Glass atrium repair by high level, difficult access experts, The Comprehensive Group.
Earlier this year we completed a glass atrium repair to City Walls medical centre located in Chester. City Walls medical centre is a short walk from the town centre and university of Chester. It has been a training practice for student nurses since 2015. The centre prides itself on having a supportive and knowledgeable nursing team that provide a positive learning environment for the students to achieve their potential and gain experience of working in Primary Care. To assist in this vision, the centre must be fully operational at all times and the building construction and any defects cannot impact this.
Continuing to grow in popularity with architects and planning officials alike, glazed atriums have become a common roofing system in UK commercial buildings. The popularity of a glazed atrium offers benefits by effective use of daylight and exceptional energy efficiency. Alongside proven research stipulating the success of reducing a buildings carbon footprint by installing a glazed atrium and cost-effectiveness in doing so, glazed atriums are here to stay. However, a glass atrium is susceptible to damage and becoming faulty as the system ages and if issues are not dealt with correctly when first detected, they can go on for years.
This was the case with our client at City Walls. Upon initial inspection our technicians highlighted numerous substandard repairs to the glazed atrium system that had been undertaken by other contractors with the aim of stopping the water ingress but these had failed.
Undertaking glass atrium repairs requires a contractor to have in-depth knowledge and experience in the glazed system, fully understanding how the system has been constructed in order to ensure the required remedial works carried out put a stop to the water ingress issues. Furthermore the chosen company should be used to accessing the glazed structures, understanding and working with the access possibilities and limitations to ensure health and safety is at the forefront of any access decision. This is why the Comprehensive Group were awarded this contact and utilising our IRATA trained abseil technicians we initially carried out investigative works to understand where / why water was leaking through the atrium and then this enabled us to provide a fully broken down, bulleted quotation for the client to review and understand the necessary repairs.
Our recommendations included a new glazing system which included a full replacement of all pressure plates with new, new capping. Opting for this would reenergise the glazed atrium, refresh the appearance and eradicate the water ingress issues. Due to the difficult access nature of the location of atrium, rope access was the chosen access method because of it’s speed in set-up coupled with non-disruptive means compared to traditional scaffolding.
Alongside replacing all pressure plates and capping’s, our IRATA trained abseil technicians also conducted a full replacement of the systems lead flashing. This included stripping out the old, weather lead, cleaning out the aperture and then installing new lead. Again another barrier to water ingress.
The entire glazed atrium repair was captured in the photos below so you can truly see the upgrade works and positive impact it will have on the centre.
The project was completed following a full atrium water test with our client in attendance, followed by an insurance backed guarantee of our workmanship for peace of mind to our clients and the building inhabitants.
If you have a glazed atrium in need of repair, please do not hesitate to contact us today to arrange your free site survey.
