Brighton gives a scaffold two problems at once. The weather comes off the Channel with nothing in the way, and a great deal of the building stock is Regency stucco, bow-fronted, listed, and never designed to have anything bolted to it. Get either wrong and the job stops. STAK Scaffold covers Brighton and Hove from a yard in Caterham, working across London, Surrey, Sussex and Kent.
Wind is the constraint that separates a Brighton job from an inland one.
A sheeted or netted scaffold is a sail. On an exposed seafront elevation the wind loading on that sheeting is a real structural figure that has to be designed for, not assumed, and it changes the tie pattern, the bracing and sometimes whether the scaffold can be sheeted at all. A structure that would stand happily on a sheltered street in the Weald needs more ties and more bracing on Marine Parade.
This is not a judgement call made on site. TG20, the industry guidance every compliant scaffold is built to, treats sheeting and debris netting as a load case and sets out how the tie pattern changes accordingly. An unsheeted scaffold, a netted one and a fully sheeted one are three different structures on the same building, and on the Brighton front the difference between them is significant.
Which leads to a decision worth making early rather than late. Sheeting keeps the weather off the work and the dust off the neighbours, but on an exposed elevation it substantially increases what the scaffold has to resist. Sometimes the right answer is to sheet and design for it. Sometimes it is to leave the scaffold open and accept the weather. That is a conversation to have at survey, because retrofitting sheeting to a structure that was not designed for it is not an option.
Salt is the slower problem. It accelerates corrosion on fittings and it gets into anything left standing for months, which matters on the long refurbishment jobs that Brighton’s seafront terraces tend to need. Then there is the simple fact that exposed coastal work loses more days to weather than inland work does. Temporary roofing earns its place here more than almost anywhere. On a reroof or any job that opens the building up, a temporary roof keeps the work going through a fortnight that would otherwise be lost, and it keeps the weather out of a building standing open to the sky.
The catch on the seafront is that a temporary roof is itself a large surface for the wind to push on. So it cannot be an afterthought bolted onto a finished scaffold. The structure underneath has to be designed from the outset to carry it, and to carry it in a gale rather than on a still day.
Brighton and Hove has an unusual concentration of Regency and early Victorian terraces, much of it listed, much of it in conservation areas, and much of it rendered rather than solid brick to the face.
Stucco is the recurring headache. It is a render finish over the structure, so a tie driven into it is going into a coating rather than anything load bearing, and it damages a finish that is expensive and slow to make good. The tie has to find the structure behind, or the scaffold has to be designed so it needs fewer ties in the first place
Bow fronts and bays make the geometry awkward. A flat elevation takes a standard scaffold. A curved bay needs the lifts set out around it, with the boards worked to the curve so the working platform is usable rather than a series of gaps.
Where a building is listed, listed building consent may be needed before ties go into the fabric. That sits with the council rather than the scaffolder, and it is worth establishing before anything is ordered.
The principle is the same one that governed the Harrods facade in Knightsbridge, where no new drilling was permitted at all and every tie went into an existing mortar joint or a previous tie hole. Work out what the structure will actually take before anyone picks up a drill.
Brighton and Hove is a unitary authority, so the city council is both the local authority and the highway authority. One organisation, which is simpler than the two-tier arrangement in the rest of Sussex. Any scaffold on the public highway needs a licence from the council. Two conditions are worth knowing about in advance. Only specialist scaffolding companies can hold a licence, and £10 million of public liability insurance is required. That rules out a general builder putting up their own scaffold on a public footway.
The contractor, not the customer, is responsible for renewing the licence if the scaffold is still standing when it expires. Leaving a scaffold up beyond the expiry date without written permission is treated as a breach of the licence conditions. On a long Brighton refurbishment that is a live risk, and it is why renewal dates get tracked rather than remembered. Fees and notice periods are published by the council each financial year and change, so check the current schedule rather than working from an old figure.
Brighton and Hove sets a higher bar than most authorities, and it is worth knowing what it is before choosing a contractor. £10 million public liability insurance has to be in place and evidenced. That single requirement rules out most general builders putting up their own scaffold on a public footway, and it is why the council restricts licences to specialist scaffolding companies. STAK Scaffold carries that cover and holds ConstructionLine and ConstructionLine Social Value registration, SafeContractor approval, SSIP through both Acclaim and DTS, Alcumus SafePQQ, Environment Agency registration and Scaffolding Association membership. Structures are erected in accordance with the Work at Height Regulations 2005, BS EN 12811 and HSE guidance, following TG20 and SG4.
Inspection matters more on the seafront than it does inland, and the reason is simply time under load. A scaffold on a sheltered street in the Weald spends its life more or less static. One on Marine Parade spends the winter being worked by wind, and a structure that was plumb and tight in October is not necessarily either by February. Fixings loosen, ties take cyclical loading, and sheeting takes a beating. So the interval matters, and so does inspecting after weather rather than only on schedule. Nothing is handed over until it has been signed off in writing, and it is re-inspected throughout the hire.
Reroofing, chimney work, rendering and external decoration on the terraces. Full external refurbishment on the Regency and Victorian seafront stock, where the scaffold stands for months. Extensions and loft conversions in the residential streets away from the front. Retail, hospitality and office buildings across the city, where the business trades throughout so phased erection and protected entrances are the starting point. And temporary roofing designed for coastal wind loading rather than bolted on as an afterthought.
That covers Brighton, Hove, Kemptown, Preston Park, Hollingbury, Patcham, Portslade and the areas around them. The Downs villages and the inland towns are on the Sussex page.
Yes, if any part sits on the public highway. Brighton and Hove City Council is the highway authority. Only specialist scaffolding companies can hold a licence and £10 million of public liability insurance is required
The contractor. Leaving a scaffold standing past the licence expiry without written permission is a breach of the conditions, so the renewal date is tracked as part of the job rather than left to the customer.
Yes, though it changes the design. A tie driven into stucco goes into a render coating rather than the structure, so ties have to find what is behind it, or the scaffold is designed to need fewer of them. Listed building consent may be required before anything goes into the fabric.
Considerably. Sheeting and netting turn a scaffold into a sail, and wind loading on an exposed seafront elevation is designed for rather than assumed. It changes the tie pattern, the bracing, and sometimes whether the scaffold is sheeted at all.
On the coast, usually yes. Exposed work loses more days to weather than inland work, and a temporary roof keeps the job moving and the building dry. The thing to know is that it has to be designed in from the outset, because on the seafront the roof is another large surface for the wind to load, and the scaffold beneath it has to be built for that.
It depends on access, duration, exposure and whether the highway is involved. Every quote follows a free site survey and comes itemised so the structure, the licensing and the hire period are visible separately.
Yes, along with Kemptown, Preston Park, Patcham and the surrounding areas.
Every quote starts with a free site survey, because on an exposed elevation the wind and the building fabric matter as much as the height.
Call the office on 01883 330188, or email office@stakscaffold.co.uk with a few details about the job. Lee (07802387774) and Jack (07522676940) both take calls directly if it’s easier to speak to someone on site.
