Specialist in Building Steel Scaffolding And Access Towers

Aluminium Structures has overcome difficult design challenges and delivered the project on a very tight schedule, something that Paul Butt says was only possible because of its in-house capabilities.

Saltney Ferry, United Kingdom (prHWY.com) July 13, 2012 - Aluminium Structures has overcome difficult design challenges and delivered the project on a very tight schedule, something that Paul Butt says was only possible because of its in-house capabilities.

The Chester-based fabricator has manufactured an access system - known on site as the ' ' - that comprises independently movable work platforms at seven different levels of the roof at Kings Cross.

The "flying carpet" is a lightweight movable access platform, designed, manufactured and installed by Aluminium Structures, that has given Kier Construction a five-fold increase in the rate of progress on the installation of new roof glazing at Kings Cross Station.

Paul Butt of Aluminium Structures explains that Kier's open approach to working with its contractors allowed him to suggest improvements to the glazing process as he could see the benefit of creating multiple work faces, reducing the downtime and improving the work flow of the glass installation.

The glaziers had to erect steel scaffolding and access towers on top of the suspended access deck to reach each section of the roof. There are seven levels of glass and for each level they were building steel scaffolding and access towers, stripping it down during the night shift, moving down a level, rebuilding it, stripping it down, rebuilding it again and so on.

The whole roof is 40 bays long and between March 2010 and October 2011 only about 12 bays had been completed. Since Aluminium Structures installed the 'flying carpet' in November 2011 a further 13 bays have been completed.

The glaziers stand on the movable access platforms to install the glass, and when they finish one section the platforms can be rolled out of the way and work can be started on the next section within an hour.

A major project to refurbish the roof also comprises of glazing work, for which Kier Construction is the main contractor. This needs Kier to strip out the existing roof, grit blast, make good and paint the steel structure, then install the new glazing and solar panels. It also includes the installation of a permanent walkways and gantries- the contract that Aluminium Structures is carrying out.

These permanent works consist of gantries and two levels of walkway on both sides of each of the station's two 250m-long barrelled roofs - a total of around 2km of walkways - as well as 16 movable gantries that will be used for cleaning and maintenance of the finished roof.

The innovative access system allows the installers of the new roof glass and photovoltaic solar power panels to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, twice as fast as previously and with double the work faces available, resulting in a rapid acceleration in the construction programme. Each work platform can carry a load of 1.5kN per square metre and provides a 30m-long working area at each level.

Using the "flying carpet" not only made the access to the lower part of roof easy but also removed the need to move and store the scaffolding materials. This resulted in tidier, safer site and also reduced the costly irritant need of touch up where the steel scaffolding had been clamped.

They also manufacture Aviation systems for a variety of aircraft including Hawker, Gulf Stream and Lear private Jets. Aviation systems are used for the maintenance painting and cleaning aircraft. We can provide specific access systems for the Tail dock, fuselage, engine cowling, and cargo and wing areas.

For more information please visit: http://allystructures.co.uk/

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Tag Words: work platforms, scaffolding, aviation systems, access towers, walkways, access systems, access platforms, gantries

Categories: Manufacturing

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