Investment in British engineering is being made at ‘grass roots’ with the construction of an Advanced Manufacturing & Engineering building at Stoke on Trent College.
The cutting edge approach encompasses the whole £9m project – not just what will be equipped and taught within: it uses Protan prefabricated single ply membrane across the five roofs of the two-storey building.
Main contractor Thomas Vale chose Roofdec to devise an effective scheme to execute the complex roof, which features solar panels and 10 banks of operable rooflights, up to 7m long.
Roofdec’s solution has been to build-up the structural metal deck with Protan self-adhesive vapour barrier, 120mm foil faced, mechanically fixed insulation, covered with 3500m² of Protan SE1.6mm prefabricated single ply membrane.
Bob Richardson, contracts director at Roofdec, commented: “Protan’s prefabricated membrane is designed then ‘secret-fix’ attachment strips are hot-air welded in its factory, giving us assured, quality performance, durability and weather resistance consistently along the length of the seams. We lay, detail and mechanically fix through the strips, making installation quicker and less wasteful.”
Luke Fowles, site manager for Thomas Vale, added: “As the project is design & build, we wanted a high quality product with an efficient installation process. We are familiar with Protan, and know its products will meet our requirements.”
Protan says it is the only single ply membrane manufacturer to offer a prefabricated option that is cost-competitive against conventional standard overlap systems, even before fixing and labour are factored in. The membrane required for each roof is planned via Protan’s unique software to create the most efficient plan, and roll sizes, for minimal site wastage.
Protan SE single ply membrane is produced in a range of standard thicknesses, roll sizes and colours. It, and the company’s range of reinforced PVC membranes, are certified to deliver, and potentially surpass, the energy efficiency requirements laid down in Approved Document L, and, under the Green Guide, achieve a A+ rating.
