20.02.2015

Who built that then?

Spotted on a prestigious construction site in London, UK, a scaffold tower that would not make the grade in the third world.

The description is best left in the words of the Vertikal reader who sent it in as there is little we can add to his observations and summing up:

“Someone sent me a picture of a tower on the site of the Middlesex Hospital redevelopment and asked: "Is there anything wrong with this? There are no castors/adjustable legs fitted. Or stabilisers, or toeboards”.

“But this seems a minor consideration compared to the guardrail. The frame acting as the guardrail is a different manufacture or system to the lower frame (look at the rung spacings), but this wouldn’t fit on the spigots of the lower frame, as it hit the soffit, so they’ve just sat it on the working platform. Then, because the horizontal braces are of no use, they have used random braces as diagonal braces. Anyone leaning on this guardrail, would find themselves on the floor, tangled with some aluminium frames & braces!”
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Spot the errors

“But what I find shocking is, this is in London. You often show pictures from far-flung locations, where perhaps H&S isn’t to the same standards. But if this can happen in central London, there’s not much hope, is there? We can fix most things, but we can’t fix stupid”

Most definitely one for our Death Wish series.

The Middlesex Hospital on this site dates back to 1757 and was closed in 2005. In 2011 plans submitted by the developer Exemplar and architect Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands, were accepted for a mixed use development of the three acre plot, including 20,000 square metres of office space, 237 private homes and 54 affordable flats as well as 2,000 square metres of shops and restaurants.

Vertikal Comment

With all the talk about safety and training it is astonishing that a tower this 'slapdash' can be in use on such a significant project. Perhaps it was spotted shortly after the photo was taken and was taken down???