Lacey On Cooper, Surry Hills Damien Pratt

Old building, new solution

Damien Pratt has owned an apartment in the Lacey On Cooper building since 2006. Built in the 1970s, it was converted to apartments in the 1990s – and it’s been beset by waterproofing issues since. “Over the years, we’ve had several stints at repairing the waterproof membrane,” says Damien. “Then recently, we developed significant leaking into the level six apartments. And that meant that we needed to do some serious work here.”

Damien decided to put it out to tender to find the best waterproofer around.

Following a competitive tender process, he partnered with an experienced waterproofing and project management team known for delivering complex remedial solutions.

Damien’s brief was to fix the waterproofing issues in the roof which houses a swimming pool, deck and tennis court. He needed it fixed with minimum disruption for the tenants – and fixed permanently.

Setting the scene

Danrae Group has decades of experience in high rise waterproofing – and we’ve seen every issue in strata, from leaking planter boxes to pervasive concrete cancer. But the Lacey on Cooper project presented a unique challenge.

“The complexity of this sort of project is to do with logistics,” explains the project team. “The job itself was relatively straightforward for us, but being 16 storeys high, we had to crane up all the materials.” And that was just the beginning. “We also had to coordinate the crane hire and street blockage with deliveries of pavers from Melbourne, the arrival of the carpenters with their decking and the carpet installers bringing in the artificial turf for the tennis court. And we had ten cubic metres of rubbish that had to be removed from the roof.”

And it all had to happen… in one day.

It’s a testament to Danrae Group’s extensive project management experience – and the exceptional skills of our diverse team – that the deliveries, set up and clean up went seamlessly.

Perfecting the project

The project might be described as straightforward – but only in the hands of an industry leader.

Damien’s previous attempts to find a solution had been anything but easy. “The previous repair work and the garden then put on top were not compatible. It was an issue that came from having multiple contractors working on different areas at different times. And that caused further problems with the waterproofing membrane.”

The Danrae team discovered the extent of the mess on their first visit. “The work that was carried out previously was very poor,” the team noted.

“The whole roof looked like a bomb had hit it… with fencing and cables everywhere. There were broken pieces of old decking, broken pavers… and the membrane had splits everywhere.”

The first stage would be clean-up, followed by removal of the old membrane which had deteriorated and lifted. The team would then install two separate membranes – one for the swimming pool area and one for the tennis court. This would be followed by safety and compliance testing, laying of new decking and pavers, and a full site clean-up.

Expertise on hand

Danrae Group is distinct from many other waterproofing contractors thanks to its in-house expertise and highly specialised team.

This project required a professional torch-on waterproofer – a skill that’s becoming increasingly rare in the industry. The membrane installation was carried out to an exceptionally high standard, ensuring durability and long-term performance.

There was a lot to work around – both beneath and above the roof. “There’s a lot of detail on this roof, especially underneath the pool. All the decking posts were on top of the old membrane. They needed to be carefully jacked up so the new membrane could be installed underneath and then the surface re-levelled. That was a challenge.” The process required precision and patience. “There were very heavy pavers as well. The work had to be done step by step, so it wasn’t possible to complete a full ten metres at once. It had to be done slowly… working on just a couple of metres at a time.”

While most of the roof was completed using the torch-on technique (where the specialist membrane is heat-welded to the surface), the tennis court required a PVC membrane, so a PVC specialist system was used. It’s a perfect example of Danrae’s diverse skill-set and commitment to quality.

Happy tenants, happy client

For Damien, the project was a complete success – in terms of exceptional commercial waterproofing and very happy tenants.

“We started the project before summer. We have a swimming pool and tennis court which residents like to use. Previous works had actually closed the roof over summer and that caused a fair bit of distress in the building,” he says. “One of our key deliverables was to keep the roof open in summer. And that was achieved with no problem at all by working on one side at a time. We had zero complaints from the residents about the work – and that has never happened before!”

There were other winning points as well. “The supervisor on site has been really helpful. The project manager has been amazing. It’s been very good communication. We were never left in the dark about anything at all.”

At Danrae Group, we take pride in being waterproofing experts. We excel at end-to-end waterproofing management – including diagnostics, design and remediation. And we work across the commercial, construction, civil, strata and residential sectors.

Contact us if you need a fast response, first-class waterproofing – or if you have an ongoing issue that requires a permanent solution.