Steel roofing and cladding
supplier Arcelor Construction UK sprang into action
when a customer urgently needed to replace a roof on
a storm-damaged supermarket.
High winds ripped the aluminium sheet roof off the
newly-completed store in Chester and deposited it in
the car park on a busy Saturday lunchtime.
Fortunately, no-one was injured and only two cars
were damaged.
While the emergency services secured the site and
closed nearby roads, the store contacted Manchester
roofing contractor Blackwell Stanistreet to arrange
the supply of a replacement roof as soon as
possible. John Watson, the company’s managing
director, knew immediately what to do.
“I called Chris Allwood [Arcelor’s managing
director] at about 10 on Sunday morning and Chris
checked with his production people and confirmed the
material could be supplied without delay,” he said.
Arcelor supplied Blackwell Stanistreet with its
Arclad R34 profiled steel sheeting to replace the
1,000m˛ of lightweight aluminium which had been
destroyed. Although Blackwell Stanistreet has worked
with the supermarket chain for several years,
neither they nor Arcelor had been involved with the
construction of this store and had no prior
knowledge of its roof design.
“There were a few minor technical difficulties as a
result of damage to the supporting structure but
otherwise this was a relatively straightforward
job,” said Mr Watson.
In addition to replacing the missing roof, the store
also asked Blackwell Stanistreet, as a precaution,
to re-roof another part of the building with the
same Arcelor sheeting.
According to Mr Watson, Arcelor Construction was the
obvious supplier for this emergency operation.
“I knew I could get hold of Chris Allwood on a
Sunday and I knew the company could probably supply
material at very short notice,” he said.
Arcelor did just that, supplying the sheeting for
the first roof on the Tuesday. Then Blackwell
Stanistreet had both roofs installed within 12 days.
“The availability of Arcelor’s senior management
out-of-hours and the quick response that elicited
was a key factor in getting the store up and trading
again in a very short time,” said Mr Watson.
Arcelor’s Chris Allwood added: “Our response to
urgent customer requests is something we are
focusing on as part of our drive towards better
service and we were delighted to be able to help in
this case.”
Email:
tracy@tlcpr.co.uk