IN Brief:
- Robertson is using inflatable roof tents on a £38 million redevelopment of Royal Bolton Hospital’s Maternity and Women’s Health Unit.
- The enclosure system supports RAAC removal and roof replacement while work continues over live hospital services.
- The wider redevelopment is due to complete in 2027, with maternity services remaining open during construction.
Robertson Construction North West has deployed an inflatable roof tent system at Royal Bolton Hospital as part of a £38 million redevelopment of the Maternity and Women’s Health Unit, using temporary weatherproof enclosures to keep the programme moving above live clinical areas while reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete is removed and replaced.
The tents have been adapted for installation on scaffolding at roof level, creating sealed work zones while teams strip out defective material and rebuild the roof structure. Bolton NHS Foundation Trust has said that just over 3,000 square metres of RAAC will be removed as part of the wider scheme, with replacement works including a new metal deck, insulation, roof system, and plant spaces for the refurbished building.
Robertson has indicated that the inflatable enclosures can be installed and moved quickly as the roof works progress, with 13 tents planned across the package. The approach offers a more flexible alternative to conventional shrink-wrapped scaffold on a complex roofscape made up of interconnected buildings, restricted access points, and operational service areas that must remain available throughout construction.
The roofing strategy sits inside a wider redevelopment programme that is due to complete in 2027 and is being delivered while maternity services remain open. Alongside the structural works, the project is set to provide four birthing rooms with pools, a seven-bed triage area, a new gynaecology and early pregnancy unit, neonatal transitional care bays, refurbished wards, and a new façade.
The use of inflatable roofing on a hospital scheme is significant because it responds directly to a site where weather protection, programme continuity, and working over live services all carry unusual weight. Rather than treating temporary enclosure as a standard scaffold operation, the project team has adopted a system that can be repositioned more rapidly as roof sections are opened and rebuilt.
That makes the tents more than a novel detail on the job. On a project where phasing, access, and service continuity are tightly constrained, the enclosure strategy has become part of the delivery method itself, helping maintain progress on a safety-led hospital redevelopment that cannot simply close down while the roof is replaced.
