Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading, Berkshire RG1
Due to successfully completing other scaffolds at the Royal Berkshire Hospital, Thames Valley Scaffold were approached by the NHS Trust to install a scaffold to this historic building. Having fallen into a state of disrepair over many years, the brief for this scaffold was to supply working access to the full perimeter of the building and a temporary roof covering. The scaffold was primarily needed to prevent any further ingress of water through the roof which had developed a series of leaks. All the lifts required fully boarding to provide access for window replacement and repairs along with stonemasonry works to the full perimeter.
The building in question (Old Maids) is a grade 2* listed building. This presented its own challenges so that the integrity of this historic building was not compromised by the scaffold structure during the installation and once the scaffold was in place. Careful consideration had to be taken when designing this scaffold to ensure the protection of this listed building from the imposed loads of our scaffold along with the wind loading once the scaffold was in place. Our design team worked closely with the lead project manager form the trust to ensure all concerns we satisfied prior to the installation team arriving on site.
As the scaffold was located in a busy car park of the hospital it required co-ordination with the project manager and security team at the hospital to allocate the carpark spaces that the scaffold was to occupy and also room for the installation lorry. Using Heras fencing we were able to set up a secure perimeter at all times.
Due to the scale and complexity of this project the scaffold will be in place for an extended period. Attention to the Monarflex side sheeting is required as and when high winds are experienced, and Thames Valley Scaffold are ideally located to attend at short notice as these times occur.
A full perimeter alarm system was designed installed and maintained on this scaffold for the duration of the works to deter unauthorized access onto the scaffold, hoarding was subsequently erected around the full perimeter to increase security to the site
Due to the sensitive location of this scaffold the Thames Valley Scaffold supervisor and installation team held daily briefings with the project manager and the health and safety manager from the trust at the start of each working day to discuss progress, safety implementation and to address any issues that have arisen. Weekly scaffold inspections and record keeping have been maintained from the date the handover certificate was issued and any defects rectified as they have been found.