It has never been more vital to ensure that social housing is maintained to the highest possible standards. This responsibility to residents means that it’s not only essential that they can live in safe and habitable conditions, but that there should also be minimal disruption to their daily lives while the necessary works or improvements are being carried out.
Where these are taking place at height it’s often the housing association’s first move to set about erecting scaffolding to provide safe access for the contractors who will be carrying out the work. However, this can frequently be an inefficient, disruptive and costly approach.
In many situations, where the conditions are right, a truck mounted platform offers a number of clear advantages for both the residents and the contractors, not to mention for the housing association as well. Here are four of the key benefits:
Minimised disruption
There’s no denying that the erection of scaffolding can cause huge disruption around a building not simply when it’s being put up or removed. It can also restrict access which may be especially problematic for residents with young children in pushchairs as well as for older people. It’s also aesthetically disruptive for residents who may face weeks, or sometimes even months, of a view of scaffolding and netting outside their windows, hardly the most pleasant of living conditions.
Greater security
However many measures are taken to make scaffolding safe, it’s always going to present a number of risks. For example, it can give burglars easy access to every floor of a building, which is particularly dangerous at night when workers have gone home. It also seems like a giant climbing frame for children and we don’t need to outline the dangers of this. Using an access platform, however, removes these risks as it can simply be taken away when it’s not needed.
Faster repairs
There are also a number of ways in which using an access platform can allow any repairs to be carried out more quickly and efficiently. For example, the precise manoeuvrability of an access platform means that workers can get as close as possible to the area of the building that needs attention. And by removing the time needed to erect the scaffolding before any work can begin, an access platform’s mobility and flexibility can speed up the whole process with no compromise in safety.
Dramatically reduced costs
As well as the direct benefits to residents, the key benefit for housing associations in using an access platform is the huge cost savings that it can represent. Scaffolding is notoriously expensive and can account for a very large proportion of any repair project’s budget – and the longer a project goes on, the higher the cost will rise. So with the greater efficiencies that using an access platform can bring, it means that jobs can be completed more quickly, and because you are only paying for one when it is actually being used, it becomes a far more cost-effective choice.
So, all things considered, NSS’s in-house and readily available access platforms can be the perfect alternative to using a traditional contractor & scaffolding. There will of course be circumstances when the latter is the best option, but it’s worth investigating all options before committing a considerable amount of money to it when the cheaper, safer alternative could also be an option.