Can we clean up scaffolding?

The COP26 summit brought parties together to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Managing Director of VERTEX Scaffolding Solutions Ltd, Isaac Morrison, poses the important question for the scaffolding industry

With the recent COP26 conference in Glasgow, and the nationwide ‘Insulate Britain’ demonstrations gathering pace (or reducing it, depending on which motorway you’re travelling on), we in the scaffolding industry have the opportunity to look inwards and reflect on the way we operate, and perhaps even outwards at what a greener, more sustainable construction industry might mean for us.

At VERTEX, we’ll be the first to admit that often, balancing the books takes precedence over reducing our impact on the environment. We are, after all, a young business with big plans of scaling to become a household name in the industry. Every penny counts at this stage in business, and so, sometimes, a good deal is not always necessarily a green deal.

However, as the old saying goes, a penny saved, is a penny earned. It can be difficult to envisage how a scaffolding business might have a positive effect on the environment, but in the simplest sense, reducing what we waste, and in many cases, what we spend as a result, can have a profound impact, both on the planet and on our balance sheets.

WHAT CAN WE DO TO CLEAN UP?

While the list of things we could do to reduce waste in our operations is seemingly endless, below are just a few of the measures we’ve taken that can help to eliminate waste and emissions while saving money in the process.

• Resizing scaffolding boards – While the use of timber as a sustainable building material is not without debate, one thing that cannot be argued is that every part of the product is reusable. A 13ft board can become 10ft, • or an 8ft or a 6ft board, right the way down to a sole pad. Even a split down the middle doesn’t stop you using it to stack on. I’ve even heard they make a snazzy rustic bar, not that we’d encourage you to drink ;)

• Invest in ‘light gauge’ steel – Not only is high yield (BSEN 10219 Grade S355) tube less expensive, contrary to popular belief, it is also much lighter and thus less expensive to transport. This means less fuel burnt, fewer carbon emissions and fewer complaints from the people carrying them. Win, win, win!

• Route planning/car pooling – We’ve all been at those big companies, and made that joke about teams from different cities driving past one another on the motorway to get to a site in the city that the other team has just come from. Poor planning no only gets people’s backs up, it also costs money and burns unnecessary fuel.

• Upgrade to a cleaner fleet – What!? Spending money on new vehicles is going to save me money? Well, as we’ve mentioned above, cash flow is key, especially for SMEs, but the harsh reality is that not only are newer vehicles cleaner and less expensive to run, love it or hate it, many local authorities, Greater Manchester included, plan to introduce charges to drive within their boundaries in vehicles with a Euro emissions code lower than 6.

THE FUTURE’S BRIGHT

Lastly, we mustn’t forget the opportunity in all of this. As the government rolls out initiatives and incentives to grow the green revolution, we in the scaffolding industry are ideally placed to benefit.

At the top end of the spectrum, you have scaffolders taking home fantastic wages to their families from nuclear power station projects such as Hinkley Point. Elsewhere, companies like VERTEX are helping contractors to install external wall insulation (EWI), solar panels and even good old double glazing.

We are no doubt, a small cog in a huge machine, but we mustn’t underestimate the power of compound interest and our collective roles in paving the way to a greener future.

As a wise man once said: “A society grows great when old men (or women, hee hee) plant trees, in whose shade they shall never sit.”