NHS Clinical Building Box Gutter Lining, Manchester

The Challenge

An acute NHS hospital in Manchester reported recurring water ingress in a ground-floor diagnostic imaging suite and an adjacent inpatient ward. Investigation by the Trust's estates team identified the source as a 320-metre internal box gutter running between two original 1960s blocks, with widespread failure of joint sealants and several lengths of corroded gutter sole.

The Trust required a permanent solution that would protect critical clinical infrastructure (an MRI suite valued in seven figures sat directly below the worst-affected gutter run). Strict infection prevention and control protocols, no closure of any clinical area and adherence to the Trust's permit-to-work and contractor passport regimes were all mandatory.

Our Approach

We surveyed the entire 320-metre run and quantified the works in detail: full clean and de-silt, mechanical preparation of gutter soles, localised plate repair to nine corroded sections, full primer coat, fleece-embedded base coat, intermediate coat and UV-stable topcoat, taking the run to a fully seamless, jointless waterproof liner.

Site set-up included Trust-approved welfare, dust and noise mitigation, dedicated waste removal routes that avoided clinical areas and a dedicated infection prevention liaison from our project team. All operatives carried Trust contractor passports, attended the Trust's induction and worked under daily permit-to-work regimes signed off by estates.

Material delivery and waste removal were sequenced to avoid clinical handover times and ambulance access windows. Smell-monitoring was carried out continuously during cure to ensure no encroachment on clinical air handling intakes.

The Result

All 320 linear metres of box gutter were lined to a seamless waterproof finish over a four-week programme. The Trust water-tested the full run prior to handover with zero leaks. No clinical area was closed at any point in the project; no IPC incidents were recorded; all permit-to-work and contractor passport conditions were met without exception.

The lined gutter is covered by a 20-year guarantee. The Trust's estates team has placed the project on its national framework as a reference site and has since invited us to tender on similar gutter and roof works across the wider trust estate.

Services Used on This Project