The Redland 49 tile, with its ability to be fixed both top and bottom, is the first choice product used to replace roofs around Heathrow airport that have been damaged by the vortex effect.
A vortex is a circulating eddy of air, like a mini-tornado, caused by low-flying aircraft. The effect, which is particularly significant as aircraft come in to land, is to suck tiles off the roof.
Replacement tiles need to be firmly fixed and Redland 49 tiles allow for both clips and nails to be used as required by the BRE guidance document DG467. The small format of the tile combined with this dual fixing provides the most secure fixing possible.
Heathrow airport has been offering replacement roofs when vortex strikes occur for over 20 years and the Redland 49 tile is one of the few products to have passed stringent wind tunnel tests, qualifying it for use in the project.
Contractor Richardson Roofing has been using Redland 49 tiles on this project for decades and Site Manager Kevin Taylor is an enthusiast: “It’s a lovely adaptable product that is easy to work with. It’s an easy tile to fix and has a soft cambered profile, making for a good looking roof.”
Redland 49 is a small interlocking concrete tile that has been in manufacture for 65 years and is particularly popular in London and the South East where it is the ubiquitous tile of choice for huge areas of post-war housing.
