Roofing Work News Roundup – October, 2017

Here at D-marc we’re in the business of making work at height, namely roofing work, safer with our innovative rooftop barrier solutions.  As such, we keep a close eye on the news for stories about roof work and working at height in general so that we can provide our readers with useful and relevant information that will keep them up to date with what’s going on in our industry.  Once a month, we’ll publish a roundup of the news that affects our sector in one easy place so that readers can get a quick overview of the most important happenings over the past month.  If you have anything to add or know of any stories that you’d like us to cover, please don’t hesitate to let us know, either by email, on our Facebook Page or on our Twitter feed.

First comes the news that Sheffield Council has begun a major roof renovation project across the city as part of a five year investment into council housing.  One tenant spoke of his disappointment that the work being carried out on his estate was being done by companies based in Leeds and Doncaster, leading to other residents wondering why the council wasn’t using local firms to get the job done.  With companies in the area that provide scaffolding and carry out roof repairs and refurbishment, residents feel that it would be better to give the jobs to local companies in order to boost the local economy.

Canvey Wick is a “brownfield rainforest”, one of the UK’s most precious nature reserves which is teeming with some of the country’s rarest insects.  It’s been dubbed a “mecca for entomologists” with its meadows of long grass, reed-filled ditches and circles of asphalts left over from when the area was prepared as an oil refinery back in the 1970s.  The oil price crash of 1973 led to the refinery being abandoned before it was even opened and it’s now become a haven for wildlife.  Roofing felt is being put to surprising use on the site, with small squares of the material being deliberately left on the ground for Bombardier beetles to hide under.  The site boasts a random mix of exotic plants thriving and attracting all types of rare insects as their native habitats become fewer and fewer.

News from across the Pond has seen a school in Ohio closed after several students became ill as a result of breathing in fumes from the glue used in a roofing project.  Kenston Middle School in Chagrin Falls has been closed after students were evacuated with ten being taken to a nearby hospital along with one of their teachers. 

Meanwhile, shoppers in the centre of Manchester were bewildered by the sight of giant green tentacles creeping out of the roof of the House of Fraser.  The tentacles are the work of Bristol based street artist Filthy Luker who’s famed for installing inflatable “art attacks” in cities around the world.  The Monster Attack in Manchester, complete with writhing tentacles, is party of the Halloween in the City festival.