Roofscape Design Awards Deadline Extended

THE TRUSSED Rafter Association (TRA)’s Roofscape Design Awards has been extended.

The awards recognise projects that showcase the highest design, innovation, and sustainability standards in using timber-trussed rafter roofs.

The Roofscape Design Awards will recognise excellence in three categories:

• Commercial Project of the Year (for all non-domestic projects)
• Conversion and Refurbishment Project of the Year (for existing housing projects)
• Residential Project of the Year (for newbuild dwellings)

Last year’s winners included Harry Peate (Truss Form (Midlands) Ltd), who designed the roof for a Grade II listed structure built over 180 years ago.

Restoring the roof on an old brewery building in Burton-on-Trent, the local builders’ merchant recommended Truss Form (Midlands) Limited due to its capability and experience in designing unusual roof designs. The company’s inhouse designer, Harry Peate, took on the challenge.

Winning the Roofscape Design Awards

The Plough Maltings project involved converting a large building constructed in the 1840s for Bass Brewery. The building had fallen into disrepair and was abandoned until planning permission was granted in 2016 to convert it into a mix of 32 luxury studio, one and two-bedroom apartments.

Work on the project did not begin until 2022, and one of the project’s many challenges was to fully reinstate the existing traditional roof without changing any levels, brickwork or appearance.

Timber trussed rafters had already been chosen as the best structural solution, but a site survey revealed that the existing roof with its original drying louvres was over 5 metres in height, which was too high to manufacture and transport as a single truss.

Complex Engineering

Harry and his team were therefore tasked with incorporating the louvres as part of the secondary top hat truss and designing cantilevered support for the uppermost hip ends. They also had to consider vertical cladding and wind loads to vertical faces and allow a trapezoidal snow drift load to be applied to the trusses.

The eaves detailing was also unusual due to the 600mm thickness of the existing wall, which required precise setting to ensure that the roof pitch and rafter line matched the adjacent block without altering the external brickwork detail.

To comply with the building’s fire strategy, the team designed two trusses to carry fire blankets and two openings trimmed out for automatic opening vents. They also supplied 166 trusses and infill, with an order value of approximately £20,000, which equated to 21 cubic metres of PEFC-certified timber.

The project was a huge success, with the roof trusses fitting perfectly both dimensionally and aesthetically to help restore the building to its former glory.

A proud moment for Harry was seeing the final photos and knowing that everything had fit and looked like it originally did. The Truss Form team were excited to have played a role in restoring such a prominent and historic building.

The TRA Roofscape Design Awards judges made this project the highest scoring of all the 2023 awards entries. They described it as “a very strong winner delivering complex unusual shapes which really showcases what can be achieved with trussed rafters”.

Designers within TRA member companies should submit their entries by Friday 22 March at 11:59pm via the TRA website.

>> Read more about the Roofscape Design Awards in the news