Is it Time for a Degree in Scaffolding Engineering?
Billy Jones, Managing Director of Millcroft, discusses why a degree in scaffolding engineering is vital for attracting talent and professional respect for the sector For thousands of construction sites up and down the country, scaffolding requirements are relatively routine, enabling companies to erect a standard solution they’ve used countless times before. But at the more complex end of the market...
Dare to be different: we are all different, so let’s embrace it!
There’s no doubt about it: increasing diversity in the construction industry in general and the scaffolding trade in particular, makes a positive difference, explains Des Moore, TRAD Group CEO and NASC President (2017-19) In fact, it significantly improves commercial performance, increases innovation and collaboration and boosts both productivity and brand reputation. And in today’s world, where there is a long...
Feeling the heat: Tips for working in hot weather
Alex Minett, Head of Product & Markets at CHAS, shares some tips for working well in hot weather. While temperatures have been variable in the UK this summer, the UK's ten warmest years on record have all occurred since 2002 and overall, the world is hotting up; the highest temperature ever recorded on earth was observed in Death Valley on...
You get What You Pay For
Everyone’s heard of the old saying ‘You get What You Pay For’ – here in the scaffolding industry this certainly applies to both Scaffolders and materials. As the summer heatwave arrives, quite a few are getting hot under the collar over the subject as Matthew Cousins, Director of Apex Scaffolding explains. We all know the eternal problem Scaffolding companies face...
What Can the Kickstart Programme do for the Scaffolding Sector?
Skills and staff retention have always been big issues for the scaffolding sector. With scaffolding companies competing for qualified and experienced scaffolders, there has been a reluctance to invest in training for fear another company will benefit from all that time and effort when they poach members of staff. And the more companies that fish for experienced people from...
Rising materials prices – what can scaffolding contractors can do about it?
It’s been heartening to see how much effort and commitment has gone into revitalising the construction and scaffolding industries since the first lockdown just over a year ago. Working hard within Covid restrictions, we’ve all been doing our best to make sure that projects keep running, new developments can get started and that we can all work safely and...
How Scaffolding Businesses Can Scale-up In The Midst Of A Pandemic
Business owner and entrepreneur, Greg Wilkes, who with over 20 years of experience running construction companies from the ground up, tells us businesses can not only survive in 2021 but also grow. By now, we are all sick of talking and hearing about Coronavirus. Whilst we all welcome the roll-out of the vaccine so we can get back to ‘normal’,...
What does 2021 look like for the scaffolding industry?
To survive the challenges of this year, I believe we need to be creative and collaborative, says Des Moore, TRAD Group CEO and NASC President (2017-19) I couldn’t have imagined, this time last year, that I would be writing about an industry that is challenged on every front. We were planning for the potential consequences of Brexit on the business,...
What is wrong with scaffolding health & safety?
I recently posted on LinkedIn about a temporary roof structure that had been erected over a busy pedestrianised street in south London. To give you some context, it was SO bad that amongst other comments on my post a technical advisor for the NASC commented on the photographs “Dangerous is an understatement”. I was that concerned by the structure that...
Get used to higher pricing
Glynn Burrows, TRAD Group Purchasing Manager discusses the higher prices for materials the industry is experiencing and how we should get used to it. Like all construction industry suppliers, we’ve seen issues recently in terms of raw materials pricing, which in turn affects the prices of the products we buy. Prices for everything – from timber to steel – have...
