September 2019

Pitched & Flat Roofing
THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME:
SIGNIFICANT YEARS IN BMI’S HISTORY
With BMI UK & Ireland’s iconic BMI Redland brand celebrating 100 years of concrete tile
manufacture in the UK, ahead of its formal celebrations later in the year, the company
continues to look back over its 180-year heritage.
While 1919 – when Redland was formed
as the then Redhill Tile Company in
Reigate, Surrey – was an important
moment for pitched roofs in the UK, representing
the start of domestic concrete tile manufacture,
1923 proved to be almost as important for flat
roofing when Icopal, then known as D Anderson &
Sons, relocated from Belfast to Stretford,
Manchester.
At the time, Anderson was the first factory to
make the area its home in what was then fields
as far as the eye could see. Today, the factory,
which is still the company’s main manufacturing
plant for its BMI Icopal ranges, is in the heart of
Manchester’s Trafford industrial district – with
other global names such as Kellogg’s, Adidas and
L’Oréal for neighbours.
Some of the site’s original buildings remain and
true to its reputation of creating roofs that last,
one of the buildings features a rare engineered
timber roof structure known as a Belfast Truss –
designed, according to Construction History Vol.
17, by Anderson-founder David himself.
The industrial revolution brought about the need
for clear span industrial buildings, which in turn
inspired the development of a variety of timber
truss types. And although so-called bowstring,
barrel-form and other ‘chord and lattice’ truss
roofs had been built since medieval times, the
first “true” Belfast Truss – a clever laminated
construction, designed to maximise the use of
scrap timber – was fabricated by Anderson &
Sons in Belfast in 1896.
A few years later, after Anderson’s Manchester
move, the general strike struck in 1926 and had
a profound and positive impact on the popularity
“One of the buildings
features a rare
engineered timber roof
structure known as a
Belfast Truss”
of concrete tiles – owing to a resulting shortage
of clay tiles; yet not so profound an impact as the
Second World War.
While the WW2 blitz wrecked a large number of
British cities, it was London that bore the brunt
with one million of the total estimated loss of the
two million homes destroyed. The urgent need to
replace these in the post-war period saw a huge
surge in house-building and the Redland 49
medium-format interlocking cambered tile
became the roof covering of choice. Launched in
1949, it was the first single-lap concrete tile and
its use is still widespread throughout the city.
Redland 50 Double Roman
In slightly les -pressured circumstances, 1950
saw the launch of the Redland 50 Double Roman.
The first variable headlap tile, as the name
suggests Double Romans hark back to the Roman
invasion of Britain in 43 AD. The tiles are based
on their imbrex and tegula tiles and modern
Double Romans come as interlocking concrete
Old Anderson and Redland adverts.
tiles, mimicking the effect of the original ancient
profile while being compatible with a wide range
of fittings and accessories.
In 1954, Redland invested £6,000 in a small
German company, Braas GmbH: a name to become
significant in the ultimate destiny of BMI’s much
loved Redland brand. It was by now called Redland
Tiles and, having purchased the Moorhouse Brick
and Concrete Tile Product Company near
Westerham, was publicly floated and quoted on
the London Stock Exchange in 1955.
As November’s concrete tile centenary
approaches, BMI UK & Ireland will be highlighting
more pitched and flat roofing key dates,
innovation and achievements in its development,
leading to the present day.
Contact BMI UK & Ireland
Pitched: 03705 601000 Flat: 0843 224 7400
www.bmigroup.com/uk
@BMIUKandIreland
64 TC SEPTEMBER 2019