University of Manchester – Planned Preventative Roof Maintenance

Each year, Novus is employed by The University of Manchester to carry out planned preventative maintenance (PPM) on their roof.

About the Client

The University of Manchester is among the largest single-site universities in the UK, with one of the biggest student communities. In total, 25 Nobel Prize winners have worked or studied there.

83% of our research was ranked as ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’ by the Research Excellence Framework in 2014.

And more than nine out of ten of our recent graduates go straight into employment or continued studies.

The University is ranked 36th in the world, eighth in Europe and fifth in the UK in the 2020 Academic Ranking of World Universities.

They are also ranked seventh in Europe in the 2018 Reuters Top 100 Most Innovative Universities.

What’s more, they’re well underway with one of the biggest investments in facilities undertaken by any UK university.

This ten-year plan will transform their campus and create world-class facilities for staff, students and visitors in support of their global ambitions.

Has Novus worked with the Client Before?

Yes, Novus has a long-standing relationship with the client, having worked with The University of Manchester for over 30 years.

Novus has a MTC Contract with The University of Manchester, where we carry out responsive repairs and other projects.

This particular project is part of a pre-planned preventative roof maintenance programme.

What does the Planned Preventative Roof Maintenance (PPM) Involve?

Novus checks the roof for its overall condition, cleaning the roof, checking the gutters, and conducting a general survey of the condition of the roof.

This type of maintenance is important to prevent flood damage to the building.

Roof Surveys Using Drones

At the University, there are certain buildings where we were unable to physically access the roof area.

Historically, this has meant having to bring in a MEWP (Mobile Elevated Work Platform) to check the gutters and other areas of the roof.

There are inherent costs, risks, and challenges associated with the use of this equipment. One particular challenge is that using a MEWP, our team can only see certain areas of the roof, not all of it.

Therefore, for the last two years, Novus has carried out the survey using drones.

To carry out the inspection, we enlisted the help of A2B Drone Photography – a business local to the area.  The survey was carried out over two Sundays when the University was at its least busy time.

The Benefits of Using Drones for Roof Surveys

Using drones not only makes the job quicker and safer, but it is more cost effective.

Therefore Novus is able to save money for the University, whilst still providing a high quality survey showing the full condition of the University roofs.

What makes this project stand out?

It makes use of modern technology to resolve a potential problem and provide cost efficiency to the client.