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RoofMate UK Featured on BBC's DIY SOS: The Big Build!
(Nick Knowles stood with our company director)
In late February 2022, we were contacted by BBC Studios' Factual Entertainment Productions asking for our services for a project in Fegg Hayes, Stoke-on-Trent. We were told that the roofer they had originally had pulled out last minute. Little did we know what they actually meant by last minute!
We were tasked to help supply and fit the roof coverings for two flat roofs on adapted container ships, however the deadline we had to complete was a matter of days!
After inspecting the site with the producers it was agreed that we would volunteer our services to install a 3-layer mineral flat roof covering for each roof, the larger roof was 60m2 and the smaller roof was 30m2.
We worked with local Stoke-on-Trent based suppliers to help supply the materials necessary to get the job done. Within the first day we managed to get supplies needed on site, however just as we thought everything was going to plan, the whole country suffered the worst three storms to hit in recent years!
This meant that not only did we have a very tight deadline to work to but we also had to battle the storms,(Storms Dudley, Eunice and Frankiln), never have we before worked through such persistent heavy rain and record breaking gusts of wind conditions!
So how did we do it? Well, we bit the bullet and offered to work through the nights sky so that we can get the roofs completed on time. Our team worked tirelessly throughout the day and stayed some nights until 3/4am the next morning! Fortunately for us we were able to take advantage of the site lighting equipment so that we could see what we were doing.
Unfortunately, although we were working as hard as we could, because of the weather conditions we faced we were not able to finish the roofs completely on time for the handover, and so the deadline was extended by a few more days to allow us to complete so that solar panels can then be fitted afterwards.
After a few more nights working tirelessly until the early hours of the morning, our team finally completed both flat roofs and it wasn't long until handover time.
(RoofMate staff applying the underlay for the roof)
(Nick Knowles & volunteers at the Fegg Hayes site) BBC image.
A few snagging bits finished by all the volunteers that were there and it was time to hand the finished site back over to Sue, who runs the Sylvester's charity.
Sue’s family have lived in Fegg Hayes, Stoke, for six generations. To help tackle issues of food poverty, isolation and mental health in the area, she set up a charity, Sylvester’s. They have taken over a patch of wasteland in the heart of the community with the aim of creating a community centre and garden with room to grow vegetables and space where old and young can share knowledge and experiences.
You can watch this Series 32 Episode 2 of DIY SOS: The Big Build on BBC iPlayer - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00183zr