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We were contacted by a client who was having a £9,000 chandelier installed above a three-storey stairwell at a property on Sandown Road, Esher, and needed a working platform positioned directly over the open stairwell.
To provide the necessary access, our Esher scaffolding erectors built a platform using a 4-metre beam section with 450mm-deep scaffold beams. The finished platform was approximately 0.5 metres high, one lift and five boards deep, providing a secure boarded working area beneath the chandelier installation point.
Rather than constructing a scaffold tower from the bottom of the three-storey stairwell, the beams allowed the platform to span the opening at the upper level. For this job, this was the most efficient and cost-effective way to provide the required access.
The scaffold was supplied with two weeks’ hire for a total cost of £950.
The chandelier’s position was the main consideration when planning the scaffold.
No conventional floor was immediately beneath the installation point because the work took place above the open stairwell. Building from the lowest level would therefore have required a much taller structure extending through the stairwell to reach the ceiling above.
Instead, the 4-metre scaffold beams bridged the opening at the upper level. The boarded platform could then be formed across the beams, concentrating the scaffold around the area where the chandelier installers needed to work.
This kept the structure relatively compact while still providing a substantial platform over what would otherwise have been an inaccessible area.
The photographs also show how restricted the space was. The scaffold sits within the existing upper landing, with the staircase and timber balustrades immediately around it. The arrangement therefore had to use the available space rather than treating the stairwell as an open construction area.
The completed platform was five boards deep, giving the installers a usable working area beneath the ceiling.
At approximately 0.5 metres high, only a single lift was required. The scaffold therefore remained low within the upper landing while the beam section provided the support needed to carry the platform across the stairwell.
The boards formed a continuous platform through the centre of the landing area, above the stairwell below. This put the working surface at the required level for the chandelier installation while fitting around the property’s existing layout.
With an internal scaffold like this, the available space determines much of the arrangement. Here, the platform needed to fit within the landing width and around the existing staircase, rather than being built to a standard external configuration.
Getting the scaffold materials to the installation area was an important part of this project.
Every tube, fitting, board and beam had to be carefully carried through the property and taken up three flights of stairs before the scaffold could be assembled.
As this was a finished residential property, the stairs were covered with protective plastic sheeting. This protected the carpet while we moved materials between floors and during scaffold installation.
Care was also needed when moving longer components through the house and around the staircase to the upper landing. Unlike an external installation, where materials can often be brought directly to the work area, everything required for this scaffold had to follow an internal route through the home.
The customers continued living in the home while the scaffold was in use. This is something we regularly need to consider at an occupied property when carrying out domestic scaffolding work, particularly where the structure is within the home’s everyday living space.
We fitted caps to exposed tube ends and used thread caps on scaffold fittings, reducing the number of exposed ends and threads around the internal working area. The photographs show the yellow protective caps at various points on the scaffold.
These details were particularly relevant because the installation was in an occupied part of the home rather than an external construction area.
Because the scaffold was positioned within an occupied home, the team also kept the installation contained around the work area while providing the access needed for the chandelier installers.
Once completed, the scaffold provided a spacious boarded working area directly beneath the new chandelier.
The combination of the 4-metre beam section and five-board-wide platform created a safe working area at the upper landing, directly over the stairwell where conventional floor access was unavailable.
This was a relatively compact internal scaffold, but the location made it an unusual access job. Materials had to be taken through three storeys of an occupied home, the finished surfaces needed protecting, and the final platform had to fit within the existing staircase and landing.
With a £9,000 chandelier waiting to be installed, there was certainly no room for an Only Fools and Horses moment on this job!
On another Esher property, we provided cantilevered scaffold for window access at The Woodlands, with scaffolding beams used to create the required working platform above a lean-to roof.
