TOGETHER UKSSH AND LOCAL SCAFFOLD SERVICES PUT SEAL ON 900 YEARS OF HISTORY

While Haddon Hall in Derbyshire - once described as ‘the most perfect English house to survive the Middle Ages’- is having urgent work undertaken by the top restoration experts in England, UKSSH and Local Scaffold Services are not just ensuring the master craftsmen are kept dry, but they are protecting irreplaceable historical artefacts too.

The origins of Haddon Hall date back to the 11th Century, but much of the present building dates from the Tudor period and it is viewed as a rare survivor of that era.

However, the Hall’s star attraction, the internationally famous Long Gallery, designed by the Elizabethan master mason Robert Smythson and renowned for its beauty and architectural significance, is suffering from serious subsidence problems affecting one of its bay windows: The subsidence is threatening the structure of the bay, its Venetian glass windows have suffered from movement in the masonry and degradation of the supporting timbers.

Urgent work is being undertaken to underpin the structure, but that work requires the top of the bay to be taken off, all the beautiful Elizabethan plasterwork to be preserved, and the Venetian glass to be protected. That’s why choosing the right temporary roof solution to protect the irreplaceable contents of the Grade I listed building was top of the priority list - and the HAKITEC 750 roof system supplied by UKSSH and erected by Local Scaffold Services was the obvious choice.

Local Scaffold Services MD Paul Jennings explains: “We provided a range of products for the project including designing and installing buttress independent scaffold and an access ramp for the renovation, but we knew the correct roof was critical to guarantee that the whole scaffold was watertight. That’s why we specified the 10 metre long, 15 metre wide Haki mono-pitch temporary roof – and why we chose to work with UKSSH who have a real pedigree in supplying roofs for heritage projects.

“While weatherproofing may have been the overriding requirement, it was not only the Haki roof but also UKSSH’s commitment to customer support which meant that the solutions to the unique problems posed by the Haddon Hall project were both effective and trouble-free. Our experience shows that the quality of the product is more than matched by UKSSH’s commitment to customer service and providing technical support.”

With projects such as Haddon Hall, UKSSH undertake joint site visits and work together to develop the most effective and pragmatic solution for each project. The fact that Haddon is a Grade I listed building meant that the scaffold could not be “tied-in” to the property, so the temporary roof was designed as a freestanding erection - providing an impressive demonstration of the strength, light weight and rigidity of the Haki roof.

The final challenge was fixing the sheeting into place. The normal process of providing a roll-on roof was again not an option - but the unique counter-tensioned seals on the HAKITEC 750 enabled the fabric to be butted up and in-fitted, producing a truly weathertight seal.

 

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