Versatile Smartroof gets ahead of the curve

Smartroof has demonstrated the versatility of its offsite manufactured modular ‘room in roof’ system by meeting the highly technical demands of 18 new terraced houses, built in a gently sweeping crescent shape.

Situated on the fringes of the seaside town of Exmouth, Plumb Park, being built by Taylor Wimpey, comprises of 264 two, three and four-bed homes designed in the arts and craft style. The centrepiece of the development is a curved crescent of 18 terraced homes overlooking a public hilltop park.

Each of the 2½ storey homes in the terrace feature a panelised ‘room in roof’ system with the developer specifying Smartroof as the company to deliver the bespoke curved roof structure.

The Smartroof system is a complete roof solution, designed to offer housebuilders and developers a solution to maximising sellable space by creating rooms in roofs.

Comprising a series of factory produced panels incorporating insulated roof panels, spandrel wall panels, dormers, roof windows, dummy chimneys, soffit and fascia, it is delivered to site and craned into place.

Once in place, the roofs simply require roof tiling. The system has many benefits – less waste, better control of quality, safer to install – and meets the industry’s demand for solutions that allow us to build better quality homes, more efficiently. 

For Smartroof, the big challenge was the curve and how to make straight timber appear as if it is effectively bending. In addition the gable roofs on these terraced houses had a triangular apex projection on the front elevation which also necessitated a curved design.

To achieve this onsite would have been a huge technical challenge for the joinery contractors, however the controlled environment of the Smartroof offsite fabrication facility meant the technical team could achieve the architect’s design with millimetre precision both in terms of cutting and fabrication. 

Manufactured at the Smartroof factory in Derbyshire, the prefabricated ‘room in roof’ systems were then delivered to the Exmouth site, craned into place and installed by the Smartroof team.

At a time when skills shortage and tight margins are commonplace across the sector, the offsite fabrication of the roofs at Plumb Park provided Taylor Wimpey with huge benefits in terms of health and safety, speed of construction and quality control. 

For this bespoke design, it is estimated the Smartroof system saved up to eight weeks installation time when compared to using traditional onsite methods of roof construction.

Simon Gill, of Taylor Wimpey, comments: “The curved roof structure on the crescent homes at Plumb Park was always going to be a challenge but the team at Smartroof surpassed our expectations. 

“As we have seen in our other developments, the end result was impressive with the room in roof system delivering on all fronts. It enabled us to reduce our build costs and health and safety risks onsite whilst at the same time improve the thermal efficiency and build quality of these homes.”

Kevin Sherlock, Managing Director at Smartroof, says: “With our experience and manufacturing expertise, we are able to meet even the most challenging project demands.

“To create the curved structure at Plumb Park would have been complicated to achieve using traditional roofing methods on site. Our innovative technical team were able to manufacture this complex ‘room in roof’ configuration offsite.

“Additionally, hips, valleys and other roof details can all be designed and manufactured as features on the Smartroof ‘room in roof’ system.”

Smartroof has been one of the national suppliers of roof systems to Taylor Wimpey for several years.

“The Smartroof system has not only helped Taylor Wimpey simplify the build process but also can be adapted to offer innovative solutions such as that used on our Plumb Park development.

“Taylor Wimpey continue to work with Smartroof to review and consider future enhancements including those challenges that will be faced through the upcoming changes to be introduced through Part L of the building regulations.”

With the sweeping crescent of 18 terraced houses at Plumb Park now complete, Smartroof has fabricated and installed a complex and high performance roofing system which has seen the developer reduce costs and build times as well as health and safety risks on site.   

To find out more download the Smartroof brochure or contact [email protected]

To read about Smartroof boosting its offsite production capability, click here.

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