JONAH JAY ARCHITECTS LIMITED

R.C. Church of St. Bernadette

Method Statement for the installation of metal roofing

Method Statement for the installation of metal roofing

Introduction

The R.C. Church of St. Bernadette was listed in October 1968, noted for “the dynamic design
[which] displays considerable architectural flair and innovation, particularly in the bold use of the
hyperbolic paraboloid form. It is a building of real quality in its materials, composition and
detailing…” The roof is perhaps the most significant part of the building, a concrete shell that
forms the double hyperbolic paraboloid, supported only on the centre of the four sides,
otherwise floating. Our proposal, which was the basis of application 17/04643/F, is to lay a new
standing seam hard metal roof over the existing roof as a long-term finish to protect the fragile
structural shell.

Planning consent requirements:

The consent was granted by Bristol City Council in October 2017 and one of the conditions
attached to it was for a method statement ”detailing the proposed forming and installation of the
standing-seam metal roof [to] be submitted to the local
authority and approved in writing. The method statement
shall describe how a smooth profile will be achieved and
how issues of puckering, creasing, and faceted seams in
the aluminium trays will be avoided.”

Design Considerations

The current roof finish is understood to be original and, if

so, would have been laid in 1967. It is a metalised felt that
formed a cap sheet of a system torch applied in several
layers onto a screed applied over the very thin (65mm)
shell. The felt was made up of rectangular panels, with a
slight overlap to the falls of the ever-diminishing roof plain.
The pattern of these panels will be emulated in the layout
of new seams and trays; the most complicated section
being the compound curve over the Narthex, where the
panels are laid in two directions as the roof ‘sinks’ to form a
saddle, falling away the wings in the verge. In this section
the panels will fall from the cantle at the peak, with a
crossing pattern to fall into the gutter, much like the
original felt layout. In all other areas, the curvature is one-
directional, so will fall in line with the roof profile.
Laying the base layers of torch-on felt in 1967
over the Narthex, showing the bi-directional
seams in the panels

112 St Bernadette, Bristol JONAH JAY ARCHITECTS LIMITED

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 JONAH JAY ARCHITECTS LIMITED
R.C. Church of St. Bernadette
Method Statement for the installation of metal roofing

Forming the panels

The aluminium panels will be

formed at a maximum length of
3000mm and with 430mm seam
centres this will reduce the effect of
oil canning and damage in moving
them around. All panels will be
formed using a profiling machine on
site, any curved panels will also be
mechanically formed on site. The
benefits in manufacturing these on
site enables the contractor to make
each panel bespoke to match the
contour of the roof; this also ‘Coloured’ aluminium roofing laid to a tight curve using 430mm centres
mitigates any on site tweaking. with no evidence of puckering or faceting to the panels.

Installation of the roofing

The roof comprises two principal types of installation;

1) the standing seam panels fitted to the upper face of the

concrete shell, and
2) the soffit cladding fitted to the outer face of the concrete
ring beam which forms a continuous strip around the
building.

In the case of 1) the existing roof will be over laid with rigid
insulation and battens, on top of this, two or three layers of
plywood (depending on radius) will be secured to make a
fair profile. This will then be used as an accurate and
robust surface to fix the standing seam cleats at
appropriate intervals to mitigate any deflection in form and
mean that there is no potential for faceting of the surface
profile. The width of the trays will be set at 430mm to
ensure that the coil has limited scope to pucker between
the seams; the seams will be formed into trays at maximum
of 3000mm length on site, with staggered cross welts to
minimise the possibilities for puckering and to mimic the
staggered joints within the current metalised felt. Standing seams laid to a radius in aluminium

112 St Bernadette, Bristol JONAH JAY ARCHITECTS LIMITED

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 JONAH JAY ARCHITECTS LIMITED
R.C. Church of St. Bernadette
Method Statement for the installation of metal roofing

In the case of 2) we are concerned that this aspect, being the

slanted fascia/soffit cladding, is more conspicuous.

We propose to utilise thicker aluminium sheet than on the

roof (2mm) which will be much less prone to 'oil canning',
where the surface appears baggy, and would be susceptible
to deflection through expansion.
This will be butt-jointed with a small expansion joint and
concealed fixings to enable a flat joint, and scope for
expansion. The current (original) soffit facing exhibits this
baggy appearance due to being formed from very thin
aluminium sheet with welted seams.
Baggy appearance of soffit cladding.
Use of thicker aluminium and butt joints
will mitigate this.

112 St Bernadette, Bristol JONAH JAY ARCHITECTS LIMITED

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