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Stak Scaffold Partnered with GW Cootes

Associate Member
Harrods, Knightsbridge, London

Member: GW Coote Ltd
Client: Stak Scaffold Ltd

GWC Scaffolding Design partnered with Stak Scaffolding who were employed by the Principal Contractor, Restore London Ltd, and awarded the project by Harrods – the world’s most famous department store. The substantial maintenance project started in October 2023 and is due for completion in 2025.
The works are split into several phases that include general repairs, a full clean and lighting upgrades to the front elevation along Brompton Rd, side elevations on Hans Cresent and Hans Road, rear elevation along Basil Street, main dome, and corner turrets. A further phase is the construction of a roof-level extension.
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The scaffolding design also had to support the installation of a full advertising wrap to preserve the aesthetics of the building and generate additional income to fund the extensive works. One of the main challenges was to maintain uninterrupted and unimpeded public comfort and access, while accommodating obstacles such as street furniture, bus stops, canopies & awnings, phone boxes, pedestrian crossings, narrow pavements & splays, and underground tube entrances.
Due to the extreme level of pedestrian traffic, the scaffold was built during the night and early hours of the morning. This also helped in securing all Kensington and Chelsea Borough Council’s licences, LUL permissions and TFL’s temporary suspensions of bus lanes and red route permits. Since noise pollution is a big issue in Knightsbridge, Stak Scaffold took the decision not to use standard drills. Despite the restrictions, Stak delivered to the highest standard and on schedule, without compromising safety.
The world-renowned window displays at Harrods had to be kept visible at all times, so the design included support towers erected adjacent to the building columns and beamed above the windows to support the scaffold on top. This proved to be a demanding task because the basement structures and vaults had been modified extensively throughout the building’s 175 years, along with the 7 floors below ground, so finding suitable strongholds for the support towers was not straightforward. After close collaboration with the project’s TWC and Harrods’ structural and geotechnical engineers, the solution comprised a mix of back propping, very large bridge spans, and cantilevers.
Being a Grade II listed building, attention to detail was imperative and required consultations with English Heritage. The main façade is made of thousands of individual terracotta blocks, which are extremely brittle. Any repairs must be performed with meticulous care, using materials made from the original quarries and supplied by a few very rare hand-pressing manufacturers. Installing the scaffold ties was a complex operation, as there was a need to protect the terracotta, so they had to be installed into mortar joints or into previous tie holes, as no additional drilling was permitted.
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The terracotta blocks offer very limited tensile strength for the ties so, in certain areas throughout the building, a bespoke reusable anchor point was designed within the superstructure to withstand 6 tonnes (60kN). This was to ensure that there would be suitable fixing points for all future works and maintenance, also taking into consideration any potential hoist loadings.
This is the second time that GWC Scaffolding Design has had the privilege of providing scaffold designs for the iconic Harrods building. All those involved are proud to have delivered a quality solution that maintains the authenticity of a listed building, protects the safety of the public, and ensures business as usual during the busiest shopping seasons.