In light of the Government’s announcement of a national lockdown beginning yesterday. We want to ensure all of our clients we are here, ready willing and able and will continue to be throughout lockdown, with safety of paramount importance.
Our number one priority is ensuring the safety of our clients when using our pontoons and working on or near water! Here are some examples of exactly how we’ve been doing just that over the past few months.
Pontoons & safety boats for bridge painting in Bath
Throughout October we have provided over 550 square metres of pontoon as well as 2 safety boats and skippers whilst work has been carried out in Bath to repair and repaint a road bridge linking First Group Bus Depot to the A36.
The pontoon was lifted onto the water approximately 100 metres up river of the bridge using HIAB mounted haulage vehicles and moved into place utilising Rigiflex work boats skippered by our qualified crew.
The pontoon when then secured in place using tie point drilled into the concrete abutments of the bridge and we have had a safety boats and skippers onsite throughout the duration of the works.
Lock Repair & Maintenance in Cheshire
We are currently providing 3 x work platforms in Cheshire allowing for lock repair and maintenance on The River Weaver. As well as the pontoon we are supplying one of our Rigiflex workboats with a Suzuki outboard motor and 2 x alloy scaffold towers.
We are of course experts in the supply and install of pontoons but alongside our pontoon expertise we have crew who are RYA certified skippers with qualifications ranging from Powerboat Level 2 all the way up to Master 200, we also have PASMA trained operatives and all of our crew carry CSCS cards as standard.
Bridge inspections and scaffold access in Devon
The vast majority of our jobs involve us turning up to site on day 1, installing the pontoon, signing it over to the client and then leaving them to do their thing until the pontoon is no longer needed and we come along and breakdown and remove the kit.
That being said, we are equally as happy to remain onsite for the duration of the works and provide our assistance as needed, whether it be skippering, assembling scaffold or simply offering a bit of expertise and reassurance when working on water.
That was the case in Devon recently where we supplied 3 x crew for a 4 day period for bridge inspections, assisting with manning the safety boat, skippering the pontoon fitted with an outboard motor and assisting with the build and break of scaffolding dependent on the tides.
River Wall Repairs in London
And finally, we’ve had 70 square metres of pontoon along with accompanying edge protection installed in South London this month within a creek directly off The Thames.
Working on tidal water always adds an extra dimension in that you need to ensure the pontoon remains in situ as required by the client whilst taking into account the changes in tide have on the anchoring of the pontoon.
In order to accomodate the tides on this job, our team installed weighted mooring lines along the length of the wall. These lines were run through shackles attached to the pontoon allowing the pontoon to rise and fall on the tide but remain in tight to the wall at all tidal states.
