10 Jun 2014
The Story
48.3 Scaffold Design have recently completed an interesting project at St James' Market for our client Lyndon Scaffolding.
The £450m St James' Market scheme involves the demolition and redevelopment of modern blocks to create a new shopping and office complex with 15 new flats and a pedestrianised public space giving the area a new lease of life. The project is due for completion in Summer 2015.
The first part of the project was awarded to Balfour Beatty in an £87 million contract to provide 260,000 sq. ft. of new commercial and retail space across two eight storey blocks.
The first block situated along Regent Street, included a retained heritage façade, which was to be repaired and restored with the second block, adjacent to Haymarket incorporating a curved glass and Portland Stone wall.
Keltbray installed the façade retention scheme to the main building along Regent Street with the scaffold around and within the retention steelwork installed by Lyndon Scaffolding and designed by 48.3 in its entirety.
The scaffolding to this area was particularly challenging with 48.3 using the BIM model created by Wentworth House and survey drawings to design a scaffolding scheme that integrated within the structural steelwork.
The scaffold included a full-length pavement gantry providing ‘Class C’ protection to the public, with the scaffold to access the cabins and the high level areas of the façade suspended from the steelwork of the retention scheme. These were then cantilevered out and around the site cabins to form a protection and sheeting frame with internal walkways. This frame was designed to be clad with a custom made ‘wrap’ to maintain an aesthetically suitable façade, and to allow advertising to be placed.
View of the supporting beamwork along Regent's Street. Lower beams were suspended from steelwork with spine beams running above.
To allow high-level access around the ornate stonework and to facilitate the safe demolition of the mansard roof, a complex arrangement of cantilever beams and internal support scaffolds was provided. As the building was being demolished the integrity of the supporting structure was reduced whilst the scaffold was in place. The scaffold support and restraint locations, as well as the phasing of the erection / dismantle and sheeting arrangements, therefore had to be carefully considered to ensure safety was maintained at all stages. Access to the corners of the roof required particularly complex beam arrangements, to allow safe and practicable support and erection methods.
Gavin Dempsey, 48.3 Scaffold Design Director said, ‘The St. James' Market project has been both challenging and enjoyable for us here at 48.3 Scaffold Design.
At roof level the challenges centred on ensuring proper restraint of the sheeting scaffold, and on safe methods of scaffold erection, due to the nature of the cantilevered scaffold.
At lower levels, the challenges were more logistical than structural: combining the needs of different contractors, and different scaffold uses in a limited space, whilst providing suitable protection for unindicted site personnel in the vicinity of the works, and creating suitable access routes despite restrictions due to existing works, public highways and a façade retention framework.
Working with Lyndon Scaffolding, Keltbray and Balfour Beatty has been a pleasure, with all parties taking a realistic approach to the scaffolding requirements and the interaction between different areas and phases of work.
We recently completed a portfolio entry for the St James's Market project which shows some great images of the project and further information please click here to view.
