The Building Envelope

Flat roofing specialist Icopal, a BMI Group company, has produced a six-page guide that explains the fire risks of flat roofing and how to mitigate them. Recent years have seen a string of serious fires, such as the £60m Kelsey Academy incident in 2016, which have occurred because roofing contractors weren’t aware of flammable elements on the roof.

TorchSafe^TM Detailing, Guidance Document for Reinforced Bitumen Waterproofing sets out when roofing membranes can be torch applied, and when they can’t. It also underlines the responsibilities of all those involved to ensure that a roof installation is safe.

Following the completion of a new BMI Icopal flat roofing training area, and the refurbishment of the existing BMI Redland pitched training facility, the BMI National Training Centre is now able to offer contractors, developers, merchants and students an extensive range of both pitched and flat roof courses at the one location. This makes BMI the only UK roofing manufacturer able to offer training in both disciplines and on one site.

Located in South Cerney, Gloucestershire, the National Training Centre boasts possibly the most comprehensive training resource in the country. The pitched roof area comprises a variety of rigs including: a gable-to-gable rig, life-size hip and valley rig, life-size monopitch with top edge abutment rig, and a plain tile detail rig for full system installation. These are complemented by a variety of mobile rigs outside.

Just weeks after it became an LHC Appointed Company for the first time, The Window Company (Contracts) has launched a brand new website showcasing its extensive expertise in commercial window and door installation.

Packed with impressive case studies showing PVC-U, aluminium and timber installations in everything from social housing to education, healthcare, conservation and new build, the website shows the scope and scale of the Chelmsford based business and focuses on what makes it stand out in a highly competitive market.

The first tower block to be built in Paisley, West Scotland, is to undergo partial refurbishment, using ultra lightweight external cladding from Chromatics Glass Ltd.

George Court was built in 1959 and has been one of the most popular high rise blocks managed by Renfrewshire Council.  The 15-storey, 40 metre high building, comprising 56 flats is a brick-based structure that underwent major refurbishment in the late 1990s, when external balconies were incorporated into interior space, external cladding was applied, new windows installed and a low-pitched roof added.

Leading window, door and curtain walling manufacturer and installer CMS Window Systems has further strengthened its position as one of the UK’s leading fenestration partners to social housing providers by securing a place on the two most widely used public sector procurement frameworks in Scotland and Wales, the Scottish Procurement Alliance (SPA) and the Welsh Procurement Alliance (WPA).

The company is one of a select few suppliers who have been able to demonstrate compliance with stringent technical, quality, supply chain management and customer service criteria set out by the SPA and WPA. Backed by leading UK procurement body, LHC, the SPA and WPA chooses only the best suppliers to join its frameworks. This enables them to provide public sector clients with assurance in terms of price competitiveness, procurement efficiency, legislative compliance, access to project data, deliveries, service levels and much more.

Protect Membranes, UK producer of roofing and construction membranes, has introduced Protect TF InterFoil, a CE marked, highly reflective insulating breather membrane designed for use within a timber frame wall panel to enhance its overall thermal performance. Ideally suited to offsite and modular construction, Protect TF InterFoil features a low emissivity, vapour permeable reflective surface, using the tried and tested technology of TF200 Thermo, which can be installed either side of the insulation in conjunction with a 20mm air cavity. This means the building developer and fabricator can move from more expensive rigid high density boards to fibrous or EPS insulants without increasing panel sizes, thereby achieving material cost savings.

John Whalley, MD of Nationwide Windows & Doors, the UK’s leading fenestration partner for the public and private refurbishment and new build sectors, discusses how if done properly, offsite construction could well be the solution to the solve the housing crisis.

Four million residents live in social housing across the UK and around 79,000 families are stuck in temporary accommodation. It’s no surprise that the impact of dwindling social housing stocks from decades of counter policies is taking its toll.

The government has made steps to combat these issues, with targets for new homes and a focus on affordable housing, but many of these aims seem unachievable in the current market.  Aside from the lack of decent, affordable homes, the supply chain tasked with delivering these targets is faced with other challenges. Interest rate increases are affecting borrowing.