RAAC Removal from Civic Centre

RCS removed RAAC panels and replaced the roof of a grade II listed Civic Centre, returning the building to full operation in under 14 weeks.

Client situation

• A four-storey Civic Centre, sitting above the city’s Chamber of Commerce, is Grade II-Listed and within a prominent and busy city-centre location.
• The very significant roof comprising RAAC panels had suffered from panel deflection and ponding, alongside multiple sources of moisture ingress and numerous areas of spalled concrete.
• RCS were selected, through a competitive process, to remove and replace the roof and manage a range of ancillary works, M&E arrangements and perform minor refurbishment works on reinstatement.
• Further complexity was added due to the roof having a 35mm bitumen and 10mm slurry coating.

Sector:
Local Government

Services provided:
RAAC Full roof replacement
RAAC Project Management

Location:
Midlands

“We handed RCS a major challenge, delivering our most important asset back to us safely and quickly… and they aced it.”

RAAC Approach

• The roofing experience of our team was pivotal, developing an approach to scrape the bitumen coating from the roof in sections and, thereafter, removing the slurry coating to access the RAAC panels.
• Our team deployed a specialist method to remove the RAAC panels, using a rail-based system to move them to a staging area where they were cut in half and brought to ground level using a hoist.
• The temporary roof structure prevented the use of some lifting equipment, requiring our teams to work creatively while remaining efficient and productive, to meet the tight timescale for completion.
• Furthermore, asbestos remained an ever-present concern. As such, site- and project-specific RAMS were composed and communicated to all teams, detailing the methodological and step-by-step approach for every potential impact, including finding suspected ACMs within the building fabric.

Outcome

The project was delivered on time and to budget (within a total of 14 weeks), returning the building to full operation in advance of important stakeholder events planned to be held within the building.