Footbridge shrink-wrapped for superior refurbishment

The MET Office in Exeter requested their footbridge shrink-wrapped during its refurbishment to ensure the protection of an endangered species during the grit blasting and painting.

The presence of Great Crested Newt DNA, identified by Devon Wildlife Consultants, at the biodiverse site in Exeter meant keeping the works contained within the scaffold structure was vital to the project scope.

As well as achieving the Wildlife Trust Biodiversity Benchmark award, the site is also within a Devon Great Crested Newt consultation zone.

The Great Crested Newt is a European protected species, so Devon Wildlife Consultants created a site-specific method statement highlighting measures which would minimise any potential effects on them.

Tufcoat shrink wrap sheeting was identified as the perfect solution to achieving this aim.

The scaffold, erected by Apex Scaffolding Exeter, was encapsulated by one of our expert installation teams.

To ensure there was no contamination from the preparation and painting of the metal structure, as well as the removal and replacement of the decking, our teams interleaved 300µm shrink-wrap within the double-boarded lift under the bridge. This stopped any debris from entering the water during the work and the clean-up.

This type of project highlights the benefits of shrink-wrap over standard scaffold sheeting where there is a real risk of contaminating the environment.

By specifying Tufcoat shrink-wrap, Apex provided their customer with a solution to a specific problem which simply could not have been solved by other methods.

For more information on what you must do to avoid harming great crested newts read more here.