Old TJ Hughes Store, Sheffield

Access Scaffold Above an Operational Bus Lay-by

DH Scaffold Services Ltd was appointed to design an access scaffold for façade re-cladding at the former TJ Hughes store in Sheffield. The brief required working access to the building while maintaining the use of the bus lay-by and passenger boarding area at street level.

The challenge

The scaffold needed to accommodate two competing requirements: sufficient platform width for the façade works and clear space below for buses and passengers.

A conventional arrangement with closely spaced supports along the frontage would have conflicted with the lay-by. The design therefore needed to limit support positions and provide the required vehicle headroom while carrying the working scaffold above.

Our design response

DH Scaffold Services Ltd engineered an arrangement using narrow scaffold tower lines positioned in front of the building’s main columns. Bridging beams between these towers supported the scaffold above while maintaining clearance for vehicles beneath.

At the working lifts, cantilevered ladder beams widened the platforms to provide access for the re-cladding works. These were supported by spurs from the primary beams below, transferring loads back into the supporting scaffold arrangement.

The design combined narrow support towers, bridging beams and cantilevered platforms to accommodate the façade works without compromising the space required for the bus route.

The project demonstrates our experience of designing access scaffolds around operational street-level constraints, balancing working-platform requirements with vehicle clearance and public access.