Knight Frank completes £1.5m Sheffield ROM roof project

The Yorkshire building consultancy team at Knight Frank has just completed a 110,000 sq ft roofing project valued at £1.5m in Sheffield’s manufacturing heartland.

Knight Frank was tasked with handling all aspects of the 20 metre-high re-roof of ROM Ltd’s Brightside Lane manufacturing facility.

This included project management, design and contract administration, and ensuring that the factory continued operating while the project was ongoing.

As well as the re-roofing the facility, the original asphalt roofing material and unstable structural roof-deck had to be removed, as did significant amounts of highly toxic asbestos.

This was then followed with the replacement of the steel structural deck and waterproof coverings – within budget and the agreed 12 month time-frame.

The facility, used by Rom Ltd, a 65-year-old specialist in the manufacture of reinforcement solutions, maintained a working schedule throughout the re-roofing project.

Daniel Green, partner in the building consultancy team in the Sheffield office of Knight Frank, said: “The complexity and scope of this project made it a major undertaking, with many difficult elements.

“We carried out initial site surveys and found that the roof was in a much worse state than the client was able to assess, with the main sub-structure so corroded that it was unstable.

“We dealt with all the logistical, costings and legal elements of the project, commissioned design work and all the contractors, the deconstruction of the original roofing structure and fabric, and surveys for all aspects of the re-roof.

“A key element was the removal of all materials including hazardous substances such as significant amounts of asbestos, a known class one carcinogen, from an elevated and potentially dangerous working environment – all within the confines of an operational factory including working adjacent to large, high-level, moving gantry cranes.

“The safety of all contractors and ROM staff was paramount during the project especially during the replacement of steel deck and coverings.

“The roof has been reinstated with high-performance coverings and all elements of the project have now been signed off according to budget and within allocated time-frames.

“In order to maintain operations for ROM, we had to re-locate staff across the factory, moving them from bay to bay as we progressed the project in order that the roofing work could be carried out without risk to them.

“No other projects of this kind have required us to manage such large-scale works. ROM tasked us with managing all aspects of the project, which ran over three phases for 12 months, and it was completed with no disruption to the company’s operations.”

Robert Holton, managing director at Rom Ltd, added: “Undertaking the re-roofing project for our Brightside Lane Factory was a major landmark for us and the primary consideration was for the safety of our employees as we continued production activities during the roof works phase.

“There were no accidents and minimal operational disruption during the project thanks to the collaborative approach of Knight Frank, Mitie and Rom.”

Knight Frank appointed Mitie Ltd as the main contractor for the ROM re-roof.