Southport College

Client: Southport College
Location: Southport, Merseyside

Over the past decade Southport College have maintained a programme of roof replacement, gradually converting the majority of their flat roofs into more sustainable pitched roofs. For this particular project the college’s science block was the chosen objective and Alpha Roofing were chosen as the appointed principal contractor.

The college sought a viable solution that would allow them to not only increase the life-cycle and efficiency of the science blocks roofs, but which would also take advantage of the block’s south facing slope and allow for the use of solar panelling (photovoltaic products).

As with all roofing projects time and health & safety are of the utmost importance, and in the education sector these themes are even more imperative as there is a requirement to ensure that the college’s students are not put in any danger, and also that their studies and classes are not interrupted or affected. This meant that all works needed to be carried out during the college’s summer break, so Alpha Roofing’s project managers had to ensure that all suppliers and interested parties were fully committed and able to complete their tasks within the given timeframe.

With the exception of timing, this was a relatively straight-forward project, and as Alpha Roofing have numerous years of experience in completing similar projects, the team were very confident of supplying exceptional results.

Appointed as Principal Contractor for the scheme, Alpha Roofing Systems arranged several design meetings with the supply chain, estates manager and CDM co-ordinator to ensure that all parties were fully briefed and fully understood their part in the process.

Enabling works which included a full independent scaffold began in the weekends leading up to the start of the summer holidays, allowing critical construction to begin on the first Monday of the break.

For the flat roof to pitched roof conversion structure Alpha worked alongside Dibsa Structures to complete and finalise a design for a lightweight steel conversion frame. The frame was erected in the first 3 weeks of the holidays, allowing plenty of time for the coverings to be complete by the end of the summer break.

After consulting with numerous suppliers, Metrotile emerged as the chosen supplier for the coverings and PV (photovoltaic/solar panel) products, with a view to providing a 10KW system.

The whole project was completed on time and within budget, allowing the students of Southport College to return to their studies with zero interruption to their schedule.

The college’s science block now has a converted pitched roof which will provide much more protection to the building and throw up less maintenance issues throughout the building’s lifecycle. On top of this the 10KW photovoltaic system was commissioned, allowing the college to feedback into the national grid, reduce their carbon footprint and save on energy costs.