Soprema - Why Glenvale Park schools opted for our one-stop shop
Counting about 3,000 residential properties, Glenvale Park is a brand-new neighbourhood in the north of Wellingborough. To cater to the local community’s educational needs, the project also includes a new nursery school and primary school. Together with single-ply specialist Rock Roofing and main contractor Lindum Group, Soprema took care of the pitched and flat roofs of the educational facilities, waterproofing 3,000 square metres with the aesthetically stunning FLAGON membranes.
One site, two projects
Soprema secured the Glenvale Park project in October 2022, providing its developers with a significant commercial advantage over competitor solutions. The actual construction of the Glenvale Park nursery school started in January 2023 and was soon followed by works on the primary school. So, the project consisted of two separate buildings located on the same site, with the same client and main contractor overseeing both endeavours simultaneously.
Soprema not only supplied the necessary waterproofing and insulation solutions: our team of experts was also responsible for interim site inspections, thermal calculations, and other services – always in close collaboration with Rock Roofing.
Leon Horobin, Technical Sales Manager at Soprema, greatly values the longstanding relationship with Rock Roofing: “We have worked with the company founders, with Contracts Manager Steve Hatcher and with other members of the team for almost a decade. The level of collaboration has always been outstanding.”
Overcoming numerous challenges
Steve Hatcher stresses that the quality of roofing works for Glenvale Park nursery and primary schools benefited massively from the strong partnership between Rock Roofing and Soprema. Steve: “We relied on Soprema’s valuable on-site assistance and leveraged the expertise of their technical professionals to resolve the issues we encountered – and there were quite a lot of them, making the project all the more engaging and interesting for the team.”
1. Design challenges
The first challenges arose from the fact that we were not working on a flat but on a pitched roof, requiring careful thought and planning. The detailing becomes more complex as the angles of the profiles change, and working on a slope is also challenging in general as it makes installing the sheets and products trickier.
2. Challenging weather conditions
The winter season, too, posed a challenge at the start of the project. The light snowfall and rain made the roof wet and slippery. Moreover, the low temperatures prevented the use of adhesives and a lot of the work had to be put on hold. This initially resulted in delays and increased deadline pressure. However, we were able to overcome these setbacks and make up for lost time when it became warmer.
Benefits of working with Soprema
1. Incredibly wide range
Both fully adhered and mechanically fixed systems were used for the Glenvale Park schools, testifying to Soprema’s extensive product range and showcasing our ability to tailor solutions to the most diverse roof situations. We can select multiple products from our range to meet client needs and cover cost considerations. Moreover, the roofs being highly visible and their aesthetics a major selling point, we ensured that our solution added to their visual appeal.
1.1 Cost-effective alternative to metal roofing
For the visible roofing areas, we used single-ply membranes while adding profiles to make them look like standing seam roofs. The result looks as stunning as a metal roof yet is much more durable with a product life of more than 35 years. In addition, our synthetic roofing membranes are recyclable, easier to install, more cost-effective and much lighter than aluminium, lead or copper roofing. The lower permanent load results in additional cost savings because the roof structure can be lighter as well.
1.2 Fully adhered system
On the pitched areas, which are very visible, we used fully adhered membranes to obtain a beautiful flat appearance. More specifically, the build-up is FLAGON SB, our fleece-backed membrane composed of flexible PVC, on top of SOPRATHERM G, a glass tissue-faced PIR insulation. The self-adhesive SOPRAVAP STICK ALU 16 membrane served as a vapour control layer, and the metal deck was primed with ELASTACOL 600 primer.
1.3 Mechanically fixed systems
For areas that were not visible, we opted for two mechanically fixed systems. As achieving the same flawless surface as the fully adhered system was not necessary, quick installation and cost-effectiveness (especially since no adhesives are required) were the deciding factors.
The first mechanically fixed area consists of FLAGON SR DE, SOPRATHERM F insulation and a VAPOR FLAG vapour control layer. The second area has the same build-up, but with tapered insulation to create falls in the roof to the outlets.
1.4 Solar PV and roof lights
The roofs of Glenvale Park nursery school and primary school have been fitted with solar PV panels. Rock Roofing took care of their integration into the roofing system and installed remote and temperature controlled roof lights on the nursery school. Steve Hatcher: “It really is an all-encompassing package you get. Only a big supplier like Soprema has the different products you need for optimally waterproofing and insulating multiple roof areas.”
2. One-stop shop and warranty
An additional advantage of having one supplier for the entire build-up is the reassurance that all products, which are designed as a system, are fully compatible. Moreover, you get a single-point warranty. For the Glenvale Park schools, we even extended our standard 20-year Sopracover warranty to 25 years. Finally, all the fire requirements of BROOF(t4) are of course covered.
Exciting projects ahead
Both the nursery and the primary school have been completed. The buildings look stunning and perform excellently. The complexity of this project is what makes it stand out, showcasing the advantages of employing a complete system tailored to unique installations. And more exciting collaborations between Rock Roofing and Soprema are in the pipeline.
Interested in our one-stop shop approach for your own project? Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions.