Client: Kier Construction
Location: Plymouth City Centre
Project: Construction of Beckley Court student accommodation
Background
Denholm Industrial Services was awarded the common user external access package by Kier Construction for Beckley Court student accommodation. On its completion in September 2017 and at 78 metres tall, it is the tallest building to have been constructed in the South West of the UK.
The Challenge
In common with most city centre high rise construction projects, space is at a premium and Beckley Court is no exception. Surrounded by existing buildings, it is located at one of Plymouth’s main thoroughfares and is directly adjacent to the main pedestrian access route to the city’s railway station. Scaffolding and access had to be designed to accommodate multiple trades with minimal adaptations to the build programme.
Our Solution
Denholm Industrial Services’ solution began at the design phase. We appointed a senior manager with many years’ operational experience to lead a competitive and fully compliant bid to Kier Construction, who then transitioned from the bid phase to the delivery team on site.
Our access design incorporated an eight board wide scaffold built over twenty four 2.90m high lifts, with an additional five 2.1m high lifts to complete the pinnacle feature at the top of the building. By deploying Readylock transoms, the scaffold was constructed without a single cross brace that would have obstructed access to people and materials moving around the scaffold. When deliveries arrived and with no storage areas on site, slings were already in place and material was lifted directly to the workface, with CPCS-trained Denholm operatives overseeing lifting operations.
Due to the site’s confined space, conventional fan protection was not viable as it would have obstructed lifting operations. Instead, Denholm Industrial Services incorporated two levels of safety net fans, which could be withdrawn to the vertical and re-deployed when required.
Prior to the work starting on site, we constructed a mock-up of the Beckley Court scaffold at our local branch, to ensure safe and efficient construction during the proper build phase. Denholm also carried out fully assisted rescue procedures on the scaffold mock-up, using a 100kg manikin dressed in full PPE.
