Gaco Asbestos Roof Waterproofing in Belfast — Encapsulation Without Removal

Belfast’s industrial past is written on its roofs. The harbour began with a quay where the Farset met the Lagan in the early 1600s and now covers about 2,000 acres under Belfast Harbour Commissioners — around a fifth of the city’s area. Alongside the offices and studios of Titanic Quarter, the harbour estate and the older industrial districts still hold warehouses, workshops and stores roofed in corrugated asbestos cement. The nearest reference for this work is asbestos cement roof encapsulation at SAICA’s site at Warrenpoint, Co. Down. Some of those buildings have changed use several times, so the roof may now cover offices, studios or storage rather than the industry it was built for.

At Aldergrove, the Met Office recorded an average of 872 mm of rain a year over 1991–2020, with about 161 days reaching 1 mm. Rain that regular, combined with humid air off Belfast Lough, weathers asbestos cement over decades: the surface roughens and erodes, moss and lichen gather, and cracks open at fixings and laps. By the time a roof actually leaks, the sheets have usually been deteriorating for years. City roofs also gather atmospheric dirt that holds moisture against the sheets.

Gaco U91 and U92 urethane coatings encapsulate that surface and restore a watertight roof without stripping the sheets — which, for an occupied warehouse, avoids the disruption of a removal project. The approved installer carries out a condition survey, arranges replacement of broken sheets, prepares the roof without abrasive cleaning, and plans around dry weather and surface conditions within Gaco’s limits. Duratite supplies the coatings and connects Belfast property owners with an approved installer. With tenants below, the installer agrees a programme that keeps each section weathertight overnight and minimises the time any area needs clearing. Rooflights set into the asbestos cement are assessed and replaced where they have become brittle or discoloured.

The Control of Asbestos Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012 set the legal duties, including the duty to manage asbestos in non-domestic buildings, and HSENI enforces them. HSENI requires a licence for licensable asbestos work, and the installer’s assessment establishes which category a job falls into. Belfast City Council’s Building Control service is the local authority contact for anything that falls under the Building Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012, such as insulation added during roof works. Keep the resulting records in the building’s asbestos register and share them with any contractor who later works on the roof.