Project: Battersea Arts Centre
Principal Contractor: Lyndon SGB
Operations Manager: Ian Paxton
Lyndon SGB’s London Division has installed an in-house designed duo-pitched temporary roof and other scaffolding and access solutions on landmark The Battersea Arts Centre (“BAC”) in London.
Formerly Battersea Town Hall, BAC is a Grade II* listed building near Clapham Junction in Battersea that operates as a performance space specialising in theatre productions. In March 2015, while a major programme of renovation works were underway; the Grand Hall was severely damaged by fire.
We were approached in early 2015 by architect Haworth Tompkins after a referral from their scaffolding consultants, 48.3 Scaffold Designs. After the initial tender stage, Haworth Tompkins decided to move forward with Lyndon SGB thanks to the progressive approach to developing the scheme and our internal design team of nine expert engineers.
Regional Manager, Phil Smith said:
“As the majority of Lyndon SGB’s competitors do not employ in-house engineers and simply rely on third party direction and support, the decision was not a difficult one for Haworth Tompkins to make. We also clearly impressed the architect by stating that a crane was not necessary to install the roof; something that our competitors said was not possible.”
“We then set-about developing a scheme that allowed a duo-pitched temporary roof to be installed over the fire damaged Grand Hall, whilst restraining the roof from lateral and uplift movement from a central birdcage scaffold. This allowed the scaffold to be free-standing and imposed minimal loads on the building facades.”
“The roof has been designed to allow new roof trusses to be installed using a crane and the subsequent completion of the roof membrane. Although the roof was built without the use of a crane, it cannot be dismantled in the reverse process of how it was installed, due to the constraints of the new roof. Lyndon SGB’s therefore designed the scaffold to sit on tri-beam runners. This allows for the roof to be dismantled without attempting to working over a newly completed roof.”
Regional Manager, Phil Smith said:
“As the majority of Lyndon SGB’s competitors do not employ in-house engineers and simply rely on third party direction and support, the decision was not a difficult one for Haworth Tompkins to make. We also clearly impressed the architect by stating that a crane was not necessary to install the roof; something that our competitors said was not possible.”
“We then set-about developing a scheme that allowed a duo-pitched temporary roof to be installed over the fire damaged Grand Hall, whilst restraining the roof from lateral and uplift movement from a central birdcage scaffold. This allowed the scaffold to be free-standing and imposed minimal loads on the building facades.”
“The roof has been designed to allow new roof trusses to be installed using a crane and the subsequent completion of the roof membrane. Although the roof was built without the use of a crane, it cannot be dismantled in the reverse process of how it was installed, due to the constraints of the new roof. Lyndon SGB’s therefore designed the scaffold to sit on tri-beam runners. This allows for the roof to be dismantled without attempting to working over a newly completed roof.”
This project is also unusual in the fact that Lyndon SGB were appointed principal contractor for the duration of their works. The scaffold was completed in March 2016 and is due to remain for 18 months.
