Background
Challenging refurbishment project airside at one of the world’s busiest airports. The refurbishment of a 6300m² roof required works to take place day and night without impacting passengers. This effected the choice of materials, organisation of personnel and the logistics of getting staff and materials on and off-site.
Complexity
The scale of the project meant setting up five teams, on both day and night shifts. The 24-hour operation consisted of one shift stripping out the existing mechanically fixed single ply and installing Firesmart Pyrobar Carrier Membrane to the plywood substrate to create a weatherproof roof. The day shift then applied BMI Sealoflex Solvent Free Waterproofing Membrane if weather permitted or prefabricated the replacement sections.
The difficult to access plant rooms proved the most complex part of this project. Operatives had to strip the existing single ply, replace plywood, build bunding and weather with the Sealoflex system all within a confined space.
Health and Safety
Both the main and the sub-contractors managed the health and safety risk by following the Four steps to safety guide, these are to observe, engage, improve and don’t walk by – empowering all site members to recognise and challenge the actions of others. Itech also installed and managed extraction ventilation, required to ensure dust and bituminous odours did not enter the ventilation systems during installation. Any breach could have set off the fire alarms, causing chaos to the airport.
New Technologies
Heathrow Airport required that the new roof be installed without affecting its operations, this led BMI to develop the Pyrobar Carrier Layer incorporating Firesmart bitumen and BMI Sealoflex Solvent Free Coating with additional fire retardants, products unique to this project. Now one of the world's busiest airport terminals is covered by a BMI 20 year guarantee and will not need anything but routine maintenance for decades.
