FILON ROOFSCAPE ISSUE 20

ISSUE ISSUE 20 18

SAFER

ROOFLIGHT REPLACEMENT with Filon’s Fixsafe system p12 PLUS • Latest news p4 • Bespoke rooflight system meets non-fragility challenge p8 • Filon product range overview p14

Profiled GRP rooflights & sheets

FILON HAS IT COVERED. Trusted solutions from the GRP construction products innovator: • Factory- and site-assembled rooflights • Opaque sheets • All current & discontinued profiles available • Standard & reinforced grades • Lightweight over-roofing • Chemical resistant grades • GRP barrel vault rooflights • Fixsafe safety fixing system • and more...

t: 01543 687300 e: sales@filon.co.uk

Filon Products Ltd, Unit 3 Ring Road, Zone 2, Burntwood Business Park, Burntwood, Staffs WS7 3JQ

www.filon.co.uk

CONTENTS

In this issue: 4 News Roundup

• Exhibitions & industry events 2020 • Filon welcomes new members to the team • New Technical brochures • Sponsorships and charity support

Welcome to another issue of Roofscape – the regular on-line news magazine of Filon Products.

8 Rooflights

At Filon, we’re proud of our innovation and contributions we’ve made to the roofing industry over the years.

12 Health & Safety on-site

This issue bears testament to that, with two case studies, each covering a different project in which our product development expertise has played a role and delivered a solution.

• Filon’s R&D department develops a bespoke rooflight system to meet non-fragility requirements at a waste recycling centre

• Filon’s Fixsafe system provides the safe option for replacement of rooflights at a Cornish clay mine.

14 Product range overview •

New build or refurbishment... Filon Products offers a wide range of innovative roofing and rooflighting products for all kinds of buildings.

Published by Filon Products Limited Unit 3 Ring Road, Zone 2, Burntwood Business Park, Burntwood, Staffordshire WS7 3QJ, England Telephone: 01543 687300 Fax: 01543 687303

It’s been a busy time at Filon recently, as you’ll see in our news section.

Despite uncertainties surrounding Brexit, our order book is healthy and our team is continuing to expand – welcome to our new colleagues featured on p5!

Mark Wilcox Sales Director

Editor: Mark Wilcox Designed and produced by Bennett B2B www.bennettb2b.co.uk

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NEWS ROUNDUP

Back to the future! Filon Products returns to the RCI Show 2020 industrial roofight without accessing the roof: a major advance in roof safety, pioneered by Filon in response to a plea from HSE inspectors.

As always, the RCI Show will provide a showcase for a diverse range of manufacturers right across the sector.

Filon’s stand received high visitor numbers at Coventry’s RCI Show in 2019.

Following successful appearances over the last five years, Filon will again be returning to the RCI Show at Coventry’s Ricoh Arena on 25th and 26th of March 2020.

On Stand no. F20, the company will be presenting a wide range of innovative GRP roofing products and systems, including its comprehensive range of profiled rooflights and roof

sheets, as well as the wellproven lightweight over-roofing system, designed to provide effective new waterproofing for failing asbestos roofs, without the expense of stripping off the old system.

Visitors to the show will also be able to see Filon’s innovative, patented Fixsafe system in action. On-stand demonstrations will show how to change an

Filon Managing Director Steve Vickers, said: “The RCI Show presents a great opportunity for us to demonstrate the advantages of our products at first hand. We’re proud to continue our support for this important event and we look forward to seeing old friends and making some new ones.”

Register for free tickets

RICS Dilapidations Forum Conference, North Filon Products will be attending and exhibiting at the RICS Dilapidations Forum Conference North at the Hilton Deansgate in Manchester on Tuesday 4th February 2020.

The Conference will bring together specialists from across the region, to examine the big issues affecting commercial 4

property in today’s challenging economic environment – and how to manage the often opposing interests of commercial landlords and tenants.

Filon will be presenting a range of solutions for refurbishment of profiled sheeted roofs and cladding, including the Company’s lightweight

over-roofing system, double reinforced refurbishment sheets and the patented Fixsafe system.

For further information, visit www.rics.org

NEWS ROUNDUP

Filon welcomes two new members to the team Following a period of sustained growth and to maintain the depth and quality of its service to customers, Filon has recruited two important new members to join its team.

Leigh Bosley has joined as Business Development Manager. He is responsible for account management and business development for all Filon products in Wales and England up to and including Lancashire and North Yorkshire.

Leigh said: “I’m delighted to be joing such a dynamic, professional business and looking forward to building new customer relationships and creating new opportunities”.

V-FLOW GRP

A complete range

Chloë Danks adds new strengths to Filon’s technical team, which provides support to customers including resellers, contractors, surveyors & designers.

s

valley trough

“It’s great to be working with innovative materials and solutions in a fast-moving and competitive industry”, she said.

Sales Director, Mark Wilcox commented: “Every organisation depends totally on the quality of its people. We’re extremely pleased to have Leigh and Chloë on board, following our usual rigorous recruitment procedure.

Filon has published two new brochures, both of which can be downloaded free from the Filon website.

ds

for all fixing metho

f refurbishment

No. 07/4492

The cost-effectiv

e solution with

Leigh Bosley Business Development Manager

Chloë Danks Technical Advisor

Two new brochures now available to download from Filon’s website

OVER-ROOF for lightweighING t roo CERTIFICATE

Leigh can be contacted directly on 07950 894459.

multiple advan

The Company’s well-proven lightweight GRP Over-roofing system is covered in the first of these, outlining applications, system advantages and detailed installation guidelines.

tages

This new twelve page document can be downloaded here.

Next up is the Company’s new V-Flow GRP Valley Troughs brochure.

This twelve page brochure gives details of the whole product range for use on all types of pitched roofs. It contains detailed installation diagrams, product dimensions and other information for specifiers and installers.

Download the new V-Flow brochure here.

REGISTER FOR FREE TICKETS 5

ROOFWORK NEWS ROUNDUP HEALTH & SAFETY

Filon supports roof safety initiatives

Filon & Burntwood Rugby Club: a winning partnership

Following the retirement earlier this year of previous Managing Director and well-known roof safety campaigner Chris Pearce, Filon’s Sales Director, Mark Wilcox has taken up the reins in this respect.

Filon is sponsoring Burntwood Rugby club again for a third year, following a competitive and exciting campaign in 2018/19.

For many years, Filon has played a key role in helping to develop and support roof safety legislation that protects individuals working at height on roofs, through collaboration with the relevant associations and industry bodies.

Mark has been elected to the post of Safety Representative for NARM, the National Association of Rooflight Manufacturers and also sits on the Advisory Committee for Roofsafety.

Mark said: “Chris’s hard work and commitment has played a big role in improving roof safety in the UK and has no doubt saved lives. I am extremely motivated to pick up where he left off and continue working towards the ultimate goal of zero roofing-related accidents, through my work with ACR and NARM.”

The company is proud to be associated with this fantastic

‘Team Filon’ takes part in The Race for Life - complete with tutus!

In support of their colleague Carol, a team from Filon Products took part in Cancer Research UK’s 5k Race for Life at Sutton Park this summer.

To encourage maximum interest and sponsorship, the team agreed to wear pink t-shirts and tutus for the event and this strategy resulted in a large number of sponsors donating – not only in support of a very worthy cause, but also to enjoy the sight of a number of male team members wearing skirts, including Managing Director Steve Vickers (pictured).

To date, the Company has raised £2,470.00 plus £462.51 Gift Aid, totalling £2,932.51 for Cancer

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Grass Roots Rugby Club which was formed in 1972. Burntwood Men’s first team competes in the Midlands 2 West (North) of Midlands Division and the club also runs a number of other teams for adults, juniors and veterans.

Research (UK) The directors and staff send sincere thanks to all sponsors. We look forward to Carol returning to work soon. https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/team/filon

Innovative upgrade & refurbishment solutions for profiled fibre cement or metal roofs & cladding

Upgrade your rooflights and reduce your operating costs by up to

33%

Filon FAIR Factory Assembled Insulating Rooflight

Recent independent research by Elmhust Energy*, demonstrates that improvements to rooflights and lighting controls can bring huge savings in energy and emissions.

In one typical example, a large retail DIY store, total carbon emissions could be reduced by 29% and total operating costs could be reduced by 33%.

These savings equate to a reduction in total operating costs of £5.20/m2 per year, giving a total saving of £20,435 per year.

As one of the UK’s leading providers of profiled rooflights and roofing sheets, with huge experience across all kinds of public and private sector buildings, Filon Products is your ideal partner in roof and rooflight upgrades and refurbishment.

We also offer: • Fixsafe for safe replacement of rooflights and roof sheets • Lightweight over-roofing for cost-effective roof refurb with minimal disruption.

For details, please call us on 01543 687300 or visit www.filon.co.uk

*See the report at http://www.narm.org.uk/ uploads/pdfs/NARM_NTD10.pdf

Filon Products Ltd, Unit 3 Ring Road, Zone 2, Burntwood Business Park, Burntwood, Staffs WS7 3JQ

ROOFWORK ROOFLIGHTSHEALTH & SAFETY

Filon R&D expertise provides a non-fragile daylighting solution at Kent Waste Recycling Centre

Pepperhill Household Waste Recycling Centre (Pepperhill HWRC) is a large waste recycling plant in Gravesend, Kent, designed to recycle more than 70% of the waste brought in by residents served

by Gravesham and Dartford Borough Councils.

Following a major fire at the facility in 2018, the waste transfer station on the site *In accordance with ACR[M]001:2014.

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required a complete rebuild of the concrete walls and aluminium standing seam roof, including almost 1,000 linear metres of rooflights.

Industrial Construction (Sussex) Ltd of Rodmell, East Sussex, were contracted to carry out the roof replacement.

The customer required that the roof should be rebuilt to the

original specification using the Ziplok 400 standing seam roof from Omnis by System.

Having previously worked with Filon Products on a number of projects, the team at ICS looked to Filon to provide rooflights to meet the required light levels and Class B non-fragility certification* required by the client.

ROOFLIGHTS Bespoke rooflights for a challenging project Steve Mercer, Filon’s Technical Manager, takes up the story: “This was a particularly interesting project for us, as it required a rooflight to be developed specifically for it.”

He continued: “Ziplok roofing is usually installed as a twin skin, insulated roof system, so the rooflights for the standing seam element can be very lightweight – typically CE18E which is nominally 1.8 kg/m2. This is because the required nonfragility is provided by a combination of the weather sheet and the liner sheet.

However, the roof for the Pepperhill project was a single skin roof, yet required the same Class B non-fragility rating. This meant that the rooflights needed to be much stronger, as no liners would be used.”

Steve and the R&D team at Filon Products undertook the development of a rooflight to

meet the project requirements.

It was thought that producing the required profile in CE30E (3.0 kg/m2) would be suitable.

However the 1.6mm thick laminate could not be manipulated into the very tight profile of the standing seam ‘lollypop’ side detail.

Filon’s innovative R&D team rose to the challenge. Their solution

“Following a major fire in 2018, the waste transfer station on the site required a complete rebuild of the concrete walls and aluminium standing seam roof, including almost 1,000 linear metres of rooflights”.

Development of the rooflights under way at Filon’s R&D centre in Staffordshire 9

ROOFWORK ROOFLIGHTSHEALTH & SAFETY The new roof, complete with rooflights, was completed ontime, with the development work on the new rooflights completed within just two weeks, with a further two weeks for production at Filon’s plant.

Steven Johnson summed up: “Filon’s short lead time for what is a bespoke product, was impressive and bears testament to their commitment and high levels of in-house technical expertise”.

FILON INNOVATION IN ACTION: SEE VIDEOS OF THE FILON ROOFLIGHTS AT THE PEPPERHILL SITE HERE

was simple, but effective: using Filon’s 1.3mm thick CEDR24E double reinforced laminate for the rooflights. This 2.4 kg/m2 sheet, is produced with a special combination of glass mats that ensure a strength equivalent to a 3.0 kg/m2 sheet.

Developed, tested, delivered and installed – within a short lead time Following a successful production trial, the next stage was the all-important non-fragility test to ensure suitability for the project.

A test programme in conjunction with ICS Ltd and roof system manufacturer Omnis was scheduled. Filon then carried out the required ACR[M]001 drop test procedure at its 10

Staffordshire factory, with representatives of ICS and Omnis present.

The test proved extremely successful, with the new rooflight achieving a ‘very good’ Class B certification, leading the way to a successful project.

Steven Johnson, Contracts Manager at ICS Ltd, said: “I’ve worked with Filon on many previous projects and I’ve always been extremely satisfied with their very pro-active technical support and general ‘can do’ attitude. So it was an easy choice to involve them on this important and technically challenging project”.

A nine-week shutdown was required at the waste transfer station to allow the work to be completed.

INTERIOR

EXTERIOR

DROP TEST

upgrade & refurbishment solutions for profiled fibre cement or metal roofs & cladding GRPInnovative ROOFLIGHTS HEALTH & SAFETY

Failing roof?

Here’s the lightweight, cost-effective and disruption-free solution.

FILON GRP over-roofing profiles are the durable, lightweight solution for roof refurbishment.They are extremely quick and easy to install, with minimal disruption to building occupants.

Manufactured from strong but lightweight GRP, the over-roofing sheets simply overlay the failing roof and are separated from the existing sheets by the Profix spacer. This locates over the original fasteners which remain in place.

In the case of fibre cement roofs, the resulting refurbished roof is often lighter than before the over-roofing, because the GRP sheets are lighter than the accumulated water in the fibre cement, so as the roof dries, the weight reduces. This removes the requirement for costly structural strengthening. Also, the sheets can be supplied in the same profile as the existing roof – so no planning permission is required.

We also offer: • Fixsafe for safe replacement of rooflights and roof sheets • Insulated rooflights for energy-saving upgrades and refurbishment.

Filon over-roofing has been proven in hundreds of applications around the UK

For details, please call us on 01543 687300 or visit www.filon.co.uk

Filon Products Ltd, Unit 3 Ring Road, Zone 2, Burntwood Business Park, Burntwood, Staffs WS7 3JQ

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ROOFWORK HEALTH & SAFETY HEALTH & SAFETY

Safer rooflight replacement for Cornish clay mine MEC Hart Industrial Roofing of Clyst St. Mary, Exeter, has recently carried out a project to replace failing rooflights at a facility in Cornwall for mining and processing high quality clay products for specialist applications.

“Water had started to penetrate the rooflight seals in some areas, which was a major concern in a building containing powdered clay which would be damaged or destroyed if exposed to water”, said Graham 12

Neville of MEC Hart Industrial Roofing.

He continued: “In addition to this, the light levels in the building were very low, due to the existing rooflights having become discoloured due to age and envionmental factors”.

Latest figures on construction accidents from the HSE • 30 fatalities in the construction industry in 2018/2019 • 49% of fatalities in the construction industry over the last five years were as a result of falls from height

Site safety: a project priority

• The fatal injury rate of construction workers is three times higher than the ‘all industry’ rate

The building owner’s Health & Safety policy placed high demands for site safety during the rooflight replacement and strong emphasis had been

• 1559 RIDDOR reported nonfatal injuries were because of falls from height. This figure may be significantly higher as injuries are substantially under-reported, especially for the self-employed.

GRP ROOFLIGHTS

placed on procedures relating to accessing fragile roof areas.

Having previously used Filon’s unique Fixsafe system on a number of smaller projects, the management of MEC Hart Industrial Roofing had no hesitation in basing their tender for the project on use of the Fixsafe system.

With Fixsafe, the sheet can be installed into the roof from below, so there is no requirement for operatives to risk their safety by gaining access onto the roof. The whole operation can be carried out from inside the building, using a cherry picker or platform lift.

In addition to increased safety, there is an additional benefit of potential reductions in installation time and cost - with no need for external scaffolding, roof staging or safety netting.

Alternative competitive tenders for the project had all been based on traditional methods using roof boarding and safety nets, with roofers required to replace the rooflights from above, requiring potentially dangerous access to the roof.

Minimal disruption to building users Following the customer’s decision to place the contract with MEC Hart Industrial Roofing, work began on the project. Another key consideration was the requirement that the plant should remain operational throughout, with no shutdown period or interference with production schedules.

HEALTH & SAFETY

Graham Neville explains: “We were able to carry out the work in a relatively unobtrusive way, by using a small and manoeuvrable MEWP platform. This allowed our team to work in areas above the many rows of racking beneath the rooflights.

Access to some of the rooflights was a little tight, but the Fixsafe installation procedure is pretty simple, so once the platform was in place, our operatives had no problem removing the old rooflights and installing the new ones”.

Taking the safe option delivered a ‘top result’ The project was completed successfully, on-time and with no effect on the customer’s productivity. The results are a completely watertight roof, significantly improved light levels, extended working life for the building and an extremely happy customer.

Graham Neville summed up: “We’ve always had an excellent relationship with Filon Products, who remain our preferred supplier for GRP roof sheets and rooflights. Their technical and project support is second-tonone and we’re now committed users of their excellent Fixsafe system.

Following the completion of this project, the customer is absolutely delighted and further projects for them are now under discussion.”

Before and after the rooflight replacement: in addition to eliminating water ingress, light levels were dramatically increased, creating a healthier and more productive working environment.

The results are a completely watertight roof, significantly improved light levels, extended working life for the building and an extremely happy customer.

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ROOFWORK FILON PRODUCT HEALTH RANGE & SAFETY OVERVIEW

Filon: the complete range of innovative GRP building products Filon Products has led the development of GRP profiled sheets since the late 1950s taking full advantage of the light weight and extreme durability of GRP to make it the obvious material choice for many building products.

Today’s Filon range includes:

Rooflights & roof sheets • Standard, double reinforced and triple reinforced GRP in-plane rooflights and roof sheets

Other profiled GRP sheet products

• Specialist products including • Factory assembled insulating high light transmitting profiled sheets for horticultural rooflights (FAIRs) applications; internal box • Fixsafe system - allows profiled rooflights for suspended rooflights and GRP roof sheets ceilings; DIY translucent sheets to be replaced from below, for domestic applications eliminating the need to access Valley gutters dangerous fragile roofs • GRP barrel vault rooflights GRP refurbishment sheets • Opaque sheets for replacing or overlaying old or damaged fibre cement

• GRP valley troughs for use with natural or man-made slates and clay or concrete tiles – a low cost alternative to traditional lead valleys Diffused signage panels

• Can be manufactured to match • Flat opal tinted GRP sheets most current and obsolete developed for use in back lit steel roof sheet profiles illuminated signs GRP over-roofing Sheets for water treatment plants • Slimline and very lightweight system designed to simply • Specially formulated sheets fit onto existing asbestos for use in water treatment cement roofs providing a quick plants and other associated refurbishment solution processes including oil/water separators and biological GRP sheets for harsh waste processing environments • For complete roof and wall cladding in aggressive and corrosive environments including chemical plants; galvanising plants; composting facilities; fertilizer plants;

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pickling factories; salt stores; coastal & marine buildings.

Cladding and wall linings • Specialist white GRP sheets specially developed for hygiene applications

GRP ROOFLIGHTS

FILON PRODUCT RANGE OVERVIEW

www.filon.co.uk

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Innovative upgrade & refurbishment solutions for profiled fibre cement or metal roofs & cladding

POLYCARBONATE CANOPY SYSTEMS

Fragile roofs are only unsafe if you walk on them.

Replace rooflights and sheets from below with Fixsafe.

Figures published by the Health & Safety Executive show that falls through fragile roof materials caused over one quarter of fatal accidents in the construction industry.

Fixsafe addresses the problem and is playing a major role in reducing this statistic.

Fixsafe allows sheets to be replaced from below, eliminating the need to access fragile roofs and thereby greatly increasing site safety. By removing the requirement for costly safety netting, roof staging or external scaffolding, on-site time is reduced and access equipment costs are minimised.

Replacing rooflights from below is an HSE recommended method and complies with Regulation 9 of the Work At Height Regulations 2005. Protect your roofers and yourself and your team by repairing or replacing rooflights and roof sheets with Fixsafe.

We also offer: • Insulated rooflights for energy-saving upgrades and refurbishment • Lightweight over-roofing for cost-effective roof refurb with minimal disruption.

For details, please call us on 01543 687300 or visit www.filon.co.uk

Filon Fixsafe allows replacement rooflights or roof sheets to be installed from below, avoiding the need to access fragile roofs

Filon Products Ltd, Unit 3 Ring Road, Zone 2, Burntwood Business Park, Burntwood, Staffs WS7 3JQ