The brief: The roof refurbishment at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust started in late 2019 and involved repairing and placing failing roofs across numerous buildings at the London-based hospital trust. In 2021, the project lead CK Group Services contacted our team at PermaRoof Commercial to support the installation of a green roof in one area of the site.

The roof had started to fail causing a leak into the hospital below, which posed quite a risk and could have been detrimental to patient health if left untreated. Furthermore, the hospital had requested to have a green roof installed to improve the aesthetic appeal. The roof is surrounded by glass that is visible from the patient area, so it was hoped that adding a green roof would help bring a feeling of nature to the hospital and improve patient wellbeing.

During the works the hospital needed to remain operational, which added complexity to the installation process. The location of the roof on the eleventh floor also meant all materials had to be delivered and brought through the working hospital, so the installer required an awareness of how to manage this and be able to specify suitable materials.

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The solution:

Having assessed the roof, we firstly recommended that all the products used came with an insurance-backed warranty, to comply with the requirements of the hospital and ensure the safety and longevity of the products, due to the nature of the site.

We also specified a full course of our PermaRoof 500 liquid coating system – its high elasticity can be applied to a wide range of surfaces and comes with a European Technical Assessment (ETA) certification for a 25-year life expectancy to ensure peace of mind.

We recommended artificial grass to create the requested green roof to improve the overall aesthetic of the space. This product was chosen for its ability to work as part of the system in the specification to ensure the roof's structure was not jeopardized by addition of the green roof.

All of the products we supplied were insurance backed, to account for longevity and security in the investment. These products were cold applied to avoid any naked flames in proximity to the hospital.

The testimonial:

Steve Price, managing director of CK Group Services Ltd, said: "This project wasn't without its challenges – there were both logistical and practical difficulties surrounding a working hospital to consider. For this reason, we needed a reliable and flexible expert on board and, having worked with Sunny and the team at PermaRoof Commercial before, I knew they would be able to deliver the job.

"Having PermaRoof on the project allowed us to benefit from the extensive product range it could offer, across other brands too including waterproofing and green roofs. It was great to be able to have it all supplied from the same place. We were also able to use products with an insurance backed guarantee, which was an essential element of the brief.

"Sunny and the team took extreme care when it came to maneuvering the products through the hospital and ensuring minimal disruption to the day-to-day activity of the staff and visitors. Their expertise was evident throughout as they were on hand from specification through to installation, able to answer any questions that came up.

"I can't speak more highly of the team and the products PermaRoof offers - we'll certainly be working together in the future."

www.permaroofcommercial.co.uk/