Regeneration of Debenhams Building, Hereford
Commercial High Street Scaffolding
Background
MTS Scaffolding were asked to tender for the scaffolding works by Stainforth Construction LLP in February 2023. We were very excited to be asked to tender for such a large and prestigious project by Stainforth Construction who are an extremely successful, national construction brand. Stainforth’s client was British Land who wanted to regenerate the Debenhams building after it sadly closed on our highstreets across the UK in 2021. The new business moving into the majority of this huge building is MandM Direct, a very well-known online fashion retailer which was founded in 1987 by Herefordshire and Worcestershire based business men Mark Ellis and Mark Churchward. MandM Direct are going to be using the building as their new headquarters so wanted a lot more natural light coming into the building. Stainforth needed the whole façade scaffolded to install large windows across the predominately brick and clad building on both Edgar Street and Newmarket Street at the Old Market Shopping Centre, Hereford.
“We engaged with Natalie and the team at MTS to undertake the scaffolding works on a site in Hereford. They were always helpful, and their assistance made an extremely complicated project that little bit easier. I would not hesitate to employ MTS on a scheme in the future.”
Challenges
There were many scaffolding challenges to overcome in this project, which of course mainly focused on protecting the public and contractors at this busy shopping centre in the city centre. We met with Stainforth, British Land, National Highways, Belfour Beatty & Herefordshire council to jointly agree on the safest solution for all. Gaining all the necessary licenses and permits to work was a challenge but we worked closely with Stainforth and through a number of risk assessments and phase planning, we got the result that every party was happy with.
Objectives
We all agreed that the most secure and effective way to scaffold this building was to provide a Haki Staircase on the Edgar Street side which was governed by National Highways and this section of the pavement would be closed to the public. There would then be internal fixed access ladders for the contractors to move up and down the rest of the building. The 130m long scaffold was 7 lifts high (14m) and each lift was boarded. We also installed Monarflex Sheeting across the whole façade to eliminate any dust or debris falling onto the pavement or highway. The was also a huge range of internal scaffolding works inside the building so that floors, internal walls, carparks and lifts could be altered. We built a number of birdcage/crash deck scaffolds and Lift shaft scaffolds so this could be achieved safely and effectively.
Results
As you can see from the pictures and video (on home page), this was a very impressive looking scaffold built by our highly professional and skilled team. The project duration was 20 weeks and it took us 6 weeks to build both externals and internals with several adaptions throughout the 20 weeks. The scaffolding contract value for this project was £120,000. A highly successful project delivered on time and within budget. Thank you Stainforth Construction for trusting in MTS to deliver the scaffold contracting and we look forward to working with Stainforth again in the future.