The estate weathering the storms with Redland

One of the UK’s highest housing estates has coped supremely well with 100mph+ winds, with no roofing damage, thanks to SpecMaster by Redland.

This free-of-charge roof specification service offered by the country’s leading manufacturer and supplier of pitched roof systems came to the aid of the largest public sector housing venture, the Penrhys estate, in Wales, when built in the late 1960s.

Built at 1,100ft above sea level, Penrhys was inevitably going to face the wrath of extremely high winds; what made matters worse was the issue of monopitch roofs.

Lee Tapper from Trivallis, Surveyor and Clerk of Works on the project, said monopitch roofs can double the wind speed.

Given that tiles were lifting, together with the roofs coming to the end of their design life, resulted in the estate commonly suffering from leaks, hence why Trivallis brought in the SpecMaster service.

Lee said the service ensured the current British Standard was met, plus the technical advice needed was received and a guarantee from Redland is assured which means there will be no problem with the roof for 15 years. 

Altogether 15 two-storey blocks of flats were re-roofed with Mini Stonewold Tudor Brown and Slate Grey interlocking concrete slates.

This came with an extremely tight fixing specification, which stipulated the first seven courses were both nailed and fixed.

During the work, the Redland Specification Manager attended to offer roofing contractor, Jefferies Contractors, with assistance, including technical support, training and quality of work monitoring.

Damien Lobb, Contract Manager, said the service was ‘very helpful’, as it reassures the client that work is being carried out to the right specification.

He added that the positive results are clear, with Storm Doris having passed through, bringing winds in excess of 100mph, with no damage.

Created for architects and professional specifiers, the SpecMaster specification encompasses all details of the complete roof, including slates, tiles, fittings, accessories, fixings, ventilation, underlay and battens.

All aspects feature, from the tiling, performance specification and British Standards compliance to best practice for flashings and carpentry.

To simplify ordering, the specification features all the relevant Redland product codes and a material list to aid quantity surveyors and contractors.

It is also compiled in an NBS-based format, so it can be readily incorporated, along with other relevant NBS sections, into a formalised project specification.