Leading access doors manufacturer Bilco has supplied ten roof access hatches for the redevelopment of five apartment blocks on Swinton Path and Invergyle Road in Glasgow.

The blocks are owned by Glasgow Housing Association (GHA) which is Scotland's largest social landlord following the transfer of ownership of 80,000 homes from Glasgow City Council in 2003.

The redevelopment of the eight-storey blocks, known as mini-multis, is part of GHA's £125m investment programme to upgrade 100 of the city's iconic multi-storey tower blocks.

The redevelopment includes the placement of a corrugated metal profile roof on top of the original roofs. It is anticipated that this will extend the life of the buildings for another 20 to 25 years.

Bilco has supplied ten E-50 aluminium roof hatches for the refurbishment project. The hatches were customised with plastisol curb liners and soakers by Angus-based contractor Mackintosh Structures Limited - which has been manufacturing, erecting and cladding buildings since 1981 - to help drain rain water away from the openings.


Bilco has also supplied hatches to similar refurbishment projects nearby, including two mini-multis at Jura Court and four mini-multis in St Andrews Crescent in the south west of Glasgow.

The hatches provide safe and convenient access to get on and off the roof for maintaining telecommunications equipment as well as for undertaking maintenance work on the roof itself.

All the hatches are 915mm by 915mm and they provide access to the roof by means of a fixed interior ladder. Every roof hatch is equipped with a unique counter balanced compression spring mechanism to provide smooth, easy, one-person operation.

They are all fitted with automatic hold-open arms which ensure that the hatches cannot be blown closed - a potential health and safety risk if the cover was to fall back onto the person using the hatch.

Paul Bruce, site supervisor for Mackintosh Structures, said: "We have used Bilco products on previous jobs and we know that they will provide us with a product that meets our specification. The roof access hatches meet the key requirements of reliability in operation and offer long life with easy maintenance and testing. They have also been swift and easy to install."

(GK/JM)