Chocolate Works (Terrys)
Where: York
Challenge: All aspects of roofing for a prestigious development at the former Terry’s factory
Terry’s Chocolate Works in York is a local landmark with its Art Deco style and distinctive clock tower.
From 1926 it served as the headquarters of the Terry’s chocolate brand – but after closing in 2005 it fell into disrepair to the point of being placed on the Historic England At Risk Register.
Eventually, Springfield Healthcare acquired the building for conversion into the Chocolate Works Care Village. This involved the construction of an extra floor on the existing flat roof area, built around the central North Light roofs – a project that demanded specialist expertise in the field of heritage buildings.
The main contractor, Simpsons (York) Ltd, instructed us to carry out all roofing works, including Westmorland slating to the steep mansard roofs, Sika Sarnafil single ply system to all flat roof areas, 140m of parapet gutters, 60no dormer tops and the roof terrace area.
Additionally, we were instructed to carry out the zinc cladding works to the 60no dormers, the large central Rotunda overlooking the terrace and 200m of capping to the parapet walls, along with all necessary lead flashings to the junction between the flat roofing and slating.
Usually, a scheme of this varied nature would require several roofing experts. However, L.A.Hall’s expertise in all roofing specialisms means we could carry out all aspects of the roofing works – giving the main contractor just one point of contact and a seamless work schedule.
The process
First, we stripped off the existing Westmorland slate roofs and carefully lowered the salvaged slates to ground and stored them for future use on the new mansard roof structure.
Once the new structure was in place we re-commenced the works, with our flat roofing, slating and hard metal teams on site at the same time to allow a seamless approach to the works.
There were many details and challenges to overcome, including satisfying the Conservation officer that sympathetic solutions were being found to all elements of the works. This often involved us fabricating 1:1 models of various elements to show our proposals prior to carrying out the specific works.
The works were carried out during the winter months with a tight deadline to hit for the building’s opening in the spring. We were delighted to play a part in this prestigious scheme and to bring our works in on time and on budget.
