Lightweight tiles with heavyweight benefits for church roof

2,500 lightweight steel roof tiles from Decra Roof Systems have been installed on the refurbished roof of St Joseph The Worker Church in Kirkby near Liverpool. The Decra tiles were selected for their lightweight characteristic, aesthetics and speed of installation.

Decra Stratos tiles in charcoal grey were selected for the new roof. Providing an aesthetic to closely resemble slate tiles, the Decra tiles blend traditional appearance with modern convenience.

Manufactured in lightweight steel, Decra roof tiles weigh just one eighth of slate, clay or concrete tiles. This was important in their specification for the roof of St Joseph The Worker Church because of the shape of the building.

The entire roof system was replaced by contractors BBR Roofing: “Previously the roof was covered in old clay tiles,” explains Stephen Morgan, Contracts Manager for BBR Roofing, “Many were broken, due to inclement weather, general wear and tear and vandalism. The new Decra Stratos tiles provide a fresh appearance that will withstand these problems.

“The open aspect of the church’s interior and its wide span means that there is no internal structural support for the roof. Because the new roof is installed on the existing building structure it was important to ensure that a lightweight roofing material was used, to limit the pressure on the structure. Decra was ideal for this application.”

This also means that for the contractor the tiles are easier to handle, making work at height safer. Equally the unique fixing method means that the entire roof can be installed very quickly.

“As a Decra Registered Contractor we are used to installing Decra tiles. Their weight and compact packing means that the tiles are efficiently transported to site, more tiles can be lifted onto the roof at once, and then the fixing method means that large areas can be covered very quickly. This saves us time onsite and for the customer results in a project that can be completed in very short timeframes. The roof of St Joseph The Worker was installed in just four weeks.”

The weight of Decra tiles is a real advantage that translates into both genuine environmental and cost benefits for specifiers, contractors and end users. It is estimated that the equivalent of eight truckloads of clay, concrete or slate tiles can be transported in just one truckload when Decra is used instead, saving on fuel, cutting down CO2 emissions and lessening the impact of delivery lorries in local areas.

Strength is another key benefit that BBR Roofing is well aware of: “The roof of the church has a steep pitch, with implications for the health and safety onsite,” explains Stephen, “However, thanks to the good grip qualities of the Decra tiles combined with their strength, installation was eased because while installing they could take the weight of a contractor.”

A church is a community building that must serve as a sustainable structure for many years. Decra roof tiles were therefore the ideal roofing material because the tiles and the way they are fixed provide a very strong, durable and robustly sustainable roofing solution.

Decra teaches lessons in pitched roof conversion

Decra Roof Systems Ltd has recently supplied its lightweight steel roof tiles for use on the flat to pitched roof conversion on Mosspits Infant & Junior School in Liverpool. The Decra system was selected for its aesthetics, design flexibility and lightweight benefits.

Available in a variety of colours and styles, Decra roof tiles were ideal for use on the Mosspits School project due to their lightweight nature, with some 3,500 Stratos tiles being installed across the entire roof, without putting any undue pressure on the supporting structure underneath.

Stratos tiles, which are produced with the aesthetics of a slate roof, are compatible for use in new build, conversion and refurbishment projects with a maximum pitch of 90°, down to a minimum pitch of 12°.

Manufactured with aesthetics and durability in mind, the Stratos tiles are ideal for use on school projects especially. Tony Shipley, Clerk of Works at Mosspits School agrees, “Due to the nature of the building, we needed a long lasting material that would continue to look good long after its initial installation. As such, Decra’s Stratos roof tiles offered the ideal solution. Aesthetically speaking, the tiles blend in perfectly with the surrounding landscape whilst also being strong enough to withstand the elements.”

Weighing just one eighth of their traditional counterparts, Decra’s range of lightweight steel roof tiles can be used in both low and high pitched roof situations and are installed with ease using a dry fix method and no need for routers onsite.

The durability of the tiles and the strength of the fixing means the system delivers a low whole life cost – it is largely unlikely that individual tiles will need to be replaced at a later date.

Andy Pack commented on behalf of Decra Roof Systems, “For local authority projects, such as Mosspits School, budgets and timescales are often tight. As our lightweight roof tiles are virtually maintenance free and extremely impact resistant, it is possible to reduce a building’s whole life costs, providing long-term savings. Manufactured with the aesthetics of clay, slate and concrete, the steel tiles are far more durable yet still offer the features associated with traditional materials.”

Police prefer Decra

Decra has become the first roofing systems supplier in the UK to win Secured By Design certification … and particular praise from the Secured by Design organisation.

The company’s Decra Elegance tile, which was recently launched in new satin and high-gloss finishes, as well as its existing Decra Classic, Decra Stratos and Decra Plus tiles and its Decra cool roof and Decra dry roof technologies have all been tested to LPS 1175 Level 1 with certification through the BRE.

This means that the Decra products are the only roofing products in the UK that can supply a roof to a Police Preferred Specification. This news will be circulated by SBD to police crime prevention departments and planning departments in local authorities throughout the UK and around Europe via national police forces that co-operate internationally on the Secured by Design initiative.

Jon Cole, licensing and technical manager for the Association of Chief Police Officers which manages the scheme, said:

“LPS 1175 can be quite a demanding standard to pass and traditionally it isn’t normal for roofing system manufacturers to be so far-thinking to include security within their specification. Decra has achieved an impressive feat of engineering in the design of these tiles.”

Roof security is becoming more of an important issue as many roofs are damaged by wanton vandalism which results in costly repairs and potentially can damage the contents of a building or make it inhabitable for use. Similarly, thieves frustrated from breaking and entering into high profile premises which could contain drugs, or expensive IT equipment by ever more efficient locks and shutters on doors and windows are more and more turning to other vulnerable areas of the targeted buildings.

They quickly learn that most concrete and clay roof tiles and many slates are not securely fixed to the roof structure and can therefore be easily removed and access gained into a building. These criminals are also aware that breaking into a building through a roof leaves virtually no visible signs of entry until long after they have gone meaning that time is on their side while they are carrying out the crime.

The Decra roof system prevents this and although this benefit has been known for some time about Decra products it is now recognised by obtaining an international standard in the Secured by Design accreditation.

The tests for Decra involved dynamic and manual interventions over a total of two days using tools such as levers, screwdrivers, knives, spanners and rope on dozens of elements of a Decra roof system installed on a rig.

Secured By Design is cited as best practice in the Safer Places document published by the ODPM and housing associations are compelled to build to certain specifications of SBD by the Housing Corporation.

Local authority housing officers are also compelled to consider crime prevention when refurbishing their housing stock and many now use SBD as their minimum standard for security. Research shows SBD leads to a 50% drop in crime rates when comparing SBD and non-SBD developments of the same age and type in similar areas.

Obtaining the SBD accreditation makes Decra products a serious option for all building designers who are looking to design public health buildings, offices, retail and commercial premises which will contain high value portable items attractive to criminals but where design needs dictate a traditional building appearance.