KEMPEROL MEMBRANES PUT PICCADILLY
GATE’S ROOFS BACK ON TRACK
Three roofs of one of Manchester’s
most iconic office buildings have been
refurbished with an overlay of Kemperol
liquid membranes from Kemper System.
Piccadilly Gate is home to various
Government departments including
Education, Ofsted and Highways England.
The 125,000sqft building adjacent
to Manchester Piccadilly Station was
refurbished in a £25 million BREEAM
‘Excellent’ scheme in 2010. Issues with
the integrity of the roof had continually
plagued the building with leaks, resulting
in unsightly staining to the suspended
ceilings within. Consequently, the decision
was taken to overlay the existing single
ply roofing membranes on levels 10, 4 and
3 with a cold-applied liquid system from
Kemper System.
Roofing contractor, Castle Roofing, was
appointed to carry out the works and
selected Kemper System’s solvent-free
Kemperol 2K-PUR as the most appropriate
solution for the level 10 roof.
Explains Mark Atherton from Castle
Roofing: “The level 10 roof is directly
above occupied office areas and is also
the location for the building’s air handling
plant, so nuisance odours could potentially
have been transferred into the office areas.
“As a result, we chose to use Kemper
System’s 2K-PUR system, which is solventfree and odourless, while still offering high
performance and a BBA-accredited 25-year
service life.”
The level 4 roof is above the building’s
record-breaking extra-long escalators and
leaks from two water outlets had caused
staining of the suspended ceiling. This roof
was also refurbished as an overlay system,
using Kemper System’s Kemperol V210.
Having cleaned and prepared the existing
roof surface, Castle Contractors applied
a primer before applying the resin in a
single wet-on-wet process in which the
resin is first applied to the substrate;
reinforcement fleece is then laid directly
on to the wet resin, immediately followed
by more resin on top.
This ensures complete saturation of the
reinforcement fleece. Once cured, the resin
forms a seamless, elastomeric waterproof
membrane that cannot delaminate, is UV
stable and bonds directly to the substrate.
For the green roof on level 3, Castle
Roofing carried out the refurbishment in
two sections, removing half the green roof
medium and installing Kemperol V210
onto to the existing surface as an overlay
before replacing it and lifting the second
section so that the new roofing membrane
could be installed. The second section
was then re-instated, completing the
programme.
Comments Jim Fozzard, building manager
at Piccadilly Gate: “We needed a roofing
system that could be installed quickly to
prevent any further damage to the building’s
interior, while minimising any disruption to
occupiers and maintaining Piccadilly Gate’s
high aesthetic standards.
“Using Kemperol 2K-PUR on the level 10 roof
meant that occupiers were not affected by
any changes to air quality, while all three
roofs have been overlaid using a seamless
membrane without the use of hot works for a
durable solution requiring no strip out.”
www.kempersystem.co.uk