The BFI Southbank is located directly underneath Waterloo Bridge, a Grade II* listed heritage structure.
A 350m2 roof area running on each side of the bridge was in need of refurbishment. The BFI’s in-house facilities team stipulated that a cold-applied liquid roofing system for the project and consulted with Martins Roofing, who recommended the ARBOFLEX® PU waterproofing system from CARLISLE; a versatile cold-applied liquid roofing system.
Each of the GRP roof sections have raised channels a few millimetres high. Because of the undulations, it was not possible to use the usual matting as part of the ARBOFLEX PU system. Instead, two additional coats of ARBOFLEX PU were proposed for the GRP roof sections, with each coat allowed to cure prior to application of the next.
A cure accelerator was added to the ARBOFLEX PU liquid system for the sections around the rooflight apertures so that each new unit could be fitted within an hour of the waterproofing being completed.
For the vented vertical sections, the ARBOFLEX PU system was applied with the correct ratio of thickener, providing thixotropic properties and suitable viscosity and adhesion.
Duncan McKeich, head of facilities at the BFI, commented, “The solution allowed us to carry on with our normal operations with very limited disruption and gives us confidence in the roof again.”