A Great Start to the New Year!!!
The nominated Finalists have been announced for the Liquid Roofing Waterproofing Association (LRWA) Awards in March being held at the renowned Titanic Hotel in Liverpool.
Every year the competition is fierce, with the great and the good of our industry competing for recognition of their hard work and due diligence and to be recognised as one of the best within the Liquid Waterproofing Industry; showcasing workmanship and technical capabilities of their teams.
Makers were honoured last year to achieve such accolades, two projects received ‘Highly Commended’, plus we achieved ‘Winner’ of the Project of the Year 2023. This year we continue with ambitious optimism and are delighted that 3 of our projects have been shortlisted into 3 separate categories;
Liquid Roofing Project of the Year less than 1000m2 is Solihull Preparatory School, Solihull Preparatory School is a leading independent day school located in the West Midlands, offering quality education for children from ages 3-18. The roof at Alice House, which houses children from Nursery age to Infant Year 2, was in a significant state of disrepair, with the existing felt membrane overcoated with a solar reflective paint. The felt was aging with numerous leaks reported throughout the interior of the building. In addition, large amounts of standing water were present on the roof, demonstrating inadequate roof falls.
All works were to be completed on a very strict and tight programme during the school’s summer break. This made works more difficult, as Makers needed to increase labour allocation for the whole project to ensure that it was completed on time and to Makers high standards; before the children returned from the summer holidays.
Liquid Roofing Project of the Year over 1000m2 is Metquarter Shopping Centre, The Metquarter is a multi-use complex located in the heart of Liverpool City Centre. The former Liverpool General Post Office building now houses numerous shops, food outlets and on its upper floors, the LMA, a media, music and performing arts institution co-owned by global superstar Robbie Williams. The large roof area was suffering from a number of water ingress issues, causing damage internally to the building. The roof had exposed concrete pads, with no waterproofing upon them, leaving the areas exposed to the elements. The internal roof gullies were also a cause for concern with an inverted waterproofing system greatly reducing water flow to the outlets.
One of the biggest challenges on this project was the inverted roofing system located within the internal gullies. This comprised of approximately 120 tonnes of ballast across the whole roof, holding the insulation in position. This ballast was reducing waterflow in the gullies, leading to ineffective drainage. It was decided that the ballast was to be removed from the roof area, so the gullies could be waterproofed with insulation laid in a traditional built-up roofing system.
And finally, but by no means least our 3rd project nominated as Finalist for The Liquid Waterproofing Project of the Year is The Podium Basement MSCP Refurbishment. Located within the Bath UNESCO World Heritage site, Bath Podium is a mixed used site with buildings that are leased to: Waitrose; Hilton Hotel, & Bath Central Library.
There were major structural failings that urgently needed addressing as well as poor, outdated internal design and layout and was not sustainable for the future. The building was starting to fail and it certainly did not meet modern building regs.
Bath Podium carpark (and the adjoining Hilton Hotel) had been chalked up for demolition, but the building was bought by Strathclyde Pension Fund (SPF) who, along with their chosen suppliers, hoped to save the building and through their sustainability framework reduce the impact on the environment.
We are always optimistic, but would also like to wish all our clients and the site teams plus all finalists the best of luck and look forward to the finals day at the Titanic where we will all celebrate excellence in the industry.