Case Study / Waterproofing

Linacre House, Exeter

Transforming a 1980’s car park into luxury apartments

Linacre House is a property in Exeter, which has gone through a major transformation. 1980’s office building has been transformed into a brand new luxury development, comprising of numerous studio, 1-bedroom and 2-bedroom apartments which are purpose-built for renting in the town centre of Devon’s busy and popular city of Exeter.

MacLennan were approached by the main contractor to come up with a solution for waterproofing to the ground floor area, parts of which were under the ground level with three earth retaining walls. The majority of it was built as a car park so the existing waterproofing there was not substantial enough to keep it completely dry.

The concrete deck above was used as a mix of planters and a footpath and the water was penetrating into the ground floor via the deck and the external walls.

Method

After surveying the property, MacLennan expert waterproofing surveyor and the main contractor came to an agreement that the internal waterproofing was needed to the old car park area. The small deck above it also needed to be made 100% waterproof to prevent any potential further water ingress into the luxury apartments which were being built. Internally, MacLennan designed, supplied and installed state of the art ventilated Cavity drain system. An appropriate membrane was installed from floor to ceiling with inspection ports. The floor was also waterproofed by applying lime inhibitor, insulation and a special waterproof membrane to floors. As preferred by the main contractor gravity and connection to the storm drainage network was used on this particular project instead of sump and pump system.

The concrete deck above the ground floor was thoroughly cleaned and prepared by MacLennan, this is a crucial part of any deck waterproofing. Only then we supplied and applied Polyprufe primer and our own liquid waterproofing coating Polyprufe which is elastomeric and is a great product for waterproofing decks.

Result

MacLennan designed, supplied and installed waterproofing to the ground level of this new luxurious apartment building in the Exeter town centre internally and externally, guaranteeing that this area will no longer suffer for water ingress.

All works were completed within the agreed time scale and budget and were completed in accordance to the highest waterproofing standards.