Longworth is one of the UK’s leading envelope contractors, offering a complete turnkey service of design, installation and project management.

Over the years, we’ve become renowned for being an industry innovator. Building on our established reputation for being master craftsmen in the use of traditional metal products such as zinc, copper and stainless steel, since 1999 we have extended our skills and expertise to cover the whole of the external building envelope. And all to the highest of specifications.

Experience and detailed market knowledge of customer needs, supplier skills, legislative and environmental drivers and the emergence of new technologies have all contributed to our current market standing.

We combine this with outstanding customer support, safe working practices, technical understanding and quality workmanship - all of which have been achieved through constant investment in training and certification of our people.

At Longworth, we have a proven track record of working with all of the major UK developers to complete projects on time, on budget and on demand.

Offering complete turnkey services — design, installation and project management.

Pre-Construction Advice

Our team can provide valuable product and design advice at any stage of a project. With years of experience and long-standing relationships with product manufacturers, our engineers ensure that projects remain within budget without compromising architectural integrity.

Project Management

We utilise a collaborative project management programme to ensure we deliver projects on time, within budget, and most importantly, safely.

Fabrication

Our in-house fabrication service can deliver a wide range of high quality bespoke roofing and cladding solutions, utilising computerised folding and cutting machinery to ensure a precise and consistent end product.

Design

The latest computerised design systems equip our design team with the ability to provide clients, architects and main contractors with a complete plan for the construction project. For the more intricate designs, we have the facilities to produce a 3D image to assist with the design. All of our designers have been trained up to BIM Level 2.

Planning

For each project we provide a strict planning service. This includes producing detailed plans, method statements and risk assessments. The end result is a structured project following a critical path. We communicate with the client at every step of the way and our contracts manager is assigned to oversee the project, co-ordinating between the client, design, and site teams.

Commercial

We commit ourselves to providing the most economical service available. We are not tied into any one supplier or system which means value engineering is always available. Our partnering mentality is ideal for those who wish us to become involved from an early stage, which can often result in cost reduction of other trades such as steelwork, masonry, etc.

We have extensive experience of working within a range of sectors.

Public & Commercial Buildings

Over the years, Longworth has undertaken a wide range of roofing and cladding works, from office space to state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities.

Retail & Residential

More than a third of consumer spending goes through our shops and it is the UK’s largest private sector employer with 2.9 million employees.

Transport

Modern and efficient transport infrastructure is as important today as it has ever been.

Leisure

The range of building types in the leisure industry means that we have to be adaptable and competent in a wide range of methods, design, products and environments.

Health Care

Our team has completed a large number of projects in the health care sector, from new build highly-aesthetic designs to functional, cost-conscious projects.

Education

We pride ourselves in expertly handling the building process of schools, colleges and universities all over the country.

We've got them all covered.

Focus on Rochdale Riverside 26 Nov 2019

 

Rochdale Riverside

Over the last 12 months, we have carried out our largest project to date working on the new Rochdale Riverside project for Willmott Dixon Construction.  Here we’ll take a look at how we came to be involved on the project and how it has developed into one of the stand out developments in the North West.

Working with Willmott Dixon

Prior to Rochdale Riverside we had worked for Willmott Dixon on a number of local schemes, but nothing compared to size of a project like Rochdale Riverside.  The roofing and cladding package, valued around £4.5m, consisted of various roofing and cladding products across all 4 blocks.  At tender stage, with limited design information we were able to pull together a comprehensive bid, including programme and logistical proposals which gave Willmott Dixon the peace of mind that we were the company to deliver such a complex, architectural package.  Several meetings during the tender and post tender process were held, looking at access, programme, plant, materials and design.  It was a service we were happy to commit to carrying out, working as part of the team.

Steelwork of cinema and cladding of cinema

 

Design

Being involved early gave us to opportunity to make changes to the design which would benefit the build sequence.  Lightweight deck roof areas to the cinema block were swapped out for concrete slabs to enable scissor lifts to be lifted up to access some of the 64 elevations.  Roof slopes to the North and South blocks were simplified to omit valley gutters, thus eliminating future maintenance issues.  In total, we produced over 1000 drawings during the design period.

Our Lead designer for the project, Tom Mead had this to say on his involvement –

“Presenting a challenging design target, the project required tailored details for each interface across all buildings, from the 60+ Euramax Canyon Copper shingled facets on the Cinema Block, to the traditionally installed Pagoda Blue Rimex single lock cladding on the Pavilion block. In total, just short of 1200 installation drawings were produced.”

Curved shopfront steelwork and cladding

 

Build

Due to the planning and necessity for certain road closures, the Cinema Block was the first area to commence.  It was also logistically the most complex.  The key to the success of the build on this block was changing the roof substrate.  The switch from purlins to concrete decks enabled the use of scissor lifts to clad the elevations with shingles.  Long spanning Eurobond composite panels were installed with specialist lifting attachments to the columns.  This removed any requirement for cladding rails or SFS.

The North and South Blocks brought further interesting logistical challenges, with site rolled Euroclad SF500 roof panels installed at 48.5m long. The panels were rolled on site at ground level and then lifted to the roof areas using a 46m lifting beam

Crane with long lifting beam to lift roof panels onto roof

The Marks and Spencer block involved the installation of Eurobond composite panels with raking cuts on the ground prior to lifting.  The precision of the workmanship on this block has brought particular praise from the client. They noted that it was one of the highest quality installations they have seen on one of their stores.

Our Senior Contract Manager and Rochdale Riverside Project Leader Lee Smith –

“This has been one of the most difficult projects I have been involved in, due to the site logistics and access restriction imposed on us during the construction. From organising multiple crane lifts, operatives working night shifts, daily co-ordination meetings with other trades to ensure all the detailed interfaces are installed correctly and in the correct sequenced. This would then ensure the works were installed to highest possible quality, whilst also achieving the clients/architects expectations and vision.   The team and myself have enjoyed being involved in the project from day one working alongside the Willmott Dixon site team. Working together we have produced what i believe to be a fantastic looking project”  

Steelwork and cladding to marks on spencer

 

Key Products and Suppliers

 

Mosaic of Rochdale products

F5, S5 and Rainspan composite panels provided by Eurobond

Elite built up roofing and cladding systems provided by Euroclad

Hot melt inverted roof system manufactured by Danosa

Kinetic wall fabricated by Lang and Fulton

Pre-coated aluminium for shingles manufactured by Euramax

Specialist fasteners provided by SFS

Rockpanel Lines rainscreen provided by Rockpanel

Helping hand bracket and rail systems manufactured by Nvelope

Insulation products and membranes supplied by Encon

Bespoke aluminium perforated rainscreen fabricated by Proteus

Aluminium Copings fabricated by Guttermaster

Bespoke fabrications and flashings fabricated by Architectural Steel

Written by Steven Jones

 

 

What our clients say

"The efforts during the construction stage of the works must be commended. The quality of the finished product is evident to anyone who cares to visit the campus at Stockport College."

Tom Herd - Senior Design Manager, Wates Construction