Scaffolding in Lancaster

Lancaster's housing stock keeps scaffolders busy in a way few Lancashire towns can match. The historic core between the castle, the Priory and the Lune is packed with Georgian and Victorian stone buildings, many of them listed, while the terraced streets that fan out through Freehold, Bowerham, Primrose and Marsh are classic two and three storey sandstone and brick rows with slate roofs and tall chimney stacks. The work that follows is predictable, reroofing and slate repairs, chimney stacks that need rebuilding or repointing, gutter and fascia renewals, and repointing jobs where soft sandstone has weathered badly and needs careful raking out at height.

We run up from Preston most weeks. The city is about 22 miles from our base, usually 30 to 35 minutes via the M6 to junction 33 and then the A6 in from the south, and when the motorway is slow we take the A6 the whole way instead. That distance is short enough for us to survey quickly, usually within 24 hours of your call, and to get back promptly for adaptations, the regular inspections and the final strike.

Access is the thing to plan properly in Lancaster. Much of the centre sits on a one way system, several streets around the castle are narrow or cobbled, and a great many terraces open straight onto the pavement, so scaffolds here regularly need a highway licence. We arrange that with Lancashire County Council on your behalf. The fee is £42 per 7 days, at least two working days notice is required, and the applicant must carry at least £5 million public liability insurance, which we do. Where a footway is tight we board and light the scaffold so pedestrians keep a safe route, and if walkers would otherwise be pushed into the road the council requires a Chapter 8 traffic management plan, which we prepare as part of the application.

Heritage matters here more than almost anywhere else we work. Lancaster City Council is the planning authority, the city has extensive conservation areas and a large number of listed buildings, and that shapes how we design scaffolds rather than whether they can go up. Scaffolding itself needs no planning permission, even in a conservation area, but on listed frontages we avoid drilled fixings into historic fabric wherever possible, favour freestanding or buttressed designs, and agree any necessary ties with the conservation officer before erection, in line with Historic England best practice.

The city's large rented sector adds its own rhythm. Landlords with student terraces around Bowerham and the university corridor often want work done between terms, so we plan erect and strike dates around tenancy changeovers and keep hire periods tight. From Lancaster we also cover Morecambe and the bay side of town, and because the A6 corridor is our daily route north we serve Garstang, Scorton and Bilsborrow on the way. Wherever you are in the city, quotes are free, prices are confirmed in writing with VAT stated, and every quote covers transport, erection, the hire period and dismantling.