Zipped Standing Seam Roofing and Cladding

The existing Shrewsbury Street community centre and library has made way for the new development which included St Bride’s Church and Rectory.

The first phase involved the church and rectory being completely re-built as a place of worship as part of the scheme – and the community Centre follows on in 2016/2017.

Longworth was involved with the architects and Willmott Dixon’s design team at a very early stage of the process to advise on the correct substrate build-up to use and also to help with keeping within the set budgets.

Matthew Gardiner, chief executive of Trafford Housing Trust, said: “As part of the wider masterplan, it will help us to meet the current and future needs of all local residents, acting as a catalyst for positive change and social good across Old Trafford.”

Sean Anstee, leader of the council, praised the project, adding: “This is a really exciting time for the trust and the council and this is a great example of partnership working.

“The Shrewsbury Street scheme is a chance for public service organisations to demonstrate that they really understand the principle that communities know how to run services in their neighbourhoods.”

Copper roofing and cladding alternative

The Aluminium and Zipped Standing Seam roofing and cladding was originally specified as copper, and then changed to zinc by the architect. They were looking for a traditional appearance but without the high costs. We were asked to look into viable alternatives and on our recommendation chose traditional textures as an option which could provide a brown copper appearance with a reduced cost.

As well as the traditional textures aluminium roofing and cladding, Longworth also carried out the Euroseam aluminium roofing, single ply membrane gutters, aluminium rainwater pipes and powder coated aluminium cladding to the church cross. Longworth also employed fellow NFRC member Redsky Solar to carry out two separate Solar PV systems on the project.

The nature of the traditional textures aluminium cladding meant that no soldering processes could be used, and all detailing was extremely traditional. Tony Robson, our most experienced craftsman, was selected for this project to work alongside our other craftsmen and two apprentices Zaques and Jack. The apprentices are currently attending a 3 year roofing (as of 2016) and cladding course in Glasgow funded by Longworth and this project provided valuable hands-on experience for them.