FirstGroup, Bus Depot, Manchester

Plygene® Gutterline – the first choice for FirstGroup’s Bus Depot.

Continuous leaks in the roof of FirstGroup’s Bus depot in Boyle Street, Manchester defied all remediation attempts. First operates a fleet of over 600 buses with around 2,200 staff and a network of over 300 routes serving Greater Manchester including Bury, Bolton, Rochdale, Oldham and Tameside. It is one of the biggest bus operators in the region.

Surveying company, JGB recognised that due to corrosion in the gutter joints, the extensive building gutter system had failed to a level where on-going interim remediation was no longer an option and complete refurbishment or replacement had to be considered. After the site was surveyed and assessed, the Plygene Gutterline System was specified for this challenging project. The project was put out to tender and MSB Cladding was the chosen installation contractor.

Plygene Gutterline was specified because it is the only bespoke engineered gutter lining refurbishment system that would be specifically manufactured to the requirements of the project. It was key that the solution chosen was both BBA certified and guaranteed – Plygene Gutterline is the only BBA certified system for the gutter with a 25 year guarantee.

The system is seamless in design to eliminate the need for problematic joints that corrode and fail, primarily as a result of thermal movement across seasonal cycles over a number of years. Designing out these points of failure extends the performance integrity of the Plygene Gutterline system providing a permanent and guaranteed solution to stop gutters leaking for good.

The gutter lining is non-bonded in design and thermally expands and contracts independently from the gutter substrate material. This means that as the gutter thermally moves, the integrity of the gutter lining is not compromised and will not craze and crack like liquid coatings or open at the joints like other bonded systems. Hence performance integrity is fully designed into the full product life cycle.

Sharman’s Technical Services Manager, Danny Wright said: “The gutters were complex being 2.8m in girth and 56m long and they incorporated tricky steps as well as penetrations such as flu pipes and an access hatch. The system solution needed to incorporate a number of bespoke moulded units in order to reduce complexity on site.

“We’d tried all kinds of solutions to fight the gutter leaking problem at First. Now, thanks to Sharman’s Plygene Gutterline “gutter within a gutter”, we’re confident that we’ve stopped the leaks for good.”