Roofs can be blown off by high winds

Following the recent news in the United Kingdom that part of the roof had blown off a relatively new, and very expensive grandstand building at Epsom Racecourse in Surrey, there has been plenty of comment on the blogosphere about who is to blame. Could it be the Architect, who designed a roof that could not withstand the sort of wind speeds that are not particularly unusual in this part of the UK? Or could it be the builders who actually constructed and installed the roof? Or perhaps we could look at laying blame on the doorsteps of those responsible for the maintenance of the roof (or, maybe more accurately, the lack of maintenance)? Given that the roof is only a few years old and that we have a relatively moderate climate in Southern England, it would seem unlikely that much maintenance of the roof would have been required at this stage even for such a large and imposing building.

And yet we also hear about newly built, small residential homes that have also suffered significant roof damage in high winds. Maintaining the roof of a newly built home does not seem like it would be a priority for the new owners. After all that is the advantage of a new home – there is minimal maintenance to be done in the first 10 years or so and owners can simply concentrate on home improvements and interior design projects. Or can they? Maybe roof maintenance, or at least checking for damage, should be a regular task for all home owners regardless of the age or type of house they live in. Then we wouldn't be taken by surprise when the roof of a new house is damaged.

Extremes in wind speed are a natural feature of the UK climate so can hardly be unexpected considerations for architects and roofing contractors working on either major public buildings or private homes. With a typical average gust speed of 25 - 30 mph in a normal winter and maximum gust speeds of 70 mph any building in the southern UK should be designed and built to withstand 44 mph gusts like the ones that recently caused such a problem in Surrey. In the north of England and in Scotland the weather can be much worse in a typical winter but I wonder if the developers of new homes build their roofs to withstand greater wind speeds in the north? Somehow I doubt it so let's hope they err on the side of caution and build all new homes to withstand the typical weather conditions of a harsh Scottish winter.

On the Beaufort Wind Scale 44mph only falls into the "fresh gale" category which might be expected to break twigs off trees and impede progress but it is only in strong gales (between 47 – 54 mph) that slight structural damage might be expected to occur – such as chimney pots and slates being blown off. So that rather suggests that the gusts which caused the substantial damage to the roof of the Grandstand at Epsom were not excessive and certainly would not have been expected to cause the destruction that they did.

The author has written and published articles on a wide range of topics including Small Business Advice, Tax and Accounting, Interior Design, House Renovation and Project Management.