Innovative ‘Upwardly Living’ roof top development, creating new homes in London.

Enfield Council had a pressing need for additional homes for social rent, and with no suitable land available for development, and were inspired by the solution offered by Langley Structures Ltd. This was the innovative ‘Upwardly Living’ roof top development system, creating new additional dwellings above existing social housing flat roof housing stock.

There was no suitable land available for development therefore the Langley Structures’ solution was to complete an innovative ‘Upwardly Living’ development, creating new additional dwellings above existing flat roof housing. The client was able to utilise and benefit from the single source design and supply chain offered by Langley for both roof top developments, and flat to pitched conversions.

An in-depth feasibility study carried out by Langley identified three of the blocks were suitable for roof top developments to create new homes on top of existing stock.

The roof top developments, in this case comprising single-storey extensions with light weight pitched roofs, were installed by a Langley Approved Contractor who also carried out extensive flat-to-pitch roof refurbishments on the twelve remaining blocks on the estate.

The client wanted to avoid decanting residents to temporary accommodation, as this would be a costly logistical operation as well as being disruptive to the community. These challenges were successfully overcome to ensure that the 25 new homes were considerately developed with residents in situ throughout the entire project.

Enabling works included extending the existing stairwells and services to the new fourth floor level. Langley’s off-site prefabricated floor, wall and ceiling cassettes were lifted into position and assembled on site. They were inspected on a weekly basis by Langley Technical Managers and the contract administrators, to monitor the project and ensure the quality of workmanship.

The lightweight, pitched framing system was covered with Langley Roman strip tiles and had sun tubes installed to utilise natural light within windowless kitchens. Photovoltaic (PV) panels were mounted at roof level to provide electricity for communal services.

A robust fire protection strategy included internal works to extend fire breaks at all existing party walls within the roof void to the underside of the roof membrane level. New service risers for electricity and gas were constructed at each end elevation, then distributed via the new roof void to the new flats below.

This project supports the Government housing objectives regarding the efficient use of space to deliver new homes by building up rather than building out, using the space above existing buildings to create new homes. Support for this approach was re-iterated by the Housing Secretary in February 2018. (source: Fixing Our Broken Housing Market White Paper, Department for Communities and Local Government)

This project was recognised by the National federation of Roofing Contractors (NFRC) for Product Innovation and the Roofing Cladding and Insulation (RCI) Pitched Roofing Award for the category - Flat to Pitched Roofing System.

For further information on both the Flat to Pitched Roofing and Roof Top Development Systems, visit www.langleystructures.co.uk.

Langley offer in-house CPD seminars available to book via marketing@langley.co.uk