complex school refurbishment to complete on time and on budget.
The Project
The arts block of this school and sixth form college dates from the 1970s and comprises multiple interlocking rectangular and circular flat roofs at different levels. Various roof lights and parapets that were themselves in a poor state increased the complexity of the refurbishment. At the outset of our involvement the building appeared to require substantial and very disruptive refurbishment works.
Estate Management Strategy
AccuRoof had been working with the MAT for 5 years implementing a cycle of refurbishment alongside surveyors Thornton Firkin and AccuRoof Registered Roofing Contractors (ARRC). Detailed inspection reports were carried out to all school roofs which identified the presence of any fragile decks, including reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC). This enabled us to develop a five-year plan of works to meet the annual budgetary needs of the trust.
Design and Installation
The roofs of this entire block had a plywood deck, bar a small area of metal reinforced channel woodwool slab. Having established that the timber deck was suitable for an overlay, which is less expensive than a complete reroof, we engaged a structural engineer who confirmed that the woodwool slab could also carry the additional weight of an overlay. This removed any need to strip the roof and reduced the cost of refurbishment. Most importantly, it reduced the amount of disruption to the school in terms of time, noise and disruption.
The original roof covering had not been laid to falls, causing significant hazardous ponding of water and increasing the speed of degradation of the roofing membrane. To resolve this a scheme of tapered PIR insulation was designed with specialists TaperedPlus, including for the circular roofs.
The waterproofing overlay was AccuRoof’s SIGnature 25 Torch On Reinforced Bitumen Warm Roof System which is BROOF(T4) fire tested and allowed for a 25 year Warrantee.
The programme of works was ten weeks, the first six weeks of which were the most disruptive and were completed during the summer holiday. Additional health and safety measures were included to enable the works to complete with quieter operations, whilst the school was occupied for four weeks of the autumn term.
ARRC registered installers RoofClad Systems should be commended for their flexibility, workmanship and attention to detail, which produced both a robust and aesthetically pleasing finish to the project, on time and on budget during one of the wettest summers on record.
