Scaffolding in Morecambe

Morecambe's building stock largely went up in the town's boom years as a seaside resort, and it shows in the work we get asked to do. The promenade and the streets behind it are lined with three and four storey Victorian and Edwardian terraces, former guest houses in the West End, and bay fronted family homes through Bare and Torrisholme. Salt air and driving weather off the bay are hard on render, roof coverings and cast iron gutters, so the steady trade here is storm damage roof repairs, chimney stack rebuilds, render and external decorating access, and full front elevation scaffolds for reroofing.

Coastal exposure changes how we build. Wind loading on the seafront is a different proposition from a sheltered Preston suburb, so we tie scaffolds more generously, think carefully before sheeting or netting an elevation that faces the bay, and use debris netting only where the ties can take the extra wind load. Under the Work at Height Regulations 2005 every scaffold is inspected before first use, then at least every 7 days, and after any storm or event likely to affect stability, a discipline that matters more in Morecambe than almost anywhere else we work.

Getting here from our Preston base is straightforward. The run is around 26 miles, usually about 40 minutes, up the M6 to junction 34 and then the Bay Gateway straight into town, which avoids Lancaster's one way system altogether. That keeps surveys quick, typically within 24 hours of your call, and means we can be back promptly for alterations, checks after rough weather and a fast strike once the trades are done.

Plenty of Morecambe scaffolds stand on the public footway. Terraces along and behind the promenade open straight onto the pavement, and the West End's tight streets leave little room to work from private land. Where a scaffold occupies or oversails the highway we obtain the licence from Lancashire County Council before erection, a small weekly fee with at least two working days notice, and we keep a safe, lit pedestrian route with padding and signage. Planning permission is not needed for the scaffold itself, and for the underlying works Lancaster City Council is the planning authority for Morecambe, including the conservation areas near the seafront and the town's best known listed landmark, the Art Deco Midland Hotel.

We cover the whole town, from Sandylands and the West End through the centre to Bare and Torrisholme, and Lancaster is only a short drive further on, so it is easy for us to run both together.