Sheltered housing in Bristol has been brought up to 21st century standards and given a quality makeover using a lightweight interlocking slate called Cambrian Slate.
Parbrook Court in the Whitchurch area of Bristol is a council-run complex of five interconnected buildings containing 33 flats that were built to provide Supported Housing for Older People (SHOP). Since all of these blocks had mansard roofs, its appearance had deteriorated badly as the fibre cement tiles failed.
Tom Hughes, project surveyor with Bristol City Council Housing Delivery, explained: “The roofs suffered from rainwater penetration and it was clear that continued patch repairs were not a substantial solution in the long term.
“We had to find a material that was durable and that looked like natural slate to satisfy planning, so we specified the Redland Cambrian Slate on several counts. It is made with recycled Welsh slate so the appearance and material was approved by the planning department. The tile has a life expectancy of at least 60 years, its three-point fixing system guards against wind uplift and it has a system guarantee of 15 years.”
The guarantee is said to cover weather-tightness, durability and design liability when the tiles are installed with recommended fixings under the Redland SpecMaster service. This is a free-of-charge bespoke roof specification service that covers every detail of the complete roof including slates, tiles, fittings, accessories, fixings, ventilation, underlay and battens – all provided in an NBS-based format that integrates into the building specification.
The service is also said to enable clients to work with a Redland specification manager to achieve the optimum performance.
Tom Hughes added: “We had an issue with ventilation that would have meant installing more than 200 ventilated tiles in the roof. This we wanted to avoid because it could have led to maintenance problems in the future and it also wouldn’t have looked right aesthetically. Paul, our Redland spec manager helped us to resolve this at the pre-contract stage by specifying vented ridges, over-fascia vents and abutment vents instead.”
Property services specialist Ian Williams was appointed principal contractor who then appointed the Newport-based roofing specialist Feltfab Facilities to undertake the work. Both companies found the regular visits from the Redland specification manager helpful.
Chris Flood, Feltfab’s contracts manager, said: “We’ve worked with Paul on other jobs and he’s very good because he makes sure that the quality is right as we’re doing the work. This reassures our client and gives everyone peace of mind.”
Gary Lott, contract manager for Ian Williams, added: “He went on every roof to check that it was done as per the Redland spec and quickly picked up any detail that wasn’t quite right, so we found the service very useful.”
According to Redland, Cambrian Slates are designed with a unique three-point fixing, making them secure on even the most exposed sites. Manufactured to be lightweight with a thin leading edge and surface patterning taken from impressions of real natural slates, it is proven on pitches as low as 15°. Redland Cambrian Slates are suitable for a wide range of projects and have three available colours: Heather, Langdale Green and Slate Grey (also with pre-weathered finish).
