The ultimate accolade for the leadwork craftsman

At the beginning of October, some 57 LCA members, associates and their guests assembled at the Fawsley Hall Hotel, near Daventry for the announcement of the winners of the 2015 Murdoch Award and Murdoch Sponsors Award competitions.

The Awards are presented each year in recognition of the very best in leadwork design and installation, carried out by the specialist members of the Lead Contractors Association - in effect the ultimate accolade for the craft of working with lead.

As part of a pre-dinner reception hosted by Jamestown Metals, guests were able to assess the entries for the 2015 Awards and try to pick the overall winner from the keenly competitive and high quality nominations.

The panel of Judges had met some three weeks previously and had eventually selected D Blake & Co (Edinburgh), Lead-Tech Roofing (Worcester Park) and Norman & Underwood (Leicester) as the finalists of the Murdoch Award and N Lee & Sons (Whitney), Leadwise Contracts (Co Antrim) and SWG Roofing (Dunmow, Essex) as finalists of the Murdoch Sponsors Award (for projects under 5 tonnes).

In addressing the gathering at Fawsley Hall, Chairman of the Judging Panel Richard Murdoch once again paid tribute to the very high standard of the entries for the 2015 competition. He noted that this year there had not been any large scale, extravagantly decorated entries which might have stood out and distracted the judges, so all entries were subjected to particularly close scrutiny, down to the very fine details, in order to determine the deserved winners.

Before announcing the winners, Richard again thanked Associated Lead Mills for continuing their long standing sponsorship of the Murdoch Award, in support of the LCA’s quality standard ethic. He noted that once again, all the main Murdoch Award Finalists were being hosted by Associated Lead for the evening as part of their sponsorship.

He also thanked them for their foresight in introducing the Murdoch Sponsors Award in 2006 for projects under five tonnes, which had since given some of the smaller LCA members the chance for wider recognition. Indeed he noted that there were in fact three new members entered for the Sponsors Award and two of them, Leadwise Contracts and SWG Roofing, had made it to the final, although perhaps Leadwise should be regarded as a returning, rather than an entirely new member, having previously been in the LCA from 1998 until 2008.

Turning to the actual entries from the Sponsor’s Award finalists, Richard noted that guests had previously viewed photographs of the dome with unusual weatherings from N Lee & Son, the tile replacement leadwork at Stormont Castle from Leadwise and the dome and spire from SWG Roofing and he again commended the consistently high standard of both the design and workmanship that was evident throughout each project.

However the judges had to pick a winner and Richard announced that Leadwise Contracts were the winners of the Murdoch Sponsors Award for 2015 and in the absence of Martin Cahalan from Leadwise, Ian Harvey stepped forward to receive the Award on their behalf from Alan Barker of sponsors Associated Lead Mills.

Turning to the Murdoch Award itself, Richard noted the presence of two quality leadwork heavyweights who regularly reached the finalists stage, in the form of D Blake & Co (twice previous winners) and Norman & Underwood. Up against them this time was Lead-Tech Roofing who in 2013 had won the Sponsors Award and were now going after the main prize.

Again the projects were not eye-catchingly spectacular, with the focus more on precision detailing and consistent setting out, but in all cases completed with fine workmanship.

Whilst the judges had applauded the unusual pitched roofing over a thick stone substrate at Brothwick Castle by D Blake and the work carried out by Norman and Underwood to the flat roof at Staunton Harold Church, in their unanimous view it was the large flat and pitched roofing and cladding project completed by Lead-Tech Roofing at Rygar House in London that deserved to be the winner of the 2015 Murdoch Award.

Paul Mulry, who had worked extensively on Rygar House stepped forward to receive the Award on behalf of Lead-Tech from LCA Chairman Stuart Bailey. Lead-Tech MD Martin Walsh was delighted for Paul to receive such public recognition of his individual craft skills and workmanship and was very proud that his company had continued the quality standards ethos that had enabled them to win the Sponsors Award two years ago.

Barry Smith, Managing Director of sponsors Associated Lead Mills, was delighted that this years awards in both categories had featured “new blood” challenging the more established LCA members. “It’s great to see new faces coming through for these awards” he said. “Not only does it show that anyone stands a chance of being a finalist or even winning if their work is good enough, but also that the craft of working with lead is alive and well and in very good hands.”

2015 Murdoch Sponsors award Winner - The Parliament Building, Stormont - Leadwise Contracts, Co Antrim NI

In a role reversal of recent trends, lead sheet replaced a failing stepped tile design in a project that relied heavily upon close teamwork between the architect and the traditional crafts

Martin Cahalan reports that Leadwise were delighted to be involved in the project at the Parliament Buildings, Stormont, an iconic Belfast landmark on an elevated site overlooking large swathes of the city and a building that has had, and continues to have today, huge relevance for all the citizens of Northern Ireland. The work itself was to the front sloping pediments and was necessitated by a longstanding failing in the existing stepped tiling arrangement.

After discussing the various options, the project team from Hamilton Architects led by Mr Paul Millar took the decision to replace the tiled roofing with lead roofing that would mimic the detailing of the tiled roof as far as possible. It was at this point that Leadwise were able to offer some advice as to the necessary sub-structure, sizing and ventilation needs and these were incorporated into the final design.

With the aesthetics now of paramount importance it was essential that the joinery work be of a very high standard and consistent throughout and thankfully this was achieved by the Contractor, Tracey Bros of Enniskillen.

With the lead to BSEN:12588 sourced from Jamestown Metals, the 110 sheets of Code 6 lead needed were pre cut, formed and sent to site for installation. A building paper to BS 1521 Class A was laid onto the decking and the wood rolls then put in place as the work progressed. In total there were some 2600 copper nail heads that were individually dotted and everything was checked and rechecked to ensure continuity and it was through this attention to detail and pride in the project that such a pleasing outcome was obtained.

Whilst Leadwise are delighted to have their contribution recognised by their peers it's important to appreciate that it was the contributions of others also that made for overall success. The project Architect, Mr Mark Knight and Tracey Bros can take great credit too for all their input and desire to leave a lasting legacy on this landmark building.

2015 Murdoch Award Winner - Rygar House, London - Lead-Tech Roofing Ltd

Consistency of design and workmanship was the key to the aesthetics of this large project involving flat, pitched and vertical panels and again working in partnership with the architect enabled design changes to be made to improve the long term integrity of the roof

Martin Walsh reports that this new development is set in the heart of Mayfair in central London. Lead-Tech were appointed through the Main Contractor 800 Group Ltd to install all the roof timbers and new code 6 lead sheet to the crown flat roof, as well as the 70º Mansard Roof and the vertical sections, which also included code 6 lead to dormers and associated flashings. The total project was some 20 tonnes of lead sheet, supplied by Associated Lead Mills.

A key factor in securing the project was that as an LCA member, Lead-Tech could offer the 25 year insurance backed guarantee.

Once again the contractor and architect worked in close partnership and during the process of building the roof Lead-Tech were able to identify potential technical issues which might arise with the planned detailing and more importantly how the new lead roof would be ventilated. In most cases the Architects Drawings had been well thought out but when approached by Lead-Tech about their concerns, the architects allowed details to be altered as required.

Once the main roof construction had been completed and Lead-Tech commenced installing the new code 6 lead, they decided to reduce the setting out of the wood rolls to 575mm centres, thus ensuring the lead was installed well within its design limits. The wood rolls were staggered and included a ventilation ridge detail which was achieved using the Nicholson Air Track Products.

On the Mansard 70º degree pitched roof slope, Code 6 sheet was again installed at 575mm centres and the length of the bays were also reduced to 2.00 lm overall. At the head 3 rows of staggered fixings were installed using 38mm copper ring shanks.

The sizing and fixing of the bays have therefore been set well within its design limits, thus eradicating any future problems and potential failure of fixings, which is particularly significant as access would be problematic and costly.

It is this attention to detail that was recognised by the Murdoch Award judges