Supporting Roofdec: Hi-spec Colorfast deployment for Birmingham logistics park

Rotherham based design and installation specialists Roofdec have completed the construction of eight new high-specification warehousing and logistics buildings at the Urban 8 Logistics Park in Kings Norton, Birmingham – extensively specifying EJOT Colorfast for the project.

The £32.9m development by St Francis Group in partnership with Tristan Capital Partners and Canmoor, breathes new life into a redundant brownfield site, once the Triplex Safety Glass factory. Latterly owned by Pilkington and then GKN Aerospace, this plant was previously a world-leading facility for the manufacture of toughened glass for the automotive and aviation industries, at its peak employing around 700 people.

After GKN Aerospace ceased its operations in 2019, the prime 26-acre site was unused until it was acquired for the development of warehousing and distribution units. When fully occupied by businesses operating at full potential, the developers estimate that the site could provide employment for 900 people and play a key role in the growth of the local economy.

The eight new buildings that form the development are designed to be highly environmentally sustainable, as demonstrated by their BREEAM Excellent and EPC A ratings. The units, delivered by main contractor GMI Construction, provide warehousing space of between 26,000 sq. ft and 70,000 sq. ft., with each benefiting from roof-mounted solar PV panels, SuDS drainage (sustainable drainage systems) and air source heat pumps for renewable heating and cooling.

With an estimated roofing area of 36,000 sq. m, this was an extensive building envelope project which required a system and component specification capable of delivering on the client’s demanding aesthetic, performance, and longevity objectives. The envelope was designed with a high level of airtightness in mind – just 1.5 cubic metres per hour – and thermal performance that would go beyond mere compliance levels to make day-to-day operations by future occupiers as energy-efficient as possible.

Meeting the brief was the Tata Platinum Plus roof and wall system, which was specified to offer a guaranteed 25-year lifespan, in conjunction with FM Approved EJOT Colorfast self-drilling fasteners. These over-moulded colour-matched fasteners are approved for use with Tata building systems given their proven ability to provide an effective and secure seal that minimises the potential for water ingress and air leakage, whilst also maximising corrosion-resistance and visual appeal.

EJOT’s A2 grade stainless steel bi-metallic JT3 Colorfast fasteners were used extensively in the project, with the integral nylon heads coloured in Sirius, Anthracite and Goosewing Grey to colour match the roofing and wall panels.

Industrial roofing and cladding design and installation specialist Roofdec was tasked with delivering the building envelopes and were supported by EJOT UK throughout. This included regular site visits by EJOT sales engineer Michael Swain, who helped the Roofdec team to maintain productivity by ensuring Colorfast fasteners were arriving on site and performing as expected.

In addition to this ongoing site support, ahead of the contract EJOT UK also hosted a knowledge-sharing day for Roofdec’s contracts manager Andy Metterick and a team of his installer colleagues at its Applitec Centre – a state-of-the-art technical and R&D laboratory complex within the EJOT UK HQ near Leeds. This brought together the OEM, Tata Steel, EJOT UK’s technical team and those who would ultimately be involved in installing the system to ensure fastening best practice could be established and applied throughout the project.

Roofdec’s Andy Metterick said: “EJOT’s support in this project has been excellent from the outset. One important dimension to installation best practice we covered at the Applitec Centre was the importance of inspection and seal testing on the installed fasteners. This has now become a feature of our regular QA procedures and supports the stringent standards we expect in all Roofdec projects.

“The Colorfast product itself is extremely reliable in terms of ease of installation and longevity of performance. That is really important for us because it enables our team to maintain productivity on-site and achieve consistently high quality.”

Michael Swain, EJOT UK’s sales engineer, added: "It has been a pleasure to support Andy and the Roofdec team on this exciting new build warehousing project. Whilst Colorfast may have proven itself as a technically superior fastener for high spec metal building envelopes, through close collaboration during this project we’ve been able to deliver outstanding quality for the client and ensure the product’s long term advantages can be fully realised.”

EJOT Colorfast has developed over three decades to offer a high performing fastening solution where the goal is to match the colour of roofing and cladding sheets to the fastener heads. Its nylon over-moulded head provides a host of building performance benefits and can be matched to around 400 colours in line with recognised colour matching systems, such as RAL, NCS, British Steel, and Pantone. Bespoke corporate colour matches can also be achieved.