Steel roofing and cladding supplier Arcelor Construction UK sprang into action when a customer urgently needed to replace a roof on a storm-damaged supermarket.

High winds ripped the aluminium sheet roof off the newly-completed store in Chester and deposited it in the car park on a busy Saturday lunchtime. Fortunately, no-one was injured and only two cars were damaged.

While the emergency services secured the site and closed nearby roads, the store contacted Manchester roofing contractor Blackwell Stanistreet to arrange the supply of a replacement roof as soon as possible. John Watson, the company’s managing director, knew immediately what to do.

“I called Chris Allwood [Arcelor’s managing director] at about 10 on Sunday morning and Chris checked with his production people and confirmed the material could be supplied without delay,” he said.

Arcelor supplied Blackwell Stanistreet with its Arclad R34 profiled steel sheeting to replace the 1,000m² of lightweight aluminium which had been destroyed. Although Blackwell Stanistreet has worked with the supermarket chain for several years, neither they nor Arcelor had been involved with the construction of this store and had no prior knowledge of its roof design.

“There were a few minor technical difficulties as a result of damage to the supporting structure but otherwise this was a relatively straightforward job,” said Mr Watson.

In addition to replacing the missing roof, the store also asked Blackwell Stanistreet, as a precaution, to re-roof another part of the building with the same Arcelor sheeting.

According to Mr Watson, Arcelor Construction was the obvious supplier for this emergency operation.

“I knew I could get hold of Chris Allwood on a Sunday and I knew the company could probably supply material at very short notice,” he said.

Arcelor did just that, supplying the sheeting for the first roof on the Tuesday. Then Blackwell Stanistreet had both roofs installed within 12 days.

“The availability of Arcelor’s senior management out-of-hours and the quick response that elicited was a key factor in getting the store up and trading again in a very short time,” said Mr Watson.

Arcelor’s Chris Allwood added: “Our response to urgent customer requests is something we are focusing on as part of our drive towards better service and we were delighted to be able to help in this case.”

Email: tracy@tlcpr.co.uk