CASE STUDY — COMMERCIAL
Acorn Park School, Banham, Norfolk
Solar panel scaffold across a special educational needs school campus — including a curved barrel-vault sports hall — in Banham, Norfolk
Acorn Park School in Banham, Norfolk, is a specialist school providing education for young people with autism and complex learning needs. The school commissioned a solar panel installation programme across multiple buildings on the campus, and Pinnacle was appointed to provide the scaffold access.
Norfolk is outside our core South East London and Kent service area. We are based in Sidcup and the majority of our work is across London, Kent, Essex, and Surrey. But reputation travels further than geography. Pinnacle was trusted to deliver this contract because the standard of our work and the way we operate on site matters to clients regardless of where in the country they are working. Acorn Park is evidence of that.
The Challenge
A school campus presents a specific set of constraints for any scaffold contractor. The buildings are in use. Staff and pupils are on site throughout the working day. Every aspect of the scaffold — its footprint, its proximity to doors and walkways, the timing of erection and dismantling — has to be managed with the school's operational requirements in mind. On a special educational needs school, where routine and environment matter considerably to the pupils, disruption has to be minimised and the site team has to conduct themselves accordingly.
The buildings themselves added technical complexity. The main school buildings have pitched roofs requiring standard eaves-level access scaffold for the solar installation team. The sports hall is a different proposition entirely — a large curved barrel-vault roof in a distinctive arched profile. Standard scaffold cannot simply be placed against a curved surface. The structure has to be designed to follow the curve of the roof, with working platforms at the correct height and standoff distance from the surface at every point along the arc.
Our Approach
Pinnacle erected roof access scaffold across the main school buildings, providing the solar installation team with compliant working access to the pitched roof slopes throughout the programme. Erection timing and site conduct were managed in coordination with the school to minimise disruption to the school day.
The barrel-vault sports hall required an individually designed scaffold structure that followed the curve of the roof profile, with working platforms positioned to give the installation team safe, consistent access to the curved surface. The scaffold was designed specifically for the building rather than adapted from a standard template.
RAMS documentation and method statements were provided before work began on every building. Every operative held a current CISRS card.
KEY CREDENTIALS
What We Delivered
Pinnacle's reputation is built on how we work, not just where we work. Acorn Park School is outside our usual service area, and we were still trusted to deliver the contract. If you are a solar installation company, school, or institution with a scaffold requirement — whether in our core area or further afield — call us to discuss your programme.