Project profile: Centrale Shopping Centre, Croydon

By Keely Warren, Tremco. 

Contractors complete a successful shopping centre reroof thanks to Tremco's roof diagnostics. 

A significant plant building situated on the roof of Centrale Shopping Centre in Croydon was leaking. The roof was covered in limestone chippings that made it near impossible to visually inspect and locate the source of the issue.  

Before any thorough investigation could be undertaken, scaffolding was erected, and tonnes of limestone chippings were removed by a scarifying machine, manually bagged and hoisted down. This allowed for roof diagnostics to be carried out.  Roof diagnostics entails initial core samples to evaluate, not only the build-up, but to establish moisture data benchmarks.  

Once complete, a thermal scanning camera can then pinpoint areas of moisture and its severity to give data-led insights of problematic areas. Resulting in an informed cost-effective solution to refurbishment. 

The diagnosis 

A comprehensive report and specification were produced by Tremco, which recommended an overlay of the existing 700m2 roof to restore its waterproofing, and to replace, like for like, 80m2 of roof that was badly affected by water ingress. Some of the chippings were heavily embedded within the existing waterproofing. 

It was decided to line the roof with TremPly to deliver a coat-able surface that was compliant to BROOF(t4) classification. StructureCare, an internal contracting arm of Tremco, installed the TremPly and coated the new surface with Tremco’s liquid applied roof solution; AlphaGuard PUMA. 

The solution 

AlphaGuard PUMA Liquid Applied Flat Roofing System is a fast-curing solution in both low and high temperatures, ideal for installs throughout all seasons, certified with BROOF(t4) classification, BBA certified and delivers a 25-year warranty.  

The facilities project manager on site shared some thoughts on the project:  

The roof diagnostics followed by a holistic report meant we could visually see the areas of moisture in the plant room’s roof. We knew the solution specified was therefore the most suitable and cost-effective to resolve the issue. This service will be utilised on other roofs of the shopping centre to ensure they still remain watertight and/or to identify issues... StructureCare delivered a high-quality install and will inevitably work with them again on future works. 

Overall, the project was completed within the desired time to minimise construction disruption to the shopping centre’s operations. And as the solution was specified and supplied by Tremco and delivered by StructureCare, it granted a complete single source approach to refurbishment. 

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