XERVON Palmers has converted to System Scaffolding for an efficient large-scale industrial access job – to facilitate the bi-annual overhaul of the interior of a huge boiler at Aberthaw Power Station, in South Wales.
Working closely with client Doosan Babcock and their customer RWE, up to 47 XERVON Palmers operatives have constructed a 25 x 13 metre, 19-lift Layher System Scaffold within the enormous coal-fired boiler at Aberthaw Power Station, located near Cardiff on the North bank of the Bristol channel.
The decision to use Layher System Scaffolding in preference to traditional tube & fitting scaffolding was made by XERVON Palmers management to improve the performance and efficiency of the scaffolding to suit the large, but confined space within the power station boiler and the time constraints of the contract.
A key factor of the Palmers job at Aberthaw was to help reduce the amount of time the boiler (which helps the Power Station generate 1555MW of electricity to the national grid, enough for three million homes) was offline – hence the switch from bespoke tube and fitting to modular scaffolding as the optimum access solution for this environment, due to safety and speed of erection and striking.
In addition, the formulaic design of the Layher scaffolding provided a neat and space efficient access solution, providing much improved, safe, clear and unhindered access platforms, enabling the many skilled operatives deployed at Aberthaw to complete their boiler overhaul works safely and efficiently.
Additionally on the Aberthaw contract, XERVON Palmers operatives had were working in hot, dusty and noisy conditions had to manage carefully with limited storage facilities the significant amounts of manual handling that was required to get the Layher equipment initially through two small (48 x 18-inch) holes – to allow the erection of the first three scaffold levels and as work progressed materials were passed through larger doorway-sized holes above levels three to 19.
“The decision to move from conventional tube and fitting to modular System scaffolding has proved to be a wise choice at Aberthaw, as we were able to complete the installation of the Layher scaffold more efficiently with considerably less components. This helped make the overall work environment safer and quicker,” comments Ian McFarlane, Director at XERVON Palmers.
“As a company, we are starting to see a rise in demand for System Scaffolding jobs now – even in traditional tube and fitting areas, like England. System is the scaffold of choice in Europe and very popular in Scotland too, so it’s interesting to see it taking a more prevalent role in England now,” Mr McFarlane added.
Palmers parent company XERVON GmbH based in Germany is one of the biggest scaffold companies in Europe, where System Scaffolding is more commonplace than in the UK. XERVON utilise Layher Scaffolding as their core scaffold system, with over 70,000 tons in stock and are actively encouraging Palmers to use more System Scaffold in the UK.
A spokesperson for XERVON GmbH said:
“System Scaffolding, like Layher is commonly used for many different access jobs in Europe and we are starting to see – and suggest – a substantial rise in its use in Great Britain by XERVON Palmers operatives. The job at Aberthaw Power Station boiler lends itself perfectly to System Scaffolding, thanks to its efficient, space and time-saving construction and dismantling characteristics and its ability to be used safely in tight, restrictive environments.”
The XERVON Palmers Layher scaffolding job at Aberthaw Power Station boiler has enabled clients Doosan Babcock and RWE to efficiently carry out their bi-annual overhaul and has been constructed and dismantled on time and on budget by XERVON Palmers.
For over 120 years XERVON Palmers has provided a quality scaffolding service to all industries, working on some of the most important sites and prestigious projects within the petrochemical, power generation, construction, offshore fabrication, marine, nuclear, railway and airport market sectors. XERVON Palmers specialise in scaffolding and access contracts as well as offering additional services like steelwork repairs, specialist coatings, including shotblasting and thermal insulation.
