Advanced Roofing, Inc. (ARI) was selected by Gulf Builders, General Contractors to install three commercial roofing systems and a solar canopy at the new South Florida Regional Transportation Authority (SFRTA) headquarters and Tri-Rail station in Pompano Beach, Florida. The project highlights ARI’s unique capabilities to perform both roofing and solar energy scopes of work while working under a fixed set of plans and a design-build project. The project was completed in July 2017 and has a contract value of $1.7 Million.

Scope of Work

A FiberTite single-ply roofing system was installed on the three-story, 40,000-square-foot flat roof of the SFRTA headquarters as well as smaller roof sections of the parking garage. From the bottom up, the materials used during installation included a fully-adhered FTR-Value polyisocyanurate insulation adhered to Fibertite FTR 601 adhesive to the structural concrete deck. DensDeck cover board adhered in FTR 601 to the ISO, followed by a fully adhered 60-mil FiberTite- SM KEE membrane adhered in FTR 190 Bonding adhesive to the Densdeck. Due to the building being Design Build, there was a minor design issue with the drainage our team needed to overcome. By altering the tapered insulation package design and fabricating supplemental scuppers, ARI was able to match the aesthetics of the building and allow for proper drainage.

An IMETCO structural standing seam metal roof was installed on the 30,000-square-foot train station and factory painted with a custom, Galaxy Blue color. The roof was installed directly over the exposed purlins, leaving the underside of the roof exposed as designed by PGAL Architects. Additionally, the roof required a half-round gutter to be custom fabricated using our 20’ Jorns double bender brake. The gutter brackets used were ¼’’ x1’’ steel. We made those in-house using a handbrake, due to the architect’s specification of ¼’’ steel to conform to the half-round gutter. After they were formed, we hand-painted them to match the color of the underneath beam structure. There were a total of 975 brackets that were made. The train station roofing system also included a safety platform for the SFRTA workers to perform regular maintenance on the trains.

The three-story parking garage encompasses a 226.8 kW, 20-foot tall solar canopy on the top level of the garage that can produce up to 340,000 kWh per year. The equivalent of powering 32 homes in Florida. The system is also designed to meet hurricane-force wind speeds up to 175 MPH.  The solar canopy utilized Heliene solar panels, SMA inverters, and Advanced Green Technologies’ custom racking system.

Safety

All crew working on the Station were required to take a four-hour safety class and those onsite had to pass an eight-hour Road Workers Protection Class. Permanent fall safety protection from a Tri-Tech system was also installed at the train station above the tracks for workers to perform future maintenance on top of the rail. This system can allow workers to tie off and work on the railway.

Unique Challenges

Since the train station was in operation during the project, anyone working within 20’ of the track was required to stop work every time a train pulled into the station. To overcome this challenge, our team scheduled work within those areas during non-peak hours to limit downtime. Also, the team was on a tight schedule but remained flexible to accommodate changes that often arise when working with a contractor on a fixed set of plans and specifications, and through a design-build.

Conclusion

The ability to perform low slope single ply roofing, metal steep slope roofing, and solar energy scopes of work all with in-house crews demonstrated ARI’s unique capabilities and skillset. No other company in Florida has the capability to perform this scope of work under one roof. ARI is proud to be part of a project that is such an integral part of our community.