CASE STUDY - COMMERCIAL
Ronnie Scott's Facade Refurbishment, Soho
Full frontage encapsulation in shrink wrap on a Grade II Listed venue trading every night of the week
Pinnacle first worked at Ronnie Scott's on a floating scaffold to the facade, designed so that no fixing went into the listed masonry. When the club came to refurbish the front of the building, they came back to Pinnacle. Being asked back to a Grade II Listed venue on one of the busiest streets in Soho says more about how the first job was run than anything written on this page can.
The second contract was a different proposition. The refurbishment meant the whole frontage had to be encapsulated, wrapped in shrink wrap from the pavement gantry to the roofline, containing the works and protecting the public passing underneath. Ronnie Scott's did not close. The club ran its usual programme throughout, with a queue on the pavement most evenings, directly beneath the scaffold.
The Challenge
Encapsulating a building is a simple idea and a demanding structure. Shrink wrap turns an open scaffold into a solid surface, and a solid surface catches wind. Every load the sheeting picks up has to be carried by the frame and taken safely to the ground, which changes the tie pattern, the bracing and the base design compared to an open scaffold on the same building. On a Grade II Listed facade, where fixings into the historic fabric are not an option, that calculation has to be made without the tie positions a standard job would rely on.
The street is the second problem, and on Frith Street it is a significant one. This is a narrow one-way street in the middle of Soho carrying heavy pedestrian traffic at all hours. The scaffold had to bridge the footway so the public could keep walking beneath it, the entrance had to stay open and visible, and the club's neon signage needed to remain readable from the street. A venue people queue outside cannot have its frontage disappear behind a hoarding for the length of a refurbishment.
Deliveries and erection then had to fit around the club's operating hours. Ronnie Scott's runs live music every night of the week. There is no quiet period on Frith Street to work into.
Boarded working lifts and ladder access behind the sheeting.
The club's neon signage kept clear and visible inside the encapsulation.
Our Approach
Pinnacle designed and erected a fully encapsulated scaffold across the frontage, with the sheeting loads carried by the frame and transferred to the ground rather than into the listed facade. A boarded pedestrian gantry was built out over the footway, with props sleeved and marked at street level, keeping the pavement open and the public protected throughout.
The entrance and the neon signage were kept clear and visible. The scaffold was designed around them rather than over them, so the club stayed recognisable from the street while the work went on above.
Erection and dismantling were sequenced around the club's programme, with deliveries timed away from the evening. Boarded lifts gave the refurbishment team full working access across the elevation, with ladder access between levels and lighting run through the encapsulated sections so the working platforms stayed usable behind the sheeting.
The scaffold was inspected at the required intervals for the duration of the contract. RAMS documentation and method statements were provided before work began. Every operative held a current CISRS card.
KEY CREDENTIALS
What We Delivered
BEFORE AND AFTER
Scaffold erected across the Frith Street frontage before encapsulation.
The completed encapsulation, with the club trading and the public passing beneath the gantry.
Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club, Soho
Floating scaffold on the Grade II Listed facade, no penetrating fixings.
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Crown moulding and facade repair, security coordination, pavement licence managed.
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Full wrap scaffold to turret height on a Victorian corner building.
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Floating scaffold on a period townhouse, no fixings into the historic facade.
Read the case studyEncapsulation is the part of scaffolding most people never think about until they need it. It is what keeps dust and debris off a public street, what lets a refurbishment run through bad weather, and what allows a building to be worked on without the business inside it closing its doors. Doing it on a listed facade, on a narrow Soho street, above a queue of people, is a different order of job to wrapping a house.
Being asked back is the part we are proudest of. If you have a listed building, a public frontage, or a refurbishment that has to happen while the doors stay open, call us for a free site survey.