Many people will have seen and admired the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff Bay. Designed by architect Jonathan Adam to be iconic and express “Welshness” the vast majority of the material used was from Wales. Opened in Nov 2004, with a three-day ceremony creatively directed by Bryn Terfel, the now nearly 18-year-old building requires some care and maintenance to ensure its iconic status. It has been a privilege for us to undertake some of this work on the week of the Queens Platinum Jubilee, an iconic event. While the area we worked on may not be visible to the public it is still built from robust Welsh materials and contains the offices and the access bays that enable the building to operate successfully.

Sometimes we get to work at the most amazing places and one recent job has been for a customer working at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. An incredible iconic venue with stunning views for our test team.

The job involved a hose test of 100% of the glass panel areas on the Somerset Court Covered Courts roof. The roof is of an interesting wave design and proved to be a challenge to test. The building was stunning inside and out!

The testing was completed to UKAS Accreditation and CWCT Standards on 8 March to the satisfaction of all.

Track and trace are the terms used when our engineers, who are specialists in building remedial works, attend buildings with difficult to detect leaks and use Centre for Window and Cladding Technology (CWCT) methods to find them.

A good example of track and trace undertaken by LFT Maintenance was a recent job at South Quay House in Bristol where they had a long-standing leak problem on the glazed entrance. The team used a hose test and accessed the roof using a mobile tower.

The initial assessment showed that a great deal of debris and detritus had accumulated in gutters and downpipes and that this would require clearing before any work could commence.

Things were further complicated by the addition of a glass canopy which was placed on top of other glazing.

Once the gutters and downpipes were cleared it was also obvious that several temporary repairs had been undertaken over the years.

A detailed report was compiled and passed on to the customer which highlighted the precise locations of the leaks and gave advice and guidance about suitable repairs and future maintenance of the structure.

The customer was pleased with the report.

Our trained team of IRATA abseilers were able to overcome difficult rigging situations to complete testing. With a steel beam surrounding the facade and a large glass parapet wall with a cladding handrail, LFT utilised their knowledge in rigging and used a portable A-frame with 0.5m overhang to get to a difficult test location.

Our trained team of LFT technicians had an interesting job rigging from the 26th floor and completing a CWCT hose test to levels 17,18,19,20 and 21 via rope access.

Hose testing is intended for the testing of permanently sealed joints. The high-pressure water spray should not dislodge gaskets or wet-applied sealants unless they have been poorly installed or not been allowed to cure. Water will be forced through small gaps in these types of seal and will find its way through unsealed joints between framing components.

At LFT, we provide a range of options to ensure the strength, reliability, and durability of construction fixings are CFA approved. Using the latest calibrated equipment, we can off a fully certified service.

Here is a snapshot from our recent pull test carried out in London using the Hydrajaws Model 2050 Fixing Tester which carries 2 calibrated gauges, covers 0 to 30kN & 0 to 50kN, and has a wide bridge to cover a wider range of applications.