ROOFING specialist BriggsAmasco has detailed its work to ensure long-term waterproof protection for the £1 billion residential-retail project at St James Quarter in Edinburgh city centre.
Featuring hotels, a shopping centre and more than 150 apartments, the project is one of the Scottish capital’s largest developments in a generation.
BriggsAmasco was selected by main contractor Laing O’Rourke to supply waterproof solutions for multiple roofs and surface areas. The firm revealed the project presented a number of ‘technical and logistical challenges’, which were exacerbated by works being halted for 13 weeks during the pandemic. When the site reopened, restrictions such as social distancing remained in place.
Despite the interruption, BriggsAmasco operatives – who worked out-of-hours to make up for lost time – completed the project’s roofing element to the agreed deadline.
The company applied more than 450 tonnes of mastic asphalt during the installation of the service deck waterproofing and wearing course. As a result of IKO’s Carbon Offsetting Programme, the full quantity of mastic asphalt utilised was carbon neutral.
For certain roof areas, Sarnafil single-ply systems were installed. BriggsAmasco said the scope of single-ply was subject to ‘significant change’ due to client requirements following the Grenfell Report findings. It led to non-combustible insulation being adopted in the hotel phase of the development, and a move from single-ply to self-adhered bituminous waterproofing.
For the Register Square podium works, Bauder Bakor hot melt was implemented. This was Introduced following a design change from a traditional warm roof system. The Bakor system, along with a high-compressive strength extruded polystyrene, was installed to the public realm hotel entrance zone.
The widest range of systems adopted during the project were contained within the Bauder bituminous membrane range. BriggsAmasco installed seven different bituminous systems ranging from a two-layer, un-insulated roof system to a warm roof with VIP (Vacuum Insulation Panels) insulation.
As well as overcoming Covid-related restrictions, BriggsAmasco was required to sequence works to avoid disrupting business at major stores which had already opened on site. With safety the number one priority, three years of work was completed on site without RIDDOR reportable accidents.
In total, the St James Quarter project involved 96 different roof areas across 13 different levels.
