Students at George
Hastwell School, an academy in Barrow-in-Furness for children with severe or
profound learning difficulties, are now sheltered by a robust roof that is
built to a specification from BMI UK & Ireland – the largest manufacturer
and distributor of flat and pitched roofing and waterproofing solutions in the
UK and Europe – that is guaranteed to withstand the harsh coastal climate for
20 years.
Built in the 1960s,
the roof was in a very poor state and a cause for concern because it could fail
and injure the pupils, who range from two to 19-year-olds. Catering to 66
pupils, the school became an academy in 2015, which qualified it to apply for
aid from the Schools Funding Agency. It then commissioned Liverpool-based
surveyors Cunliffes, working with BMI, to draw up the school’s Capital Funding
Application to the Schools Funding Agency to replace the original roofs.
Cunliffes determined
that the roof be stripped according to the BMI specification and that none of
the existing system was to be left in situ, even though this process was both
difficult and time consuming. This was done to eliminate any risk of the existing
system deteriorating beneath the new waterproofing, causing it to fail so that
parts of the roof would fall into the building below.
The school is sited
on Walney Island, right on the edge of Cumbria and facing into the gales and
storms from the Irish Sea, so wind uplift calculations were required to find
the best application method. The roof details were sent to the BMI
specification team to complete the calculations and determine the correct
fixing for the location.
In this case it
proved particularly important as the calculations showed that both the membrane
and the insulation beneath would be subject to windloads of up to 2.79 kN/m2 (kilonewtons per square metre) at
the corners. This meant that the insulation had to be bonded separately using
TPI insulation adhesive – a foaming, odourless, VOC-free two-part rapid curing
polyurethane adhesive manufactured from bio-renewable materials.
The 1050m2 project, installed by BMI’s IMA
(Intelligent Membrane Association) approved contractor Pendlebury &
Sons, consisted of a number of roofs with either concrete or plywood decks. For
the non-flammable concrete substrates, BMI Icopal Tecnatorch Sand and Siplast
Primer were applied as the vapour control layer. For the plywood decks, the
vapour control layer comprised BMI Icopal TorchSafe TA VCL Sanded and SA
Primer.
Thermazone Torch On
Insulation was then bonded to both vapour control layers with TPI Insulation
Adhesive. Total Torch Vapour Dispersion Layer was installed as underlay,
followed by Firesmart Thermaweld Capsheet in Charcoal to complete the
waterproofing system.
Pendlebury &
Sons is very experienced in working with BMI systems, and finds the technical
support offered by the company throughout its projects most valuable. “The
technical assistance and site inspections are very helpful,” Contracts Manager
Paul Worthington comments. “We get any help we might need with details and the
reports and photos provided to the clients after site visits gives them the
confidence that everything is being done right and that we’re making progress
as scheduled.”
Scheduling the works
and co-ordinating with the school was particularly important, says Worthington,
because the pupils needs it meant that noise and disruption had to be managed
to a minimum. Works on replacing the roofs began in late May 2018 while the
school was still in term, with the noisiest work, such as stripping out the
existing roofs being done before or after school and the project was
successfully completed in the first week of July 2018.
Thanks to the
specification service and technical support provided by BMI UK & Ireland,
the George Hastwell School in Barrow-in-Furness now has a roof covered by a
20-year BMI guarantee – ensuring the roof will perform in extreme coastal
conditions for decades; and keeping its pupils safe, warm and dry.
