While the scaffolding that is up on many of the buildings in the Town Centre at the moment is a good indication that work is being carried out at a high level, it isn’t always obvious just what work is being undertaken. Today, I want to share with you a little of the work that has been going on with three of our projects: 1-5 Lord Street/2 Ropery Road, 16 Silver Street and 5 Silver Street. For all three properties, there has been a focus on the roof as part of the wider scheme of works.
TH17 – 1-5 Lord Street/2 Ropery Road
As can be seen from the first photograph, the original roof of this property had two different materials used for the roof covering. To the right was slate – the original material that would have been utilised. To the left, the tiles were concrete – a far, far heavier than their slate counterparts. This was causing issues for the underlying structure of the roof which hadn’t been constructed with heavy tiles in mind. Bowing of the timbers had started to happen and was only going to get worse. Under the THI scheme, the concrete tiles were removed, the roof timbers were repaired and replaced where needed and this section of the roof was re-laid with slate, as can be seen below. While there is a difference in the colour of the slate at the moment, this will weather over time to become far less noticeable.
LUF15 – 16 Silver Street
Not an issue with heavy tiling materials this time around, but the roof to 16 Silver Street had been sadly neglected – in part, due to the height of the building and the challenges that height presents to getting onto the roof. This meant that there were a number of areas on the roof that had failed and were letting water into the building. In order to repair this properly, it was necessary to remove all of the tiles to get to the structure below. Thankfully, the timbers themselves are still in great condition, meaning that it is only the lining that has needed to be repaired. Unfortunately, the tiles that had been on the roof (concrete again) – were not in a good condition once they’d started to be removed, with many crumbling. They are going to be replaced with pantiles and I look forward to sharing images of the finished roof with you once they’re in place.
TH5 – 5 Silver Street
Perhaps the building with the most obvious work happening to its roof is 5 Silver Street. The tent that covers the whole roof has been a prominent feature on Silver Street for a little while now. So what has been happening underneath?
The roof had had a very strange drainage configuration implemented at some point in its past, and the prominent height meant that it was more exposed to the elements compared to its neighbours. This left the roof in a very bad condition – the tiles all but crumbled when they were removed, and the timbers underneath were rotten.
The only solution was for a whole new roof which meant the removal of the old one – hence the tent to keep the building protected from the rain. It’s quite something to see a building without its roof!
It wasn’t, however, without a roof for too long. New timbers were installed – a challenge, given the unusual shape that needed to be contended with – and new pantiles laid. Doesn’t it look fantastic? And with a new parapet gutter, damage due to weird drainage configurations will be a thing of the past.
