Ardagh Glass Roof Refurbishment, Doncaster

The challenge

Ardagh Glass needed a huge 18,000 m² roof refurbished over a glass factory that never stops. Glass production runs around the clock and is acutely sensitive to water getting in, so the one thing that could not happen was a leak onto the live plant below. The existing roof was also finished in loose stone chippings that all had to be removed first, across an area larger than two football pitches.

Our solution

We stripped off the existing stone chippings and recovered the roof with a 50mm Rockwool recovery board, mechanically fixed, then installed a mechanically fixed Renolit Alkorplan PVC single ply membrane over the top, with every seam hot-air welded into one continuous skin. As award-winning Renolit installers, we sequenced the work carefully across the roof so the factory stayed watertight and in production throughout, never leaving an area exposed to the weather.

Scope of work

• Loose stone chippings stripped from 18,000 m² of roof
• 50mm Rockwool recovery board, mechanically fixed
• Renolit Alkorplan PVC single ply, mechanically fixed, with every seam hot-air welded
• Work sequenced so the factory stayed watertight and in production throughout

Why this system

On a roof this size, over a factory that never stops, the system has to go down quickly and safely, and each area has to be made watertight before the team moves on. A mechanically fixed PVC membrane does that well. It is laid in large rolls and fixed through the insulation into the deck, so there is no waiting for adhesives to cure, and the seams are fused with hot air rather than a naked flame, so there is no torch-on work over a live glassworks. Renolit Alkorplan is a long-established PVC membrane, and as approved Renolit installers we fit it with the manufacturer’s backing.

The outcome

A new, fully watertight 18,000 m² single ply roof over a working glassworks, delivered without disrupting production and without a single leak reaching the factory floor. A manufacturer-backed Renolit system built to last, and one of the largest roofs we have refurbished.