The roof of Apex House, one of Birmingham’s most famous landmark buildings, has been overhauled by roofing contractor Rio Asphalt with Liquid Plastics’ high performance polyurethane coating, Decothane Omega 15.

The majestic glass and brick fronted five storey building has recently undergone a high profile £2 million refurbishment to provide 58,000 square feet of prime office space. It is now the new operational centre for the Big Lottery Fund, the UK’s largest distributor of lottery good cause money.

A major part of the project was to replace the original asphalt roof. The roof, which was divided into three main sections and had several areas of complex detailing, had suffered from differential movement. This had caused the asphalt to split and break down, allowing water to penetrate into the building below.

Specified because of its strong track record, Liquid Plastics’ Decothane Omega 15 system was cold-applied directly over the existing asphalt roof. This eliminated the need for any potentially dangerous hot works on the roof as well as the need to strip the roof before the system was applied.

Thanks to its highly elastomeric properties, which enable the waterproofing membrane to cope with thermal and substrate movement, Decothane Omega 15 is guaranteed to last for at least 15 years before its first maintenance is required. It also comes with full BBA certification and fully exceeds the current British and European fire regulations.

The system, which comprised of two coats of Decothane SP, totally reinforced with glass fibre matting, was also able to cope with the complex detailing on the roof, which included several air conditioning units and window cleaning rails.

Martin Raithby, contracts manager at Rio Asphalt, said: “This was a challenging project because of the detailing on the roof and the very poor weather conditions in which we had to replace it. Decothane Omega 15 was the perfect solution because it is seamless and cures very quickly to become weather resistant within minutes. This helped us to maximise any decent weather window we were fortunate enough to get and enabled us to complete the project on time.”

The client also benefited from the added peace of mind that Rio Asphalt is a member of Liquid Plastics’ Quality Assured (QA) Contractor Programme. The programme ensures that all approved contractors have received in depth training on applying products to the highest possible standards. The programme also offers Single Point Guarantees, which cover both materials and labour.

Email: clj@liquidplastics.co.uk