CASE STUDY — COMMERCIAL
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Large-scale scaffold on a working heritage building at a UNESCO World Heritage Site
The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in Richmond, Surrey, is one of the most significant heritage sites in the world. Founded in 1759, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site covering 121 hectares, home to 44 Grade I and Grade II Listed buildings and structures and attracting over two million visitors every year. Working within this environment is categorically different from any standard commercial scaffold contract. The site is permanently open to the public, the buildings are irreplaceable, and every decision about access, erection, and public safety has to account for a live heritage visitor environment.
Pinnacle Scaffolding was appointed to provide scaffold access on a large working building within the Kew estate. The job required the kind of planning, documentation, and sensitivity that a UNESCO World Heritage Site demands.
The Challenge
Working at Kew presents constraints that most scaffolding companies never encounter. The site is open to the public throughout the year, which means erection, dismantling, and the scaffold's footprint during the contract all have to be managed within a live visitor environment. Public safety, visual impact, and access route management around an active heritage site require a level of advance planning that goes significantly beyond a standard commercial job.
The buildings at Kew are irreplaceable. Many are Grade I or Grade II Listed. Any scaffold that touches or bears against historic fabric, whether masonry, ironwork, or glazing, requires careful design and a tie system that will not cause damage. The heritage setting creates specific requirements for every decision made on site, from base plate placement to the routing of scaffold vehicles through the estate.
The estate also operates under the planning oversight of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and Historic England. Any scaffold on or adjacent to a Listed structure has implications that standard commercial pavement licence management does not cover.
Our Approach
Pinnacle designed and erected scaffold access on the building required, working within the heritage and public access constraints of the Kew estate. The structure was designed to provide safe, compliant working access for the maintenance team without compromising the building fabric or the visitor experience on the surrounding grounds.
Vehicle access, erection sequencing, and public safety management were all planned in advance and agreed with the Kew estates team before work began. RAMS documentation and method statements were provided as standard. Every operative held a current CISRS card.
KEY CREDENTIALS
What We Delivered
Kew Gardens is the most demanding commercial heritage scaffold environment Pinnacle has worked in. A UNESCO World Heritage Site with millions of visitors, irreplaceable buildings, and the scrutiny that comes with both. If you manage a heritage building, an institutional estate, or a large commercial site requiring the highest standard of scaffold planning and documentation, we have the credentials and the experience to deliver it.