TR SCAFFOLDING OF BRISTOL AND UKSSH IN PERFECT HARMONY TO COUNTER 1970’S BLUES
An ageing infrastructure will inevitably pose many challenges - not only to maintain and repair it to cope with today’s traffic levels, but to future proof it for the demands of the years to come. However, those challenges are multiplied when you are dealing with something like the M5 in the West Country which was one of the flagship projects of the 1970’s: If one bridge over the motorway in Gloucestershire is found to need remedial work, chances are that the other bridges in the county will require work too.
The challenge is to minimise disruption to traffic while the work is carried out – in the knowledge that if more than one bridge is being worked on simultaneously, any potential disruption will be multiplied exponentially.
That was why, when the first bridge refurbishment was begun above the M5 in the Golden Valley area of Gloucestershire, the scaffolding solution designed by TR Scaffolding of Bristol and UK System Scaffold Hire was critical for the success of not just that project but the scheme of works for the entire M5 in the region.
Together TR Scaffolding and UKSSH delivered a truly innovative approach, providing a sealed working scaffold into the bridge using only Haki Universal, Hakitec 750 beams and roofing materials: This enabled hydro demolition activities to be carried out during the day over a live motorway, thus saving considerable time and money for their client and ensuring that disruption to traffic on the M5 was kept to an absolute minimum.
The solution proved to be so effective that TR Scaffolding and UKSSH have repeated the winning formula on four bridges across the motorway so far. In fact, the sealed working scaffold supplied by the two companies has passed an even sterner test than was originally envisaged when work on at least one of the bridges exposed steelwork so badly corroded that a re-assessment of the project was required to outline the extent of further repairs.
Motorists on the M5 only see a very neatly executed scaffold exoskeleton, but a peek inside the sealed scaffold reveals the full extent of the work that the design enables to continue unhindered: It includes the removal and reconstruction of ballast walls, concrete repairs to the bridge deck, as well as hydraulically jacking the bridge up to replace the bridge's bearings, removal and reconstruction of parapet edge beams and safety fencing, and the waterproofing and resurfacing of the carriageway and footpath.
In the latest application, TR Scaffolding installed double cantilever scaffold with a ballasted central support scaffolding which reduced tip deflection. The structure was built utilising Hakitec 750 beams and Haki Universal which was slung from the beams to provide access below the bridge, which was then subsequently sealed for hydro demolition.
TR Scaffolding’s MD Stuart Salmon said that the success of the various projects was testament to level of collaboration between TR Scaffolding and UKSSH: “The companies worked together before the possessions to undertake trial erections both at TR Scaffolding’s depot and onsite to ensure that the actual build would go as smoothly as possible and the companies also liaised closely to ensure that deliveries to site would optimise possession times”.
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