2018
LEICESTERSHIRE
BACKGROUND
Ivanhoe College is a specialist technology academy for 11-18 year old students in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire. The school aims to provide a ‘rich and creative teaching and learning community’ in a ‘safe and caring environment’ and converted to Academy Status in 2012.
The campus is made up of various inter-connected buildings of varying heights and has a number of roof lights. The 2,400m2 roof was in poor condition with multiple patch repairs and there were leaks due to failed detailing. Insufficient drainage had also caused ponding water on the roof, putting the existing surface at increased risk of further damage.
The school needed to access funding to enable a roof refurbishment project to take place so its management team worked with specialist consultancy MAKE Consulting and Sika to develop a Government funding bid based on clear roof condition, affordability and performance criteria.
As the project had to be carried out during term time in a live school environment, it was important that the roofing system chosen could be installed with minimal health and safety risk or disruption. Consequently, Sika's cold-applied, virtually odourless Decothane Ultra liquid system was selected.
It was also vital to upgrade the insulation as an integral part of the roofing project to bring the building’s thermal performance into line with current building regulations. The project had to addressthe issues with detailing and replace the existing roof lights while making modifications to the roof to resolve the lack of drainage and overcome the problems with standing water.
SIKA SOLUTION
Sikas’ Area Technical Manager carried out a condition survey and developed a full technical specification as an integral part of the funding bid.
Sika Certified Roofing Contractor, Central Roofing, was appointed to carry out the works and mooted the possibility of installing tapered insulation to resolve the drainage issues by creating falls to the problem roof areas. However, as there was not sufficient budget for this approach, Sikas’ Area Technical Services Team designed tapered gutters using 130mm Decotherm insulation board, enabling a low cost solution to achieve effective drainage.
The roof refurbishment was largely carried out as an overlay, with only the areas where the existing insulation had perished stripped back to the substrate. The existing roof lights were replaced with custom-fabricated Decolight roof lights, fabricated to meet the exact measurements of the existing aperture. 130mm Decotherm insulation board was adhered to the prepared roof surface, followed by Sika S-VAP 5000 self-adhesive membrane. The Decothane Ultra 25 cold-applied liquid system was then applied to the roof to complete the system.
"Thanks to the fantastic work of the project managers Make Consulting, and the contractors Central Roofing and Sika Liquid Plastics, the project came in on time and on budget." Ivanhoe College website