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Our website is a hugely popular digital scaffolding resource. Launched back in 2009, ScaffMag has grown in popularity to become the industry’s leading source for the latest independent trade news, current affairs, scaffolding jobs and profiling the very best from our sector.
ScaffMag gives businesses and brands an unrivalled opportunity to advertise their products or services 24 hours a day 7 days a week to a highly targeted audience. Our readership includes main and sub-contractors, manufacturers, consultants, scaffolders and many others. We offer print and digital advertising opportunities across desktop, mobile and tablet channels.
During 2023 we welcomed over 250,000 individual users to the site, generating over 760,000 pageviews. We remain amongst our industry the most followed and liked company on social media with more than 132,000 followers on Facebook alone.
– Daniel Norton, Editor of ScaffMag
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We provide businesses and brands an unrivalled opportunity to advertise their products or services 24 hours a day 7 days a week to a highly targeted audience.
For a full list of website advertising opportunities with ScaffMag please contact us and download our 2024 Media Pack.
Our Daily Download and Weekly Rundown email newsletter is essential reading for thousands of scaffolding professionals. They are sent to more than 7,200 people providing a unique reach into companies across the country and the world. The newsletter enjoys an above-average open rate for the construction sector of 38% and our list is constantly updated to only include regular readers. Our subscriber database can be made available to selected clients for direct marketing in the form of an Email Blast.
EMAIL SPONSORSHIP ScaffMag offers email sponsorship in our daily and weekly round-up emails in the form of a banner advertisement contained within the newsletter Email Banner: £300.00pcm
EMAIL BLAST ScaffMag give’s businesses and industry service providers the ability to send out their very own promotional email co-branded with ScaffMag to our database of subscribers. Email Blast: £400.00 per campaign
Interested in learning more about advertising with us? Drop us a line on 01472 476024 or email [email protected]
As a natural progression for both our loyal readership and our scaffold sector advertising customers, we have launched the ScaffMag magazine – a fresh, slick, modern, vibrant and engaging product to enjoy and to back up our ScaffMag.com community and social media following, which advertisers in the magazine can tap their brand into. Created with both the scaffolder and contractor in mind, The ScaffMag Magazine gives businesses and brands an unrivalled opportunity to advertise their products or services 24:7:365 to a large, rapidly expanding and highly-targeted audience. It’s a unique proposition in digital and print.
“The new issue of Scaffmag is packed with great articles and opinions. We’re very lucky in our industry to have such a great support and loudspeaker for everything we do! Thanks as always to Daniel Norton for putting such great content together.” – Des Moore
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To find out more about advertising in our quarterly magazine please view and download our 2021 Media Pack.
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ScaffMag continues to dominate the social media networks within our industry with the most liked/followed Facebook page in the sector. At the time of writing this, ScaffMag’s official page has 135,000+ followers and 81,000+ likes.
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The London ambulance service said: “An investigation has been launched after two men were injured after scaffolding attached to Hammersmith town hall collapsed late on Wednesday afternoon.
“Officers from the Metropolitan police attended along with firefighters.”
Tube-Lock® tubes are regular 48,3mm scaffolding tubes, fitted with two cast iron Tube-Lock pieces. Because of the Tube-Lock ends, tubes can be connected with each other by a twisting motion, visibly locking them in place. No tools nor additional parts are required to make or secure the connection.
This provides many advantages.
Because the two tubes can be joined by a twisting motion, it is a fast and easy way to connect tubes together. This leads to faster erection and dismantling times for the entire scaffold.
Furthermore, no additional parts nor tools are needed. No longer needing sleeve couplers and joint pins means that there are no spare parts that need to be transported. Additionally, you don’t have to invest in sleeve couplers and joint pins as you no longer need them.
This also eliminates the risk of sleeve couplers breaking, getting lost or getting stolen. And you don’t have to service the sleeve couplers anymore. Tube-Lock connections are completely maintenance-free.
Another logistical advantage is that Tube-Lock comes in standard lengths from 1 meter or 4ft up to 4 meters or 13ft. Because of this flexibility, it prevents the necessity of cutting the tubes to length.
The maximum length of 4 meters means the maximum weight of a Tube-Lock tube is 16 kg. This leads to less strain on scaffolders, which is essential because of the strict Occupational Health and Safety regulations.
Additionally, there is no need to stagger joints, Tube-Lock is as strong as a continuous tube. The connection may even be submitted to pull force. Using Tube-Lock tubes leads to a smooth tube connection over the full length of the tube. This makes it possible to use couplers anywhere on the tube. Even on the Tube-Lock connection.
In their innovative production facility, they can turn your (used) scaffolding tube to Tube-Lock tubes! This means you can update your own material without enormous investments. Even the repair of existing Tube-Lock stock is possible. And they now offer a special discount on the conversion of your scaffolding tube!
Have a look at www.thielscaffolding.com for more information, or contact [email protected] to hear more about all possibilities!
Sarah Klieve has taken over as NASC president as the trade body introduces a new 10-region structure intended to bring members closer to its work across the UK.
Klieve, business director at High Peak Scaffolding, succeeded IBN Scaffolding’s David Brown at the joint NASC and CISRS Annual General Meeting in Solihull.
The meeting, attended by almost 100 full NASC members, also confirmed two appointments to the NASC board. Lee Rowswell, group director at GKR Scaffolding, and Steve Fellows, managing director of Malvern Scaffolding, have joined the board.
NASC said its new regional structure will divide the UK into 10 locally focused areas.
The body said the model is intended to improve contact with members, create more opportunities for collaboration and give regional priorities a stronger route into the organisation.
Further detail on the regions, including their boundaries, representatives and planned activity, has yet to be published.
The AGM also recognised the departure of long-standing NASC Council members Mike Lloyd and James Attridge.
NASC Group CEO Clive Dickin said the meeting showed the organisation was in a strong position to continue supporting members and raising standards across the sector.
He said NASC was growing its membership and commercial presence, while continuing to invest in CISRS to meet the needs of employers and trainees.
Klieve takes on the presidency as NASC and CISRS continue work around training, safety and workforce development, with member engagement expected to be a central focus for the rest of 2026.
Lima Construction Limited has been fined £50,000 after a worker fell to his death through an unprotected window opening from an external scaffold platform at a redevelopment site in New Malden.
Antonio Rodrigues, 55, was working as a labourer for Lima Construction, the principal contractor on the conversion of a former department store on New Malden High Street into commercial and residential units.
On 27 July 2022, Mr Rodrigues fell through an unglazed opening intended for a Juliet door. He landed on a concrete ground floor more than 3m below.
He was taken to hospital but died from his injuries on 1 August 2022.
The Health and Safety Executive found that four window openings had been created for glazed Juliet doors. Some of the doors arrived with damaged glazing panels and were not installed.
Lima Construction had identified the openings as a fall risk for workers using the scaffold platform. Yet protective boarding was only fitted in the hours after Mr Rodrigues’ fall.
HSE said the risk could have been controlled as soon as the openings were created, either by boarding them over or installing additional internal scaffold guard rails.
The investigation also found that legally required weekly scaffold inspections had not been carried out after 5 July 2022. That removed an opportunity for a competent scaffold inspector to identify the danger created by the unglazed openings.
Lima Construction Limited, of Apsley Road, New Malden, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 13(1) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015.
The company was fined £50,000 and ordered to pay £11,347 in costs at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 18 June 2026.
HSE inspector Andrew Verrall-Withers said the company had generally tried to maintain good health and safety standards but had failed to respond effectively when the damaged doors created an unusual site condition.
He said: “As there was no CCTV and nobody witnessed the incident, we will never know exactly what caused Mr Rodrigues to fall.
“But if the boards added shortly afterwards had been in place, then there would have been no opening for him to fall through in the first place.”
The case is a reminder for scaffold contractors, principal contractors and inspectors that changes to building openings can create immediate fall hazards. Where glazing, doors or other permanent protection is delayed, the opening needs to be secured before workers are exposed to it.
A sharp rise in global container shipping rates is beginning to feed through to the UK scaffolding supply chain, prompting warnings that contractors could face higher material costs in the months ahead.
According to Trevor Inns, Director of Tube Industries, a leading importer of scaffold tube supplying many of the UK’s major wholesalers, landed prices for imported scaffold tube have already increased by around 15 per cent since April, with further increases expected as higher freight costs work their way through the market.
The warning comes as container rates on major Asia-to-Europe shipping routes continue to climb. Industry shipping data shows rates between China and Northern Europe have risen significantly in recent months, reaching their highest levels in more than 18 months.
Mr Inns said the increases are being driven primarily by freight costs rather than changes in steel prices.
“Back in 2023 we forecast that scaffold product prices would soften, and that proved to be largely accurate,” he said.
“This time the story is the opposite. The pressure isn’t coming from steel or galvanising. It’s coming from freight.”
He said many contractors may not yet have seen the full impact because suppliers are still selling stock imported before the latest freight increases took effect.
“If a supplier hasn’t increased prices yet, it doesn’t necessarily mean the market hasn’t moved. In many cases they are still working through existing stock purchased at lower landed costs,” he said.
Recent market data from shipping analysts Drewry showed that the World Container Index reached its highest level since late 2024 in June, with rates on the Shanghai-to-Rotterdam route increasing sharply in recent weeks.
Carriers have also announced further rate increases and peak season surcharges from July, adding to concerns that import costs could continue rising through the second half of the year.
Because freight affects all imported products travelling through the same supply chains, the impact is not limited to scaffold tube.
Fittings, access products and other scaffold equipment sourced from Asia could also come under cost pressure if elevated shipping rates persist.
The warning may be particularly relevant for contractors pricing work scheduled for autumn and winter, where materials may not be purchased until several months after tenders are submitted.
Mr Inns said businesses should review their assumptions on future material costs rather than relying on current pricing.
“Anyone pricing projects later in the year should be speaking with suppliers about forward pricing and availability,” he said.
“By the time some of these increases reach contractors’ invoices, they may appear sudden. In reality, the cost increases are already working their way through the supply chain.”
While the scale of future increases remains uncertain, the latest shipping market data suggests freight costs are likely to remain a key factor influencing imported scaffold product prices during the remainder of 2026.
As Des Moore approaches his 70th birthday, he is not interested in nostalgia. After more than 50 years in scaffolding, from the tools to senior management and board-level roles, he is still focused on what comes next. The industry has improved in many ways, he says, but there is still work to do on safety, professionalism, training, leadership and commercial discipline.
Moore started out as a scaffolder in the 1970s, moved through contracts and branch management, led TRAD through a long period of growth, and later served in senior industry roles including as NASC President. Today, through his consultancy firm, MOR1X, he remains active across the sector, advising businesses and working with firms including MR Scaffolding Services, Baton and ULMA
He remains positive about the future. He is also blunt about what scaffolding still gets wrong.
Health and safety has seen the biggest change of his career. “There has been a significant and necessary improvement in health and safety,” he says. “Scaffolding can be dangerous if safe practices are not adopted.”
Standards on site, though, are still uneven. Thousands of contractors operate across the UK, and the gap between the best-run firms and the rest is too wide. Larger businesses can afford dedicated health and safety support. Smaller firms often cannot. Basic standards still aren’t being applied consistently.
“I walk past sites where there are scaffolders wearing harnesses that are not attached, or who don’t even have a lanyard on the harness. It’s just for show,” Moore says. “That is literally an accident waiting to happen.”
Part of the problem, he argues, is poor communication. Scaffolders get handed long, generic RAMS documents that do little to explain the actual risks of the job in front of them. He wants more direct briefings, led by line managers, with a one-page summary of the main risks on site.
He is also critical of weak near-miss reporting and a lingering macho culture in parts of the industry.
“These are learning moments,” he says. “But there is still not enough guidance on what a near miss looks like and why it matters. We have to move away from that macho image and create a culture where people feel safe.”
If safety is a live issue, recruitment sits behind almost every conversation about scaffolding’s future.
Too few young people see the trade as a serious career, Moore says, and that is one of the industry’s biggest long-term problems.
“That’s what happened to me,” he says. “I fell into scaffolding after leaving school with no qualifications. The industry has been incredibly good to me. It gave me opportunities I could not have imagined at the time. But too many young people still don’t see scaffolding as something to aim for.”
The sector has not done enough to present itself as professional, skilled and ambitious. That matters when businesses are trying to attract the next generation, not just of scaffolders but of supervisors, managers, estimators and commercial staff.
There are signs of progress. Some firms are bringing people through in a more structured way. At MR Scaffolding Services, where Moore works with the business on training and development, trainee estimator and surveyor programmes are giving young people a route into the sector beyond the yard gate. Trainees spend time in the yard, in transport and on site before moving into office-based roles. That kind of grounding gives people a proper understanding of how a scaffolding business actually works.
He points to leaders like Rob West at Benchmark Scaffolding and Luis McCarthy at JMAC Group as examples of people raising standards and building a stronger culture in their businesses.
If scaffolding wants better people, it has to look and behave like a profession that values them. That means stronger recruitment, better training, visible career paths and a more serious approach to management.
The same themes keep surfacing in his work with contractors. Project delays, the wider economy, cash management and pricing.
On delays, Gateway 2 and 3 approvals continue to disrupt larger projects. Firms are left pricing jobs without a clear idea of when work will actually begin, and that uncertainty spills into labour planning, resource allocation and cashflow.
The wider economic picture is no easier. Housebuilding remains under pressure. Confidence and investment are affected. None of that is new to experienced contractors, but it still creates difficult trading conditions for firms trying to plan ahead.
Cash management is the point Moore returns to most often. During his time leading TRAD, cash was never treated as a back-office issue. It was central to how the business was run.
“I could be in a meeting with Mohed Altrad about something completely unrelated and within 15 minutes he would ask me about the cash position,” he says. “He understood how important that was.”
Then there is pricing. Parts of the market continue to quote work too cheaply, often without a real understanding of what makes a job profitable or unprofitable. It damages margins, distorts value and weakens the reputation of the sector.
Many of these problems come back to management.
Too many businesses still lack the basic control systems needed to understand what is happening on jobs. Where money is being made. Where it is being lost. That applies to pricing, labour, transport, materials and planning. It is also why Moore has become a strong supporter of digital tools that help firms get a better grip on operations.
“As someone who is now involved with Baton, I do see the value of technology very clearly,” he says. “What surprises me is how many leaders still do not know which jobs have made money, which have lost money, and why.”
Technology, he argues, should not be seen as a nice extra. It should be used to make better decisions. If a client says a site needs six scaffolders, a well-run business should be able to test that assumption, plan properly, and decide whether four would do the job just as well. That is productivity in practice, a commercial discipline as much as a technical one.
Asked what successful scaffolding businesses will need to do over the next three to five years, Moore comes back first to training. Not just basic site training. Not just apprenticeships. Training across the whole business.
Management training, in particular, is still badly neglected. Business performance often depends more on the quality of managers than on anything else.
“I cannot over-emphasise the importance of training all your staff,” he says. “Managers direct how well, or not, the business performs.”
He still values hands-on leadership and has little patience for managers who run teams from behind a screen. Face-to-face communication matters. Managers need to be visible. They need to understand what is happening in the business at ground level. Emails and WhatsApp groups are no substitute for being present.
He is equally firm on productivity. The industry has tolerated low productivity for too long. Better systems can help measure it, but the bigger shift is cultural. Businesses need to care about it, track it, and manage around it.
Moore also expects system scaffolding to play a bigger role in the years ahead. The initial investment can be high, he accepts, but the long-term return is there for firms that use it properly and understand the commercial case. That thinking sits behind his current work with ULMA as it builds the presence of the BRIO metric system in the UK market.
The issue, for him, is not just product but support. Manufacturers need to do more than supply equipment and deliver technical training. They also need to help contractors understand how to get better business results from the systems they buy. Some suppliers still fall short on that.
For all the problems he identifies, Moore is not pessimistic. Scaffolding is full of good businesses, hard-working people, and leaders who care about improving standards. But the sector cannot afford to drift.
It needs to take safety more seriously at every level. It needs to present itself better to new entrants. It needs stronger managers, better pricing, tighter commercial control and more willingness to adopt the tools that improve performance.
Above all, it needs to move now.
“The next five years are critical,” he says. “Change needs to happen in the next five years, not the next fifty.”
After half a century in scaffolding, Moore is still looking ahead. The industry already knows much of what it needs to do. The real question is whether enough businesses are willing to do it.
AT-PAC has expanded its marketing partnership with Petite Agency to cover parts of its European operation.
The scaffolding and access supplier said the Teesside agency will support activity across Germany, Sweden and the Benelux region, following its work with AT-PAC in the UK over the past year.
The appointment includes social media planning, content production and brand communications.
Petite Agency was founded in 2020 by director Sophia Gowland. The business works with construction, property and professional services clients, focusing on social media strategy, content and personal brand support.
AT-PAC said a recent content project in Sweden, focused on a large temporary weather protection structure, helped lead to the expanded agreement.
Andrew Boynton, AT-PAC’s Regional Director for Europe, said Petite Agency had helped the business communicate the scale of its work in the UK and would now support its European teams.
AT-PAC operates in more than 20 countries as part of umdasch Industrial Solutions. Its services include scaffold rental and sales, engineering, design and digital scaffold management software.
Scaffolding contractors across much of England are being urged to act on heat risk this week after the UK Health Security Agency issued red heat-health alerts for six regions.
The alerts cover London, the East Midlands, West Midlands, East of England, South East and South West. They begin at 1am on Wednesday 24 June and remain in place until 11pm on Thursday 25 June.
Amber alerts apply in the North East, North West and Yorkshire and the Humber.
Red is the highest level on the UKHSA’s heat-health alert scale. It means severe impacts are both likely and expected, including for people who would not usually be considered at high risk.
Temperatures are forecast to reach the high 30s, with some forecasts putting peaks close to 40C in parts of England during Wednesday and Thursday.
The Health and Safety Executive has reminded construction employers that heat must be assessed as a workplace hazard.
There is no legal maximum temperature for work. But employers still have duties under health and safety law to assess the risks to workers and take reasonable steps to control them.
That matters on scaffolding sites, where physically demanding work, direct sun, reflective surfaces, heavy clothing and PPE can all make heat stress more likely.
HSE says employers should consider practical controls including more frequent rest breaks, shaded welfare areas, free access to cool drinking water and earlier starts or later finishes where site arrangements allow.
John Rowe, HSE’s deputy director for technical support and engagement, said: “Last summer should have been a wake-up call for all employers.
“If we continue to experience hotter summers this could have a big impact on the workforce of this country, affecting everything from health of workers to productivity on construction sites.”
Heat exhaustion can cause tiredness, weakness, dizziness, headaches, muscle cramps, nausea, heavy sweating and intense thirst.
Workers with these symptoms should be moved to a cooler place, given fluids and monitored.
Heatstroke is more serious. Signs can include confusion, poor coordination, rapid breathing, a fast heartbeat, hot skin that is not sweating and seizures.
Heatstroke is a medical emergency. Anyone suspected of having heatstroke should be cooled down while another person calls 999.
For scaffold contractors, the immediate issue is planning. Supervisors should check that welfare facilities are usable, water is readily available, break arrangements are realistic and workers know when to raise concerns.
NASC has launched a new TG4 User Guide and poster to support the safe installation and testing of scaffold anchor ties.
The two documents sit alongside TG4:25 Anchorage Systems for Scaffolding, which was issued in 2025 and sets out technical guidance on tie loads, anchor selection, proof testing and related work.
The new additions are aimed at bringing that information closer to the people responsible for ties on site, including scaffolders, supervisors and project teams.
James Attridge, chair of the NASC Technical Committee, said scaffold ties were central to the stability of many structures.
“Façade access and other scaffolding configurations are typically tall and narrow and therefore rely on secure attachment to a permanent building or structure to maintain stability,” he said.
“To achieve this, anchors are often installed into existing masonry or concrete structures to provide an effective means of tying.”
The TG4 User Guide is an A6 booklet aimed at scaffolders who install and test drilled and cast-in anchors.
It covers the main factors involved in fixing anchors, including the checks and precautions needed to protect their integrity. NASC said it was designed as a pocket reference for those carrying out the work.
TG4:25 remains the main technical document. It covers the selection, installation and management of scaffolding anchorage systems, including preliminary testing where the suitability of an anchor in a base material is uncertain.
It also sets out proof-testing requirements. NASC says a sample of anchors must be tested on each project, with at least 5% selected at random and a minimum of 3 anchors tested in each separate area.
An A2 TG4 poster has also been issued for use on site.
It states that anchor ties are needed to maintain scaffold stability and prevent structural failure or collapse. A QR code directs users to further NASC information.
The release reflects a familiar site risk. Anchor ties can appear routine, but errors in anchor selection, drilling, installation or testing can affect the stability of the whole scaffold.
The new documents are available through the NASC website.
Scaffolding firms are being urged to review hot-weather controls as an amber heat-health alert remains in force across large parts of England.
The alert covers London, the South East, South West and East of England until 8pm on Tuesday 23 June. Yellow alerts are also in place for the East Midlands and West Midlands.
The warnings come as temperatures are expected to rise again over the weekend, with hot and humid conditions forecast across parts of the country.
For scaffold contractors, the issue is not simply comfort. Heavy physical work, direct sunlight, limited shade and PPE can quickly increase the risk of dehydration, fatigue and reduced concentration.
That matters on sites where workers are handling materials, climbing lifts or carrying out work at height.
The UK Health Security Agency said the amber alert reflects the likely effect of sustained high temperatures on health and social care services, particularly for people who are more vulnerable to heat.
The alerts are not a legal warning requiring sites to stop work. But they provide a clear signal for employers to reassess conditions and make sure controls are in place before temperatures peak.
The Health and Safety Executive says employers must assess temperature-related risks for outdoor workers and put suitable controls in place.
Its guidance includes moving work to cooler parts of the day where possible, providing more frequent rest breaks, making shade available, and ensuring workers have free access to cool drinking water.
The HSE also advises firms to make sure workers understand the early signs of heat stress, including loss of concentration, cramps, severe thirst and fainting.
The UK has no legal maximum working temperature for outdoor workers.
Employers are still required to protect workers from adverse weather and assess risks under general health and safety law. That places the responsibility on contractors to decide when conditions require changed working hours, additional breaks, altered tasks or extra supervision.
For scaffold firms, planning needs to go beyond a reminder to drink water.
Supervisors should consider which tasks involve the heaviest physical effort, which areas of the site have little shade, and whether workers can take genuine breaks away from direct sun and heat radiating from steel, concrete or plant.
PPE also needs attention. Required protection cannot be compromised, but firms should consider whether lighter and more breathable compliant options are available for hot conditions.
The alert comes as tradesman insurer Protectivity publishes research claiming that June contains 5 of the 10 calendar dates most likely to see temperatures reach 27°C or above during working hours.
The company’s analysis identified 20 June as the second highest-risk date in its dataset, behind 12 August.
Protectivity examined historical weather data across UK cities, counting days where temperatures reached 27°C or more for at least 2 hours between 6am and 6pm.
Its research placed St Albans at the top of its ranking with 47 days above that level. The City of London followed with 45 days, while Oxford and Cambridge recorded 37 each.
The figures are company analysis rather than an official heat-risk ranking. But they support the wider point that hot-weather planning cannot wait until July or August.
Chris Trotman, underwriting manager at Protectivity, said: “Five of the 10 most dangerous dates in our dataset fall in June, and yet June is often when sites are running at full capacity with no particular heat protocols in place.
“Self-employed tradespeople in particular, who make up the largest self-employed workforce of any sector in the UK, have no employer to mandate rest breaks or enforce a heat policy on their behalf.”
The most useful response is practical.
Firms should check forecasts before shifts begin, schedule demanding work for cooler parts of the day where possible, provide easy access to water and shaded rest areas, and make sure supervisors are watching for early signs of heat stress.
Workers returning from time away or new to physically demanding work may also need time to adjust to hotter conditions.
Hot weather does not automatically mean work must stop. But where temperatures, humidity, workload and PPE combine to affect a worker’s health or ability to work safely, firms need to act.
AT-PAC has opened a new branch in Darwin, Northern Territory, giving contractors in northern Australia local access to scaffold stock, rental equipment and technical support.
The company said the branch will support projects across oil and gas, mining, energy, infrastructure, defence and marine sectors.
The site is in Berrimah, around 15 minutes from Darwin city centre, according to AT-PAC Australia and Pacific.
AT-PAC said holding Ringlock system scaffold locally should reduce delivery times for customers working on remote and industrial sites across the Northern Territory and nearby regions.
The Darwin operation will provide scaffold sales and rental, alongside engineering input and project planning support.
For contractors, the practical benefit is having material closer to site. Northern Australia’s industrial projects can involve long transport distances, particularly where scaffold requirements change during a job.
AT-PAC said the branch will be staffed locally and backed by its wider Australian supply and engineering network.
The Darwin opening follows AT-PAC’s recent expansion in Adelaide. The company has also operated branches in Perth, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Gladstone.
AT-PAC became part of Umdasch Industrial Solutions in 2025, following its earlier integration into the Umdasch Group.
The company said its Australian branch network is intended to give industrial customers quicker access to equipment and technical support where major projects are taking place.
JR Scaffold Services has completed a specialist scaffold and temporary roof project at the B-listed Walton Building at Glasgow Royal Infirmary.
The Scottish contractor installed custom-designed double-gabled scaffolding on each side of the building before forming a temporary roof to support essential roof renovation works.
The project required a multi-stage plan due to the building’s location within a live hospital site. Roads around the work area had to remain open throughout to allow safe access for pedestrians, traffic, ambulances and deliveries.
The Walton Building is also within the Glasgow Central Conservation Area and sits above a historic tunnel system. As a result, the scaffold base had to be designed as a non-load bearing solution to keep weight off the areas above the tunnels.
The access design was produced by Gallery Access Solutions, with support from Coltart Earley Architecture.
The solution used the base as a foundation for the double-gabled scaffold, with the structure built off beams to deal with limited access around the building.
Once the scaffold was in place, the team installed a temporary roof that could be rolled over the Walton Building roof safely. Materials were moved up the structure using an electric palletiser, which helped raise materials part-way up the building.
JR Scaffold Services said Contracts Director John Jack led the project, supported by several experienced members of its scaffold team.
Evan Horne, Estimator for JR Scaffold Services, said the company had taken on a wider role than is usual for a scaffolding business.
“We were the lead contractor on this particular project, which is quite unusual for a scaffolding company,” he said.
“However, we took these new challenges in our stride, looking after aspects of the project such as construction phase plans, traffic management plans and providing assets including signage and welfare facilities for our trade contractors.
“We worked closely with the client and our partners, and, despite the unique and complex challenges of this particular project, we delivered the job on time and, most importantly safely.”
JR Scaffold Services also carried out project-specific training before the site works began.
The company recreated the designed scaffold solution at its own yard to help newer scaffolders understand the temporary roof arrangement before working on the live hospital site.
Some team members were also sent to other temporary roof projects, including work at St Fillan’s Church in Houston, to build further experience before the Glasgow project.
Owen Stoney, Temporary Roof Advisor for JR Scaffold Services, said: “Because of the size and complexity of this job, we thought it was important to provide familiarisation and awareness training for our whole team.
“We built the gabled scaffold in our new yard and replicated the structure they were going to be building on in Glasgow.
“This allowed our team to work with the materials before they went live on site, giving them an understanding and awareness of how the structure would come together.
“We worked closely with the architects and designers to ensure that everything was set up in a way that provided safe access for the work to take place, while also protecting those using the areas surrounding the site.”
