The client

Ostro Brasserie and Bar in Auckland’s Britomart.
However, we were approached by a regular client, a contractor, to work directly with and for them.

 

The challenge

Our regular client, the contractor, needed access to an exterior façade, to complete repairs. However, there were many hurdles to overcome:

 

• There were limited access options. Specifically, no access from the street or ground. We had to build the scaffolding from the inside to the outside of a balcony
• We had to be ultra-careful to not damage the restaurant’s floating deck tiles
• All the scaffolding gear had to be carried through the restaurant (after hours)
• There could be no disruption to the restaurant’s trading hours. We had to complete this job overnight, starting at midnight
• To do this job, the road outside the restaurant had to be shut down. But this could only be done between midnight and 7 a.m. We absolutely had to meet this deadline

 

Overall, this was a one- shot job with no second chance to get things right.

 

The solution

Planning, organisation, and accuracy were crucial to this job. To give access to the façade, we Cantilevered off the top balcony. Taking care to ensure the scaffolding was stable. And that not too much weight was put on the base frame, to help protect the floating deck tiles.

 

5 hours later, and in time to meet our deadline, we had:

 

• Installed the scaffold
• Installed the shade cloth
• Begun handing the scaffold over the contractor to complete the works

 

What did we enjoy about this job?

The overall technical and skill challenge. There were plenty of calculations to take into consideration. The gear had to be accurate. And the execution had to be flawless.