Case Study
Project Date: September, 2021 – Current
Project Location: Coffs Harbour, NSW
Project Type: Commercial
Project Specifics
- THOMAS Foreman: Adam Bell
- Overall project value: $81.27m
- Approx 200t of scaffolding
- 800 lineal metres of slab edge handrail
- 12 month duration (Scaffolding works)
After just completing the Mission Australia project on Duke St, Coffs Harbour, Lipman Constructions engaged us again to begin work on Gordon St, Coffs Harbour for The Yarilla Place – Coffs Harbour Cultural and Civic Space.
Requirements of the Scaffolding:
- Provide a stair into the basement excavation to maintain stretcher access until basement carparking ramp was constructed.
- Perimeter scaffolding to provide slab edge protection to the curved walls as well as full mesh containment for duration of the construction of the building structure.
- Stretcher access was to be maintained to all levels at all times
- Provide scaffolding to stair and lift shaft walls for access to install reo and pour concrete.
- Provide engineer certified CAD drawings for all scaffolds.
- Design and install a handrail system to provide edge protection once the perimeter scaffolding was removed. The handrail system needed to allow access for the installation of the bespoke façade system.
Project Challenges
Building Design:
Due to the design of this space, featuring curved external walls, the challenge was designing a scaffold that followed the curved building line whilst maintaining maximum clearances between the scaffolding and building’s edge.
Our drafting team had to carefully plan how the scaffold would closely follow the building line, which changed from level to level. They overcame this by designing a series of individual scaffold bays linked together. The site team followed the design particulars precisely to ensure the scaffold met scope requirements on all levels.
Complicated Access Requirements
Forklift access needed to be maintained to the ground level ramp to allow for movement of materials to the materials hoist. This involved cantilevering the entire South East corner of the scaffold to allow clear access between the ground and level 1.
Edge protection was needed above the man and materials hoist until the level above was formed and poured. Our scaffolders on site designed a handrail system braced back to the building structure below, which was sent to a 3rd party engineer for sign off before installation.
Heritage Listed Tree & Limited Gear Storage Areas
To the rear of the project on Riders Lane stands a 70-100 year old fig tree, that is a focal point for the bold curve design of the building. In order to protect the established tree, a fencing barrier was erected around the base and all trades were directed to work mindfully around the tree, as any damage to it was prohibited.
The building was designed to hug the tree, so building the scaffold through this section took care. As the scaffold bays are 1.8m wide, so sat very close to the canopy.
The project sits in between a main street in Coffs Harbour and a small lane that backs onto a multi storey carpark, so the capacity to store scaffold was limited.
Due to the limited lay down area available on site, the pre planning and coordination between the labour team and transportation team was vital throughout each stage to ensure they had only what they needed on site.
Project Summary
Working alongside the Lipman team, we were able to overcome project challenges and deliver a scaffolding solution that met the complex scope of this build. The planning stage of this project was crucial in ensuring the tight time constraints were met, we were flexible to handle the clients requests throughout the build and safety remained the top priority.
Sponsors
- Stekiz Engineering
