Frimley Business Park, Failed Single-Ply

Garland Technical Manager

Daniel Sandell

Approved Contractor

London Seamless Roofing

Frimley Business Park is a small business park located just off the M3 in Surrey, with a range of mixed-use plots including retail, manufacturing, warehousing and office spaces.

A plot at the site had been experiencing severe water ingress issues caused by a failing single-ply system, where water would regularly flow into the offices and staff break rooms, making for a poor working environment and unhappy employees.
Garland UK was asked to carry out a detailed roof inspection by a local building surveyor representing the building owner, to provide technical support and assessment of the roof’s condition and propose the optimum solution within their budget requirements.

Quick Facts

Garland System

White-Knight

Sector

Industrial

Garland Technical Manager, Dan Sandell, undertook a thorough roof inspection, involving strategically placed core samples to review the extent of the water ingress issues across the plot, before compiling all technical analysis into a comprehensive roof condition report.

Dan identified that the existing single-ply membrane was failing at numerous points across the roof, where, unfortunately, the multiple patch repairs had also failed to stem the flow of water seeping into the building. The area where the insulation had been fully saturated was around the upstand detail of a roof window, but thankfully, the water ingress had not saturated the majority of the insulation.

From the detailed technical report and advice provided by Dan, it was clear that an entire roof replacement would not be necessary and the right course of action was in fact to restore the roof using an overlay, saving the building owner the substantial cost of a full roof strip and replacement.

An additional challenge was to design a new non-slip walkway system so that the client’s maintenance team could access the plant on the roof when needed. This walkway had to be clearly visible with added protection for the new roof system.

Numerous plant penetrations also required additional fixings to the roof, to secure the AC units and keep them in place. In previous years the AC units had blown over in high winds, causing significant damage to the thin and easily perforated single-ply roof system.

Following the roof investigations at Frimley Business Park, Dan Sandell drew upon his technical experience in the industry to find the optimum solution to tackle the complex range of issues at the site. Across the range of versatile Garland UK systems, Dan recommended a specification for restoring the roof with a 15-year White-Knight system, which is a single component polyurethane, liquid waterproofing membrane designed to maintain, restore and upgrade the performance of existing roof systems.

With the client happy to proceed, a bespoke specification was written to restore the roof, temporarily move the AC units, reinstate with quality roof supports and put in new non-slip walkways for their maintenance team. As part of his role as the dedicated Technical Manager, Dan was on-site twice a week to ensure the highest quality of workmanship, correct coating procedures and specification was being followed by the Approved Contractor, London Seamless Flat Roofing.

With so many stakeholders including a managing agent, building surveyor, business owner, leasehold tenants and contractors, Dan’s role to oversee the works and consistent communication were key to keep all parties informed.

During the works, Dan completed progress reports every week which were uploaded to Garland UK’s RAMP portal, enabling all parties to be kept up to date on the project progress, snagging issues and deliverable timelines, giving complete peace of mind that the project was being proactively managed by a roofing expert and installed to the highest standard.

The project was successfully completed on time and within the original budget with the approved contractor, London Seamless Flat Roofing, completing a faultless installation.

All the previous water ingress problems had been removed, giving the employees a good quality working environment and a break room that was inviting and enjoyable to be in. The insulation was no longer saturated, therefore significantly improving the building’s thermal performance. The maintenance team had easy and safe roof access to ensure critical plant checks could continue safely and the plant penetrations were secured to the roof, ensuring no future risks of damage to the machinery of the White Knight waterproofing system.

Following the final inspection and sign off by Dan Sandell, Garland UK issued a market-leading Single-Point Guarantee for 15 years, assuring the Frimley Business Park owners that their roof was protected for the long term.

The leaseholder was delighted with how little disruption had been caused during the work and the freeholder and building surveyor were left with complete confidence that their asset was protected with a high-quality waterproofing system that was built to last.