The complex multi material roof at Lucent W1, behind the Piccadilly Lights, has won Best Multi-discipline Project over £250k at the national Roofing Awards. The project was a collaborative venture between AccuRoof, roofing contractor E J Roberts and main contractor Wates Group.

This mixed-use development behind the Lights at Piccadilly Circus in London’s West End has one of the most complex roofs ever to be built in the capital across an almost complete city block. Designed by Fletcher Priest Architects, the project unified thirteen different buildings including several historic facades and the treatment of the new roof was integral to their design.

AccuRoof were commissioned by Wates Group to design the complex folding roof to meet the architects’ original design intent, plus targets of BREEAM Outstanding and the Gold WELL Building Standard. The solution was to design in planes of natural slate, but stringent environmental and fire safety requirements ruled out the use of hot works or lead flashings.

The solution the AccuRoof came up with, their design office detailed and E J Roberts executed, is a roof comprised of three different roofing systems. Planes of Cwt-y-bugail Natural Slate make up the bulk of the roof, elZinc Lava zinc provides flashings, gutters, balcony edges and cladding, and IKO Permatec Hot Melt inverted roof system is used for the flat roof areas, the 22 terraces and behind the iconic Lights.

The design challenges on the project were many and included: coordinating the interfaces between slate, hot melt and zinc; facilitating the shedding of rainwater from complex interlocking roof planes, some of which fold down the side of the building, and designing to a steel frame which required up to 20mm movement both horizontally and vertically. Altogether the design team produced over 300 details.

The construction challenges included: building a massive test rig to test the roof design and construction to European standards for weathertightness and up to 100mph winds; operating in one of the busiest parts of the West End with limited access and two flagship retail stores kept open; storing all the slates on the incomplete roof after the crane was dismantled half way through the package, and implementing dozens of reworked details that would frequently occur between the rebuilt historic facades and a new steel frame.

All the roofing materials were supplied through SIG Roofing’s extensive supply chain, via its Kentish Town outlet and a separate holding area near the site. All materials were craned on site, but a tight programme meant that the crane was dismantled part way through the roofing package and all 28,000 slates had to be stored on top of the building weeks before their installation.

E J Roberts Roofing is an experienced multi-disciplinary roofing contractor registered with AccuRoof’s ACIS Contractor Installer Scheme.  The firm has over sixty years’ experience and their slaters alone who worked on this project have over 100 years’ joint experience in slating. AccuRoof’s registered contractors receive priority training, technical and on-site support from experienced field technicians, allowing the AccuRoof design team to take on the design liability for certain projects and ensure the project receives a reliable warranty.

Emerson Bennett, Managing Director at E J Roberts Roofing said, “We are absolutely delighted to have been recognized by the Roofing Awards. It is testament to our many decades of experience in roofing and the collaborative way in which this complex project was approached that we were able to bring out the very best in our team and deliver to such a high standard.”

Chris Lodge, Managing Director of SIG UK Exteriors agreed. “Only a single roofing design specialist and a single roofing contractor in a collaborative relationship could have successfully delivered this project. The teamwork of AccuRoof and E J Roberts to deliver on this project was fantastic and showcases the unique multi-solution and end to end value of the AccuRoof offer. Expertise in design, over multiple covering solutions, supported right through to distribution service from our specialist SIG Roofing branch network, in this case the team at our Kentish Town branch.”

The judges said, “A final product of the highest quality was delivered by the install team.” Read an article about how the complex roof was designed and built: https://accuroof.co.uk/article/lucent-w1-how-the-complex-roof-was-built/

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