Air ambulance helicopters now have a distinctive new helipad at a Chelmsford hospital, thanks to a repainting job using Bradite products.

Broomfield is the largest general hospital in this part of Essex and refurbishment work was needed on the helipad situated on the roof of the building.

Bradite’s CF22 Chlorinated Rubber paint was specified to recoat the previously painted concrete deck, thanks to distributor Kent Blaxill. “Hearing that the work needed to be done we contacted Bradite and their national sales manager James Burton visited the site and wrote a specification,” says Kent Blaxill’s Dan Ruegg.

Chelmsford-based Kestrel Maintenance took on the job, beginning by high-pressure hosing the helipad surface to remove all loose and flaking paint and degreased with Bradite TD39 detergent to banish any remaining oil contamination.

“Chlorinated rubber is ideal because of its quick drying time in situations when speed is important so that the site can be back in use quickly,” says James Burton. The product also deals with spillages effectively and has a low spread of flame characteristic.

The helipad received two coats of CF22 and was ready to take light foot traffic after drying overnight with full curing taking effect in less than four days.

“These products are great,” says managing director Paul Mercer from Kestrel Maintenance “I had not used any of the Bradite products before and it was extremely good. This site is quite exposed to the elements and the pilots need to be able to see the signs clearly.”

The base colour of the new deck is green with various markings, including a large ‘H’ in the centre. The name of the hospital and other information has been painted in white, yellow, black and red, as specified by the NHS. The different signage was all picked out in Bradite’s CF22 colours and stencilled into position.