Plettac Metrix A real tower of strength

The revolutionary Plettac Metrix ring system available through Trad Hire and Sales is proving to be a real tower of strength. Designed and produced from German engineering, it’s ground-breaking igenuity for the 21st century.

Using the latest technologies, including 3D modelling, stress analysis software and state-of-the-art manufacturing, this metric cutting edge product is both NASC compliant and CISRS approved. It exceeds all necessary British and European standards, carrying many more advantages than other industry standard systems. It’s a highly adaptive modular system completely tubular in construction offering bay lengths and breadths totally divisible by one another. It also facilitates up to eight connections at differing angles, with The Plettac rosette creating an incredibly strong and rigid joint. In addition, there’s an exclusive optional Permanent Advanced Guardrail system, allowing scaffolders to work in complete safety from the level below, while complying fully with the NASC’s guidance note, SG4.The system’s unique features lead to significant benefits, including reduced equipment levels, labour savings, decreased assembly times and improved safety. Given the structure’s performance on what without doubt was a challenging proposition in the form of Reading’s Station Hill project, Plettac Metrix is set to take the industry by storm. TRAD Scaffolding drew on years of experience and expertise, both to meet the client’s expectations and timescales, recognising speed, divisibility, strength would be vital. Given its low component weight, it was clear the Plettac Metrix system was the only answer. The first phase of the £5billion scheme involves extending the building by another four floors. A spokesperson for the company explained: “On a daily basis the concourse area directly in front of Reading Station is extremely busy. With a number of vaults surrounding Thames Tower underneath, the brief became even more complicated.

“Adding in the limited time-frame to erect the scaffold, a safe scaffolding design solution was required to quickly deliver in a high-risk environment. With on-site storage being a concern, a neat, palletised system was preferable, one which is easily loaded and unloaded quickly and safely by truck-mounted cranes. The scaffold was completed and handed over after only a 12 week build period, well within the planned deadline.”

Reading station of course, is one of the busiest in the UK, but the Thames Basin provided another major challenge for the Metrix system 27 miles along the A4074

at Oxford’s New Westgate Shopping Centre. Laing O’Rourke needed to draw on TRAD’s strength and capabilities for a £450m refurbishment and new build. With more than 100 shops, 25 bars and restaurants, and a10 screen multiplex cinema, the project is spread over 3¾ of a mile from one end to the other. TRAD has a full time project manager with four foremen and an average of 25 operatives. The Plettac Metrix System Scaffold, together with tube and fittings here, totals 764 tonnes at any time during the project. TRAD were more than capable of resourcing such a challenging project, which only has a two-year build programme from start to finish. And there’s the added pressure of its busy location right in the heart of Oxford city centre, with more than seven million tourists visiting each year.

Yet again, the efficiency and versatility of this innovative scaffolding system proved second to none. TRAD’s experienced sales team can offer guidance to customers through on-site surveys and estimating. There’s full engineering support in the UK, and they can offer a suite of AutoCAD Blocks, a component capacity manual and various data sheets to help clients reach the optimum solutions in design for their access requirements. The Plettac Metrix Ring System is now being tipped for a very bright future as a quality 21st century product for the construction and scaffolding industry. SM