Supporting the retail sector, Letchworth Roofing has refurbished its 3rd IKEA store in the south of England in just over 3 months and now started on the 4th store in a project which has no doubt been the largest single ply roofing project in Europe this year. 

Starting in July 2009 with IKEA in Wednesbury (Birmingham) at 20,000m2, laying sometimes up to 800m per day, and then moving between the sites to IKEA Lakeside (Thurrock) and IKEA Wembley (Brent Park) both at 18,000m2. 

The most recent IKEA store being worked on at present is Croydon, where weather dependant – it should be completed and signed off by end of February 2010..

IKEA’s brief was very clear in terms of avoiding all customer disruption.  Attracting thousand’s of customers per day, each IKEA store needed to be waterproofed without effecting the day to day operations.  Each store funds its own maintenance work, managed by IKEA Properties Investments who stipulated the restriction of working hours sometimes having to loading up between midnight and 5am, using 2 or 3 cranage points around the building.

Working closely with IKEA’s maintenance and management team and single ply manufacturer Flag-Soprema who IKEA have a worldwide supply agreement with, and IKEA whose policy of seeking to reduce the environmental impact of its buildings chose the TPO single ply membrane which was laid in 2 metre widths and sometimes up to 60 metres in length. Both fleeced and unfleeced product ranges were used dependant on the existing roofing system and Letchworth Roofing’s team of roofers were systematically mechanically fixing with some 80,000 screws with washers per site.  Due to unstable weather conditions, at the end of each day, the crew had to take the time to weather-proof the membrane by adhering a night seal only then in the morning to cut it back to continue laying and welding.

After also supplying, fitting and testing lightening conductors to the 3 sites, each IKEA was electronically leak tested and passed off with IKEA and Letchworth Roofing’s Contracts Manager, Duncan MacRae who ran the project with his team of 4 roofers, working closely with Flag to ensure a smooth running of each project.

Duncan stated ““The major challenge with large, high profile retail projects is keeping the stores fully functional without adverse effect on revenue. Flag’s TPO system was mechanically fixed on all the stores so there was an immense amount for us to plan and carry out within the permitted refurbishment windows. This we have achieved in full, with the manufacturer’s support and the on-site IKEA staff.”

Letchworth Roofing for nearly 40 years has been involved in both major new build projects working with main contractors and developers, and a special works division which is involved in commercial, industrial and residential roofing and refurbishments.  It offers a complete envelope solution, from sheeting and cladding, all aspects of flat roofing as well as more traditional roofing disciplines with its slating and tiling division.