The Defence Academy of the United Kingdom (DA) is responsible for postgraduate education and the majority of command, staff, leadership, defence management, acquisition and technology training for members of the UK Armed Forces and MOD Civil Servants. It is also the MOD’s main link with UK universities and international military educational institutions.
The defence estates department of the Ministry of Defence (MOD) is set to make, where possible, sustainable energy generation / solar power installations mandatory for large buildings. The MOD and MITIE approached Hercules Nationwide Limited to provide the scaffolding for extensive roof works and the installation of very large solar panel arrays on The Defence Academy based at Shrivenham, with the aim of achieving significant energy savings.
Hercules Nationwide had previously worked with the MOD on 2 previous projects and they were aware of our security methodology, competence, project management and attention to detail that Hercules were able to deliver on this high-profile project.
Scope Of Works:
This was a large scale, high profile project that involved the installation of a considerable quantity of access scaffolding.
Total Length of Scaffolding Around The Buildings: 560LM x 11m height. Total: 6,160 SQM.
Manage Security Access On To The Site With The Main Contractor
The Works Not To Interfere With The Day To Day Running Of The Academy
Noise To Be Kept To An Absolute Minimum
Provide Scaffold Design Engineer Drawings With All Loading Calculations & Risk Assessments
Challenges:
Maintain Continuity Supply of Materials & Labour To The MOD Academy via a Strict Security Regime.
Design A Solution To Accommodate The General Public (Residents, Students, Visitors, Contractors) Still Using The Building Whilst The Programme Was in Operation
Restricted Working Hours
Every Care To Be Taken To Ensure That Any Noise Was Kept To An Absolute Minimum
Working In The Winter Months, Consideration Given To High Winds & Potential For Ice
Time Sensitive Schedule To Fit In With The Programming Of The Academy
To Meet All The Key Performance Targets (KPTs) As Set By The Ministry of Defence.
Strategy:
Before the works began, we held a pre-contract meeting with the MOD and MITIE to ensure that the scope of the project was fully detailed and understood.
Prior to commencing and going on to site, we carried out our own internal pre-start meeting to fully brief all teams as well as review method statements, risk assessments, and the schedule of works.
We drew up a CAD Engineer Drawing with a detailed specification and design with all necessary loading and anchoring detail to TG20:13.
MOD, MITIE and Hercules Nationwide project directors signed off the methodology / RAMS / SSOW so that all operatives and stakeholders fully understood the processes involved. Supervised by Gold Card Supervisors / SMSTS throughout.
Result:
The project was completed on time and to budget.
The 2 buildings, totalling 6,160 SQM of scaffolding was presented to the main contactor for the M&E solar engineers to complete the solar array installations to the roofs. Hercules’ experience in similar high security and high value scaffolding installation contracting enabled the MOD and MITIE to complete the programme on time. Hercules Nationwide were thanked by the client post completion for achieving all the Key Performance Targets (KPTs). Hercules team’s experience meant that we understood the client’s requirements and had the skills and capabilities to deliver the project on time and to a very high standard.