Synonymous with high-quality, high-tech roofing and cladding installations, it was no major surprise to see SIAC Roofing & Cladding shortlisted for a major award at the 2020 Irish Construction Excellence Awards. Building Ireland touched base with managing director Alan Ahern to discuss the project for which they were nominated – Western Road Student Accommodation – as well as the ongoing success at home and abroad of this industry-leading business.
The prestigious 2020 Irish Construction Excellence Awards, which recognise high performance in the contracting sector throughout Ireland, were scheduled to take place at the Convention Centre, Dublin on March 28th but have been postponed indefinitely due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
These awards showcase the cream of the cream from every discipline in Irish construction and one such company is SIAC Roofing & Contracting Ltd., who were shortlisted in the Specialist or Specialist Services Contract category for their outstanding contribution to Western Road Student Accommodation – a 190-bed complex located next to University College Cork.
“It was a nice project and we were very pleased to be nominated for an Irish Construction Excellence Award,” reflects MD Alan Ahern. “It’s an achievement in itself just to be shortlisted and it’s always nice to get recognition from your peers in the construction industry.”
Between January and August, 2018, SIAC Roofing & Cladding supplied and installed all roofing, cladding and soffits at Western Road Student Accommodation. Operating not just within a tight timeframe but also within a confined and restricted site, they delivered a high-quality finish in time for the students’ arrival at the start of the new academic term.
It was a challenging project for all contractors involved. “The site was being transformed from a derelict garage into a 190-unit student accommodation block,” Alan continues. “You had the River Lee running around it to the South and East, while it was landlocked on one other side by an existing building and the new building was being built right out to the edge of the site, so there were a lot of unique challenges.”
Appointed as façade contractor to supply and install an insulated rainscreen façade. SIAC engaged with Swiss Facades, the Irish representative of Swiss Pearl cladding. The cladding used consists of 8mm Swiss Pearl fibre cement panels in varying colours and sizes, fixed onto and aluminium subframe and insulated with Kingspan Kooltherm insulation.
The building was split into three blocks, each with four floors. Each apartment had a colour theme – yellow, gold or silver. All panels were sequenced with varying sizes. To achieve the architect’s intent, SIAC Roofing & Cladding prepared a set of shop drawings for each zone of each block and an accompanying spread sheet. Panels were ordered in sequence and packed in Switzerland in order of installation. More than 1,900 panels were used on the project and incredible precision was required…
“The rainscreen was built in piecemeal on site and had to be millimetre-perfect. There was a total of 2,000 square metres of rainscreen panels. That came in 1,922 individual panels, with 88 different sizes and six different colours, so it was a bit like a giant jigsaw puzzle, where every panel is unique across a four-storey building.”
The manner in which the site was wedged between the main Western road and the River Lee meant there was no laydown area for materials. Thus, offsite storage was used and packs assembled from there, sent to site in pallets and lifted up to each area. The site was very congested, with all contractors working together in small areas. Working closely with their suppliers, SIAC Roofing & Cladding achieved the performance spec of the project. Suppliers attended site regularly and along with SIAC personnel conducted inspections of works as they were ongoing.
SIAC prides itself on being a customer- and safety-focussed company, maintains its dealings in line with EN ISO 9001:2008 and complies rigidly with the highest safety, health and welfare standards.
The Uvalue required on the façade was 0.2W/m2K – SIAC achieved this using 120mm Kingspan Kooltherm insulation. The roof consisted of 120mm Kingspan TR26 insulation and Protan membrane. SIAC carried out weekly inspections and prepared QA reports, whilst implementing their site standard safety procedures throughout the course of the project. They prepared site specific safety plans and Risk Assessment method statements for each area of work, while a SIAC safety officer was on site regularly.
The new building – which exceeds the client’s expectations and has become an architecturally-prominent building in Cork city – was delivered safely, within budget, to spec and on time. It is a functional building while also architecturally very impressive and has rejuvenated a site which was formally an abandoned petrol station. The building has also eased the every-growing housing crisis students faced in the area by supplying them with 190 beds to a high quality finish just a minute’s walk from UCC.
“It was certainly a unique project in that it was so complicated and painstaking,” Alan notes. “We had to get there every morning at 5:30am. Access was limited with only one tower crane on the job and there was a lot of activity going on with mechanical and electrical and fit-out contractors all working within limited space on a very tight and busy site in the city centre.
“Obviously, the fact that there was no room for on-site storage presented further logistical and coordination issues. We had to deliver in each morning what we were going to install that day. But we are fortunate in that we have good management and a highly skilled workforce of direct labour, many of whom are third generation with SIAC, which is now 107 years old, the company having been formed in 1913. So we’re well established and roofing and cladding are a key part of what we do.”
In total, SIAC Roofing & Cladding have access to a skilled workforce of 250, which is split 50:50 between direct labour and subbies. They work extensively within the pharmaceutical sector and were on site at facilities in Swords, Carlow and Dundalk at the time of writing.
As well as 2,000 square metres of rainscreen, SIAC Roofing & Cladding – who are headquartered in Cork and provide façade solutions on key projects all over Ireland, the UK and further afield – also installed 2,200 square metres of roofing and all the soffits at Western Road Student Accommodation, where there are 28 balconies. Attention to detail was paramount to achieve an integrated, coordinated finish.
“Planning was key,” Alan concludes. “With this project, the planning had to start six months in advance. As with all projects, there was also a major emphasis on safety and quality. We invest a lot of money into training and upskilling our staff. Our approach is to plan in advance and do it right first time, every time, with our minds always on safety and quality and client satisfaction.”
SIAC Roofing & Cladding Ltd.,
Doughcloyne Industrial Estate,
Sarsfield Road,
Wilton,
Cork.
Tel: 021 4311322
Email: [email protected]
Web: siac.ie
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, April, Vol 7 No 4
