Floating scaffold pontoon for jetty repairs in Perth
Perth based Access Engineering Group is the first scaffold supply and hire company in the country to become an approved partner of the patented ScaffFloat™.
The innovative floating plastic access system allows pontoons, barges, and workboats to be built from standard scaffold components. Its first project in Australian waters began earlier this month at Perth’s Barrack Street Jetty.
To start the project, AEG launched an 8m x 4m pontoon with a submerged access shelf cantilevered off the end. The configuration gives above and below-water access to complete the maintenance works required at the popular Rottness Express ferry wharf.
Initiative rewarded
For 24 years, AEG has served the Australian and Pacific Rim regions with scaffolding equipment, on and offshore. The company approached ScaffFloat about becoming an Approved Provider after realising the advantages to their clients of this unique modular pontoon to marine building and repair work.
”We have had a number of enquiries for ScaffFloat in Australia, and we expect Perth to be the first of many jobs where we provide safe floating access,” said AEG managing director, Damian Beausang.
“In this case the client, Elite Concrete Protection and Repairs, have said they are delighted with the bespoke access, in particular how safe it is for the works close to the water.”
Flexible applications
Designed to integrate with the world’s most popular scaffolding, including 450 and 750 lattice beams made by Apollo, Generation/Altrad, Layher and Haki, its versatility and compatibility are feeding overseas growth. ScaffFloat reports that the systems are now in, or on their way to, Cyprus, Malta, Singapore and Ireland, with enquiries received from other markets.
“We are delighted to have Damian and Access Engineering Group onboard, and this first commercial job is a great start,” said Toby Budd, managing director at ScaffFloat. “It’s a real milestone that proves the system is no longer limited to UK shores. We are now looking at starting manufacture in the country so we can supply higher numbers of floats for other projects down under in the pipeline.’’
The smallest pontoons start at 3m x 3m and can scale to almost any size and shape. A 16m x 6.4m self-propelled pontoon with 12m spuds (pipes driven into the sand at the water’s base, to provide stability) was recently used for a dive spread for unexploded ordnance works on the Thames.
Uses for the ScaffFloat span several sectors including survey, drilling, geotechnical, renewables, oil and gas, civil engineering, events, military, disaster relief, as well as safe floating access. Safety is paramount, and all designs come with full structural, buoyancy and stability calculations produced by the design engineer team and its naval architect.
Watch a short video about the ScaffFloat or contact AEG for more information.
