Leading Role for Rochdale Companies in Overcoming Prison Accommodation Crisis

Innovative building techniques are being used to solve the prison accommodation crisis with two Rochdale based companies, Guttermaster and Dibsa Structures Ltd, playing key roles.  The Ministry of Justice, working with steel framed building specialist Britspace Ltd from Humberside, has developed a speedily erected modular building system that is fabricated off-site.  Key components from Guttermaster including well proven anti-climb rainwater down pipes, gutters and fascias have been installed, along with steel ceilings.  Dibsa has developed an easily installed cassette based roof structure to speed construction and ensure a fully weatherproof building in days rather than weeks.

Guttermaster managing director, Mike McKee explained, “A key security consideration was to prevent prisoners accessing the roof.  Our anti-climb rainwater drainage pipes, deep fascias at eaves and verges and heavy duty internal ceilings will bar access and so make the cell blocks safer and more manageable.”

The Guttermaster anti-climb rainwater pipe fits flush to the wall and has tamper proof concealed fixings and an interlocking design for greater strength.  The rainwater pipe has a very clean, smooth line.  There are no gaps behind the pipe to create purchase and the smooth surface, with no brackets or jointing couplings that would aid a climber. 

To prevent roof access from inside the building, Guttermaster have supplied steel ceilings.  Panels have been fabricated with precision to avoid even the smallest gap so that nothing can be inserted between them to apply leverage.  Fabricated from heavy duty three-millimetre galvanised mild steel, the large three metre by 650mm panels allowed the ceiling to be installed speedily.  All the ceiling panels are pre-finished with a long-life zero maintenance polyester coating.   

Guttermaster has worked closely with roofing and cladding contractors Deighton South and Midlands Ltd (DSM) and Dibsa to speed on-site construction.  DSM has integrated the Guttermaster soakers, for the attachment of the smoke ventilation ducts, into pre-fabricated Dibsa roof cassettes along with the Ward composite roofing panels.  This allowed large sections of roof to be installed in a single operation.

The first prison block to be handed over was a 60 cell two-storey block at Kirklevington Prison near Yarm.  A similar block at Lowestoft has recently been handed over and a third, at Rochester, is close to completion with other locations to follow.  The modular system, designated A9, will have en-suite cells that provide space and modern amenities.  High levels of insulation are used in the building to maintain stable winter and summer temperatures while also reducing the carbon emissions that the building produces.  Durable long-life and low maintenance surfaces are used throughout to resist ageing and vandalism.  

Modern methods of construction enabled main contractor Wates Plc to compress the on-site construction period for the Kirklevington Prison to just seven weeks.  With growing pressure to expand capacity, a need to replace Victorian prisons and maintain high security, it is expected that the programme will accelerate further.  Detailed information on Guttermaster rainwater products is available on their website at www.guttermaster.co.uk.


More Information
Mike McKee, Tel. +44 (0)1706 869550 Fax. +44 (0)1706 869551
E-mail: mikemckee@guttermaster.co.uk Web: www.guttermaster.co.uk
Guttermaster Ltd, Shawclough Trading Estate, Shawclough Road, Rochdale, OL12 6ND, UK

High/low resolution images are on the web at www.ainsmag.co.uk/gu234/4532gu1a.htm

June 20, 2008