Wellington College, Crowthorne
Wellington College is a public school located in Crowthorne, Berkshire and was built in 1853 as a living monument to the Duke of Wellington.
Having successfully worked on scaffolding projects at the college for many years, Thames Valley Scaffold were invited to tender to supply the external access to enable the redecoration of the windows, timber work and bell tower.
A comprehensive site survey was conducted where dimensions and heights were established along with any access issues and a fully itemised quotation was returned. Once we were awarded the contract our health and safety manger conducted a further site visit to ascertain the site-specific risks associated with this project in order to produce appropriate risk assessment and method statements. The college needed DBS clearance for all Thames Valley Staff. We have worked in schools all over the South of England for many years, so the DBS clearance was already in place meaning there were no delays to the start of this project.
Great care was essential whilst installing and dismantling the scaffold in order not to damage the fabric of this historic building. There were courtyard elevations that were accessible for pedestrians, so a large amount of equipment was passed over lower roofs and lowered back down into the courtyard, all roofs and leading edges were protected during this process.
There were a few logistical issues to overcome on this project. Thames Valley Scaffold were presented with a schedule that required the scaffold to be erected, the works to be completed and the scaffold struck all with the timeframe of the school break for the summer holidays. Our operations manager devised a schedule where we could hand over sections of the scaffold to the decorators whilst simultaneously continuing with the erection of the scaffold in other locations. This also worked in the reverse fashion as the contractors finished their works. We were able to stick rigidly to this schedule and the project was completed with a week to spare.
