Since the dawn of man the need to lift, haul, and work at height has been a necessity in order for him to achieve his never ending goals and ambitions and as we all know necessity is the mother of invention.

Lifting and Access equipment and methods have evolved since man was driven by need or desire to construct his dwellings, icons and monuments.

In the new millennium the need to either construct or maintain structures such as the Millennium Dome, Spinnaker Tower, The Severn & Forth Road Bridge’s and Manchester United Stadium all posed hi-level, difficult access problems for the engineers and contractors.

To ensure work can be safely and effectively performed at height on structures such as these various solutions are available, these sometimes using old principles incorporating new, state-of-the art equipment, some requiring one-off engineered solutions…

Unlike our ancestors Safety now plays the major part in all access and lifting designs and solutions and specialists contractors ensure that "Safety is Paramount"

Types of access that are available under the heading of “Suspended Access” include:

1. Industrial Rope Access; this is where the operative provides the “motive power” using specialist & purpose designed “Rope Access Equipment” to gain access to difficult access locations in order for him or her to carry out the required task in hand.

2. Suspended Access Platforms; these can be either standard or bespoke access platforms that are raised and lowered by mechanical powered or manual hoists, these in turn protected by independent safety devises and other safety feature designed to protect those working with as well as those beneath the platform… these hoists normally work on steel wire ropes and are designed to place specialist operatives tools, materials and equipment into the required working location quickly and safety.

3. Custom Suspended Access Platform: these can comprise of large three dimensional modular access platforms that can be erected by Roped Access operatives and raised into place under the structure to enable heavy duty operations to be performed. These tasks may include Bridge construction and maintenance, Stadium roof construction and work other special high level structures.

Some Suspended Access Solution Examples:

In order to place workers at the top of the Forth Road Bridge main towers to enable inspections and painting works to be performed a modular wrap-around truss frame suspended access platform was designed, installed and suspended from purpose designed suspension beams. This platform is raised, lowered and suspended by 12 X 3000Kg capacity hoists, each protected by an independent rope and safety devise.
The main working platform spans the entire carriageway and moves vertically at a controlled speed positioning the platform when and where required.

To access the main platform two high speed feeder platforms carry operatives and equipment to and from the main high level working platform. When the engineers decided it was time to carry out invasive inspections of the Severn Bridge main suspension cables a large heavy duty access platform was required, this to be placed under the main cable at various locations along the main cable, some locations at ~100M above deck level.

In order to install the 12 ton access platforms a bespoke lifting system was engineered, this capably of raising and lowering the two platform halves at 6M min. Once at the required level under the main cable the platform halves were joined together, secured and contained. A separate “feeder platform” was then installed to enable non Roped Access operatives to gain rapid access to the main static platform.

Manchester United Football Club decided to increase the seating potential of the stadium by converting the corner “Quadrants” into seating areas. This had to be accomplished in a short time frame without disrupting the programmed matches.

A temporary roof was erected above the lower seating area whilst the large new permanent quadrant roof was constructed above. To enable safe access for all high level trades scaffolding was not an option, after consultation with a specialist access contractor a series of 3D space frame access platforms were installed by assembling to the required configuration in the adjacent car park and raising into position beneath and suspended from the new steel roof trusses.

As work progressed the platforms were simply “drifted” into the next location without the need to strip and erect or even land….this work being carried out by Rope Access operatives.
Once all high level work was completed the specialist contactor removed the temporary roof below using a mixture of Rope Access methods combined with specialist lifting and safety equipment, the large space frame platforms were then discreetly de-constructed in-the-air and quickly removed from site.

The 165M tall Spinnaker Tower recently constructed in Portsmouth was described by the main contractor as a “Vertical Construction Site”…as such it required all possible suspended access and lifting disciplines to be incorporated into the construction methods.

The chosen specialist suspended access & lifting contractor supplied engineered access solutions in the form of custom powered suspended access platforms to work on the main concrete legs of the tower whilst Rope Access operatives supplied all difficult access solutions and rigging methods to enable the platforms to be erected for non roped access users.
All specific high level tasks were carried out using a combination of portable lifting equipment, powered suspended access cradles and roped access solutions…

As most contractor and engineers state when faced with high level, difficult access projects such as this …it would be easy if it was a ground level…!

As it is in our nature to rise to a challenge and we will no doubt continue to construct and maintain larger and ever more complex structures the access world will continue to evolve in order to ensure new and innovative solutions are always available to the engineers and contractors alike.

Author - Dave Simm