Burgess Hill Academy

Client:

University of Brighton Academies Trust

Sector:

Education

Location:

Burgess Hill

Solution:

Built-up Felt Roofing

BACKGROUND

Inspire Contract Services was awarded this contract in December 2020. The project was to refurbish the majority of flat roof areas including roof lights using a Bailey manufactured high performance felt system across six schools for the Academy Trust.

The roofs at Burgess Hill were in urgent need of refurbishment due to water penetration and a general breakdown and deterioration of the existing waterproofing.

The project was undertaken during the general occupancy of the school in term time and also during the summer holidays. It was therefore imperative that all works were carried out in accordance with stringent health and safety requirements to reduce the impact upon students, staff, and the general public, ensuring the school’s daily operations were maintained.

During the lead-in period, a detailed programme of works was prepared and agreed with the client and was used throughout the project to minimise any disruption to the day to day running of the university.

All Health & Safety documentation including the Construction Phase Plan was issued to the client during the site mobilisation period to ensure all safety measures were in place. All Inspire operatives hold an Enhanced DBS Certificate and a full list of these was handed over to the school management prior to our commencement on site.

THE WORKS

The specification on this project called for a new built-up felt roofing system with upgraded thermal insulation. Works took place as follows:

All scaffolding was erected during quieter periods such as weekends and school holidays to minimise any impact to the school’s daily operation. All roof areas were accessed externally via scaffold towers and haki staircases thus negating the need for any operatives to be access the school internally
Roofs were stripped and overlaid with a high-performance BUFR system manufactured by Bailey
The specification included for new insulation to bring the site up to current building regulation U-values. This featured both tapered and flat board insulation as specified by Bailey
The requirement to minimise hot works was included in the Bailey proposal. Part of the system therefore utilised a self-adhesive bituminous waterproofing membrane installed using the hot-air gun method. This ensured the risk of any combustible works occurring on the site was reduced
Works also included the removal of existing asbestos soffits (under controlled conditions by trained operatives) along with the replacement of the existing vertical cladding with a new sentinel cladding system.

THE RESULT

This highly successful contract was overseen by Inspire’s project team consisting of Commercial Director, Contracts Manager, Contracts Supervisor and Site Operatives.

Daily liaison with the estates team was maintained between the school staff, the Contracts Supervisor and on-site operatives.

Fortnightly meetings were held between the Client and Inspire Director/Contracts Manager to ensure that the project was running smoothly and meeting all health and safety requirements. A contractor’s report was also issued on a regular basis to provide all parties with a detailed update on the progress of the project to date.

Independent weekly site visits were also undertaken by Bailey’s on-site technician with comprehensive reports issued to all parties. Health and safety excellence was maintained at all times, with no issues reported throughout the project.

Once the roof refurbishment works had been successfully completed, all roofs were signed off by the manufacturer with Garland Guarantees issued accordingly.

Thanks to exceptional planning, project management and communication throughout, all aspects of this project were completed within budget and the building was handed back over to the client and University within the agreed time scale.

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