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Sunday, January 18, 2026

Major scaffolding collapse could’ve happened in Manchester

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Manchester Scaffolding
Hundreds of Manchester United fans pack onto the scaffolding unaware of the dangers.

A major scaffolding collapse could of happened in the city streets of Manchester on Monday, jubilant Manchester United fans celebrated their 20th league title with a parade through the streets.

[dropcap]S[/dropcap]caffolding was erected on Deansgate in the city by NASC members ACE Scaffolding for construction work, The scaffolding structure also provided a great vantage point for the loyal united fan.  Hundreds of fans managed to gain access to the scaffolding unaware of the dangers of overloading the scaffolding levels and the injures it would cause.

Fortunately disaster was averted as the scaffold erection was luckily designed to bear heavy construction loads.

On reflection It doesn’t bare thinking about of what could’ve happened, if that design wasn’t in place and wasn’t expertly erected by the scaffolders at ACE Scaffolding.

The National Access And Scaffolding Confederation (NASC) posted a comment on the ScaffMag Facebook Page earlier today:

The consensus is that a NASC scaffolding contractor ACE almost certainly had no control over access to the structure. If anything this was a principal contractor issue (TOLENT), although difficult to see how access could have been prevented once the site had been breached by the 100’s of fans. Fortunately it appears the structure was designed to bear this kind of load although the potential for catastrophe is clearly evident.

By Daniel Norton

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