ROLLING ROOF KEEPS NETWORK RAIL PROJECT ON TRACK

It is over 130 years since the battle between George Stephenson and Isambard Kingdom Brunel to establish a standard gauge between the rails across the UK was finally settled.

However, not even the visionary rail pioneers could foresee how modern scaffold solutions would evolve, so it’s no surprise that when it comes to renovating and maintaining the buildings that our Victorian predecessors designed to provide the necessary infrastructure, the challenges are far from standard.

J Gunn Scaffoldings project to provide a temporary roof at Network Rail’s Depot in Crewe is a case in point: Permanent racking on one side of the building prevented the construction of a “standard” (1235mm) width roof support along one elevation and a pedestrian walkway along the opposite wall necessitated a wider support than ”usual” on that side of the building, while the inconsistent distances between roller shutter doors along the side the building meant that each scaffolding bay had to be carefully calculated – each to a different width – to ensure unhindered access to the doors while the renovation work progressed.

UK System Scaffold Hire proved that Haki systems were more than up to the complex task, working with J Gunn Scaffolding to design a 770mm wide support scaffold with a 2 board cantilever above the permanent racking and a 1.9 metre support scaffold above the pedestrian walkway.

The temporary rolling roof was equally innovative: The design of the 24 metre wide x 15 metre long roof featured a 22 degree pitch - an innovation which meant that the support scaffold for the rolling track along each side of the 88 metre long building could be one lift less than would be required for a (more usual) 15 degree pitch roof.

 

Download the case study here.

 

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