Our city skyline is filled with tower cranes and hoists for there is a boom going on at the moment with the construction of apartment buildings taking place throughout Australia and even more so in cities like Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.

However – looks can be deceiving. Even though our beautiful city is made up of some of the most amazing designs, we still are experiencing a silent killer within the building industry. This relates to the flammable materials involved in construction and cladding work of buildings within the Australian construction industry.

Currently just in Victoria, there are more than 5,000 buildings that are non-compliant and do not follow the most up to date code for facade work.

This means Melbourne needs to catch up on refurbishing these developments immediately, before long term damages will take a toll on our city. In the past we have seen some architectural disasters due to bad cladding work such as: The London Grenfell Building incident and The Lacrosse Apartment 2014 fire.

Unsafe materials used in cladding prevents you from the chance to feel safe in your city and that is where we come in, because safety here at Standard Access is always our number one priority and we care about involving ourselves with products and services to ensure Melbourne feels supported and safe again.

Replacement of these materials will be expensive no doubt but what about the vertical access required to complete these refurbishments.

Scaffolding is usually the conventional choice as the equipment is ready and available but is it the right choice? Scaffolding can be expensive to install and also unsightly to the landscape let alone the lack of light levels and lack of privacy that these owners or tenants may endure for long periods of time. Surely with a whole city wrapped in scaffold and shade cloth, this cannot be the answer.

Cable Suspended Platforms (Swings) can also be used to help with refurbishing facade work. These platforms have been designed to wrap around any facade, making them adaptable to different building profiles but these platforms have their limitations with small load capacity’s and heavily dependent on weather conditions which reduces the time these platforms can be suspended up in the air resulting in constant delays.

So what else is on the market?

Standard Access have been involved in complex mast climbing projects throughout Malaysia and Singapore for the past 20 years and this kind of solution is nothing new. Most cities throughout the world recognize Mast Climbers as the only safe choice and over the past few years both Queensland and Sydney have also adopted this type of access as best in class. So why is Melbourne behind when it comes to this type of technology?

Mast climbing work platforms are both quick and easy to install which can be customized to most building profiles. At the same time Mast Climbers can span there platforms over longer distances and use less fixings to tie back to the building. There are all sorts of attachments like snake platforms, all reach platforms and slide out decks to name a few.

These Mast Climbers are incredibly strong and sturdy and are least affected by weather conditions which makes them the safest choice in the market. But most importantly to the tenant or owner, Mast Climbers can be screened off in sections to provide privacy whilst not inhibiting their view during the day and at night.

Mast Climbers can also be driven down the mast and parked on the ground floor at night allowing the building to be seen leaving a landscape that’s not inhibited by a layer of aluminum poles and shade cloth therefore not devaluing the property whilst the repairs are taking place.

Standard Access has a team of professionals in vertical access solutions to ensure that projects like bad cladding work can be restored again. With over 20 years of experience with international projects we have found that Mast Climbers work the best!

We are joining the movement now too and can improve construction techniques in Melbourne by providing custom designed Mast Climbers that have sliding decks, all reach platforms and recently new our monorail lifting equipment systems that can assist those who would like to limit the usage of larger tower cranes.

Do you want to learn more? Please call: +61 3 9312 6497 or go to www.scanrent.com.au to learn more about our Mast Climbing Work Platforms and how Standard Access is committed to help make Melbourne an even more livable city for many more years to come.