ScaffEx26 has completed its conference line-up ahead of the two-day industry event at Manchester Central on 10 and 11 September.
Hosted by journalist Sophie Long, the programme will bring contractors, clients, training specialists and industry bodies together for discussions covering some of the biggest issues currently facing scaffolding businesses.
Commercial pressures come under the spotlight on Thursday in Thriving in Uncertainty: Insights from Across the Supply Chain, a Question Time-style panel looking at fair payment, contract terms, workforce pressures and relationships between scaffolding contractors and clients.
The panel includes Richard Beresford of the National Federation of Builders, Danny Dwyer of PHD Access, Chris Abbey of Altrad UK, Rob Wright of Lindum Group and Fergus Harradence from the Department for Business and Trade.
Running a scaffolding company gets its own session later that day.
What Nobody Tells You About Starting Your Own Scaffolding Firm will see James Brierley of Rose System Scaffolding, Lee Marley and KAS Scaffolding directors Shane Wood and Adam Millgate discuss the realities of setting up and growing a business, including finance, contracts and company culture.
Recruitment follows with The Talent Crisis: Why You Need a Blend of Youth and Experience.
Danny Clarke of CITB, Donna Mulvihill of Altrad UK, Ashley Smith of R.A.S Scaffolding, Dan Wilson of MAR Scaffolding and Anne Pavey from the Department for Work and Pensions will examine routes into the industry and how contractors can widen the pool of people they recruit from.
Thursday will close with a project session looking behind the scenes at major scaffolding schemes.
GKR Scaffolding will present its work at 25 Canada Square in Canary Wharf, while BrandSafway will cover the Manchester Town Hall restoration. A further project is still to be confirmed.
Safety takes a larger role on Friday. Hiding in Plain Sight: The Hidden Risks of Getting It Wrong will examine fire, noise, dust and airborne contamination, with former HSE inspector Matt Greenly joined by Alice Thomson of 4-RAIL Services, Layher UK Managing Director Sean Pike and David Gilmore of ITP.
Training technology will then come under scrutiny in one of the programme’s more deliberately provocative sessions, Would You Trust a Scaffolder Trained on a Computer?
Martin Addison of Video Arts Group, Joanne Walker of CWIC Wales, NASC and CISRS Group CEO Clive Dickin and NETA’s Brian Ward will discuss blended learning and immersive technology, including where digital training can support practical instruction and where its limits should sit.
Friday’s technical programme will also turn to temporary roofing, with projects including the weather protection solution used at Huddinge municipal centre in Sweden.
AT-PAC’s Ruslan Potapov and Scaffco’s Tobias Bækhøj are among those due to speak, alongside Sean Pike of Layher UK and Alan Armstrong of Laidlaw Scaffolding.
The conference forms part of ScaffEx26, which combines the exhibition and conference at Manchester Central before the Scaffolding Excellence Awards on the evening of 11 September.
The awards will be hosted by comedian and broadcaster Dara Ó Briain. Registration for the ScaffEx26 conference and exhibition remains free.
