A Fight on The Tiles

CBC Update

Ann Wright LLB FCIOB

Cembrit Blunn Ltd. (now known as Cembrit) supplies Danish fibre cement roof slates from the Dansk Eternit Holdings A/S. The tiles are manufactured in both Denmark and the Czech Republic and were British Board of Agrment (BBA) approved.

The slates have a tendency to curl both with absorption of water and a process known as carbonation. Normally this results in only a slight curling at the corners and does not lift or affect the fixing rivets. After a period of several months the tiles ‘set’ and little further curling takes place.

Mr. Leader founded Apex Roofing Services over 30 years ago and it now turns over some £4/5 million/year. Mr. Leader, who has been a roofer since 1971, is still in charge. Over the years Apex has laid over a million fibre cement slates made by Marley and over 900,000 of Zeeland slates from Cembrit. Between 1999 and October 2003 Apex accounted for nearly 45% of the sales of Cembrit’s Zeeland slates. Apex had had no problems with the Marley slates at all or the Zeeland slates before these two projects.

The ensuing rows and court case show that even a long-term commercial relationship can quickly break down. Also, where defective materials are involved, the arguments and counter-arguments can prolong the dispute rather than find a solution.

The projects were both for housing.

Apex installed Zealand slates at Aberfeldy in East London for Countryside with East Thames Housing Group as the client. Mr. Leader and Countryside Group had had a long relationship and his business had installed around 10,000 roofs for Countryside over the years.

The second project was at Greenhithe in Kent and was built by Crest for Poplar Housing Regeneration Community Association as the client. Apex worked on both projects from 2000 to October/November 2003. Sectional completions of the roofs place from May 2002 onwards.

The ongoing work at Aberfeldy was inspected and checked by Apex’ roofers and Mr. Leader, and also separately by representatives from Tower Hamlets, East Thames, Countryside, Stanford Eatwell (East Thames’ agent) and the NHBC.

Work at Greenhithe was subject to a similar inspection regime.

Balmoral Close at Aberfeldy had been completed in July 2002.

In July 2003, East Thames Quality Control Manager, Mr. Balcomb noticed that some of the slates on the south facing roofs were curling and lifting the fixing rivets. He had seen this same problem 30 years before and recalled that it had been due to a fault in the manufacturing process. Mr. Balcomb wrote to Stanford Eatwell asking for the roofs to be checked out during the end of the defects liability period.

Stanford Eatwell notified Countryside that the slates at Balmoral Close were lifting and buckling at the south facing slopes. Mr. Leader became aware of the problem at the same time in August 2003, when he was told East Thames and Countryside were not going to release Apex’s retention.

Initially, the lifting seemed to affect only a few slates and Apex re-fixed the rivets to hold the slates down. However, it was soon apparent that about 5% of the slates had bent so much that their rivets were straightened and about half the others were under pressure. The worst affected roofs were south facing. This was unusual, especially when the roofs were a year old.

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