Case 02: Lothian Buses - Edinburgh

By the end of the twentieth century the original roof covering of asbestos cement sheeting and patent glazing was in a hazardous condition. The roof leaked throughout and its hazardous state prevented anyone going up to carry out any routine maintenance.

Lothian Buses appointed McLay Leonard Consultant Engineers (now McLay Collier) to design a scheme and to obtain costs for the re-roofing of the depot. After discussions with a number of contractors, DW Tilley were chosen as the "preferred bidder" on the basis of their design, cost and ability to carry out the project.

Commencing in the summer of 2003 the project was carried out in phases, with each phase having safety nets fitted, the old roofing removed, and new roofing fixed. At the same time the original steelwork was cleaned and painted.

The new roofing system is a combination of HPS 200 coated steel roof sheeting and ultrasafe 45 non fragile rooflights from Hartington Conway (now Brett Martin). With the client requesting the maximum amount of natural light we specified non-fragile rooflights to ensure the safety of those carrying out future maintenance work.

As each stage was completed it was handed back to Lothian Buses before taking possession of the next stage, thus ensuring that Lothian Buses kept running whilst the city's largest re-roofing contract was carried out.

The dome

The glazed dome was constructed from 336 panes of old Georgian Wired Glass.

Although this was not part of the original re-roofing project, DW Tilley were on hand to offer advice on the refurbishment and subsequently won the contract to replace the old glazing panels with 6mm Fybagard GRP panels. The Fybagard mimics the old Georgian wire glazing, allowing the original feature to stay in place satisfying local planners, residents and the client.