Triple the action for Superior Scaffold at the Old Dublin Pike Bridge in Doylestown, PA.

The stone arch bridge was originally constructed back in 1875 and then rehabbed in 1947.  So it was time for a reconditioning – seems that this old bridge still has over 5,000 cars travel over her every day in Doylestown, PA.  Crews needed a way to support the structure and to get into the arches to repair the stones and masonry while keeping the road open above.

 

This was the challenge for Superior Scaffold.

 

First order of business was diverting the river through two of the arches so one could be fairly dry while the scaffolding was erected.  Then, once that was built, the water had to be diverted again so the second, and then third arch could be constructed.

 

The next challenge was how to best shore up the arches so work could be completed but also support enough weight for heavy machinery traveling the road over head.  Superior engineer Bob Robinson decided on 20k scaffold frames to hold up the shoring beams and wood supports.  It allowed the road to remain open for business while construction crews completed the work below.

 

It’s a unique way to solve the problem and keep a major thoroughfare open.

The job went off without a hitch and the mighty river is flowing once again and cars are happily traveling over the old bridge in Buck County.

Call Superior Scaffold at 215 743-2200 or go to http://www.superiorscaffold.com for all of your scaffolding and shoring needs.

Philadelphia Inquirer reports Superior Scaffold to erect Canopy at Amtrak’s 30th St. Station

Superior Scaffold will provide 10-foot-high canopies around the gigantic 30th Street Station.  This is no small feat.  (Look at the photos)  In fact, this is Amtrak’s 3rd largest station – it’s huge.

 

The renovation will take several years to complete at a cost of $60 milliion.  The scaffolding will be erected to not only protect pedestrians but allow business as usual during a planned restoration of the limestone facade of the 80-year-old neo-classical building.

The Philadelphia Inquirer (philly.com) reported the story Aug 17, 2013 and quoted our very own man about town, Pat McAndrew (of the naked, fighting McAndrew clan) who had this to say, “the canopies – posts with “debris panels” on top – will be installed atop concrete barriers along the Market and Arch Street sidewalks and at the east and west entrances to the station.  The station will remain “totally accessible” to pedestrians during the work.”

Well put Pat.

The $2 million canopy installation will start in a few weeks and is expected to be completed by the end of September.

The 30th Street Station is the main railroad station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and one of the seven stations in SEPTA’s Center City fare zone. It is also a major stop on Amtrak’s Northeast and Keystone Corridors.  It sits at 93 N. 30th St. & Market St. Philadelphia PA 19104 (215) 580-6500.

I, Mtruch [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC-BY-SA-2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5-2.0-1.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

Here’s a link to the philly.com article.

And some cool information:

Great photos of the 30th Street Station

http://www.yelp.com/biz/30th-street-station-philadelphia-2

Temple University Performing Arts Center Dome Repair

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In the heart of Philadelphia sits an incredible treasure – the Temple Performing Arts Center.   Purchased in 1974 by Temple University the Baptist Temple was designated as historic and a landmark building.  It underwent an extensive remodeling and has since hosted many great performing artists.

Superior Scaffold was called in by Temple University to help with the renovation of the two copper domes on top of the center.  Over the years, the copper had oxidized and the wood beneath had fallen into disrepair. It was Superior Scaffold’s job to get the crews up there to do the renovation.

The first challenge was to fashion a decorative but functional entryway / canopy that not only showed off the grandeur of the classic building but supported the tremendous load of scaffolding above.

  

“It not only had to allow pedestrians access to the center but it had to look great and allow crews to reach the top to work on the new copper domes,” said Tom Creighton of Superior.

  

The additional challenge was not to damage any of the decorate artifacts or stonework on the roof.

 

Superior has more experience working with historic structures in Philly and is the best when delicate items need to be considered. (see Independence Hall)

Superior crews built a super-stable platform extending all the way around the base of the dome and built two work decks above the entire diameter of the domes – allowing renovation crews total access.

The crews had to strip off the decaying copper and rebuild the wood support beneath.

The new domes look amazing and we will post a photo as soon as we can.  Temple University is one of our   favorite clients and we were honored to help with their renovation.

Historic buildings are our speciality.  Don’t hesitate to contact Superior Scaffold
for all of your scaffolding needs (215) 743-2200 – Ask for Tommy.

Nothing’s easy – The Road from Israel to South St. Philly for the famous LOD Mosaic

On January 26^th, Superior Scaffold was proud to help bring to the East Coast one of the most incredible Roman Mosaics ever unearthed.  The challenge to get them inside the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology was something of an engineering marvel taking scaffolding teams, crane operators, art curators, engineers, and scores of people.

But first…      A real-life “Cover up”.

In 1996, workmen constructing a new highway in Lod, Israel (near modern-day Tel Aviv), made a shocking discovery: a 1,700 year old Roman mosaic under the surface of the road. At that time, the Israel Antiquities Authority conducted a rescue excavation that revealed a full series of mosaic floors, measuring roughly 50 feet long by 27 feet wide. Conservators provided preliminary treatment of the mosaics, but they were then reburied until funding could be secured for the full scientific excavation and conservation. In 2009, excavators unearthed the Lod Mosaic once again. The mosaics were then separated into panels and rolled away from the earth.  Today, they remain in near perfect condition.  Three of these panels are on display in Unearthing a Masterpiece.

This piece is very unique because it lacks human figures.  It was likely commissioned by a high-standing Roman official for his private home. Alluding to gladiatorial games, the mosaic panels depict scenes of hunting, trading, and marine life.

And because these tiles date back to 300 CE and are some of the most complete, well-preserved, and largest Roman mosaics ever found, everyone involved wanted to keep them that way.  So the call went out to Superior Scaffold to help get them into the building.  Piece of cake, right?  Wrong.  Follow the photos below to see just what was involved.  Now, we were just one cog in a very important machine.  But our piece was of utmost importance.

A crane hoists a crate onto Superior’s platform

These tiles were so large that they had to be placed into 7 gigantic wooden crates and shipped to Philadelphia.  And on the morning of January 26, 2013 two large box trucks arrived and blocked South Street in front of the Museum.

The biggest challenge on this job, that required weeks of careful planning, was that these crates couldn’t just be waltzed through the loading dock and up to the third floor where they were going to be displayed.  They were way too big and heavy to fit.

They had to be hoisted by a 100 foot crane up off of South Street and deposited onto a giant 16’ tall platform that Superior built over the main stairs and Warden Garden Coy pond that straddled two giant sliding wooden doors accessing the grand staircase on the third floor into the Pepper Gallery.  Wow, that was a mouthful.  But seriously, look at the photos.  Superior’s platform allowed the giant crates to be maneuvered directly inside to the display area where curators could uncrate the masterpiece and put it together for display.

   

Sitting on top of the system scaffold, Superior used 9’ aluminum stringers crossed with solid plank and then topped with plywood.

Then entire unloading process took approximately 6 hours.  Of course, our part started long before the trucks arrived and lasted well after the crates were unpacked.

Here is a sort of chronological assembly, if you will (from Superior Scaffold’s POV)

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In the end, the Museum safely unloaded, unpacked, and assembled the Mosiac in time for their ribbon cutting ceremony on February 10, 2013 to start the exhibit (Unearthing a Masterpiece:  A Roman Mosiac from LOD, Israel) which runs for a limited time.

Estimator Pat McAndrew not only oversaw the installation but also attended the opening where he took these photos of the famous Mosaic.

Superior will be back out assembling the same scaffolding in May when the exhibit is packed up again and shipped to the Louvre in Paris.  After a short time there, it will make the trip to Israel and it’s final resting place in a specially built museum.  So see it while you can

And a shout out to Bob Thurlow in charge of Traveling Exhibits at Penn Museum for some of the great photos of the crates going in.

If you would like more information about the unearthing of the LOD Mosaic click here.

Going off the deep end with scaffolding…

The Princeton Medical Center at Plainsboro, NJ is adding on to their illustrious hospital with two new rehabilitation pools.   The crews needed to get access to the ceiling to do some repairs and additions.  Well, with swimming pools spanning the entire room it makes it a bit difficult to reach up that high.

So they called Pat McAndrew at Superior Scaffold and said, “Help.”   Since they had spent most of their budget on these incredible pools they were looking for a low cost alternative to just scaffolding the entire pools all the way up to the ceiling.   They also wanted to use Baker/Painter scaffolds to roll from one end of the pool area ceiling to another.

So, they creatively devised a plan that would put an 8’ scaffolding tower down into the center of the large pool from the 3’ shallow end down to the 9’ deep end.  They used 8’ horizontal trusses at deck height and then ran aluminum joists from side walls to trusses at 16” centers.  The entire thing was then topped off with a deck of ¾” plywood.  This would allow the baker scaffold to roll freely around the entire room while allowing crews to reach to the ceiling.  You can see just how wide and deep this room is.

Now, the small pool was a bit different.  They rested aluminum joists on the concrete side walls at 16” centers and then topped that off with plywood.  Since it was only 18’ in diameter the aluminum joists would be able to support all of the weight put upon them.

Bingo, bango, bongo… another Superior solution and satisfied customer.  Superior specializes in creative solutions for scaffolding problems.  Call 215 743-2200 to see what Superior can do for you.

Shoring up the Ben Franklin Museum, Philadelphia, PA

The new Benjamin Franklin museum just off of 4^th & Market in an area known as “Franklin Court” is under way.  This will be Philadelphia’s newest exhibit about Ben Franklin and when completed, the new Benjamin Franklin Museum will be underground!

The exterior or top of the Benjamin Franklin Museum.

Ben Franklin Museum – new concrete slabs and support steel.

Yes, an underground museum.  And that’s all well and good but it posed some real challenges when it came time to do the expansion.  You just can’t take a hundred and fifty year old building and slap a bunch of exhibits inside.  You need a complete redesign to support the architect’s vision.  And that exactly what they got.

If ever you wanted to see what shoring actually does – this is the time.  You can clearly see the work going on above the shoring and below the shoring.  It always amazes me at the sheer weight that these post shores can hold when you take in consideration the cement and steel necessary to make a job like this happen.

Beneath the concrete slabs you can see the shoring necessary to hold up the new steel and cement.

This was an extensive demolition of an old structure to open up the building.  Walls had to be removed, ceilings had to be shored up so new steel and concrete could be poured to support the new additions.

The view from below the concrete pour going on above in the first shots.

Another view from the basement.

15” thick Concrete slabs were poured and giant concrete beams were brought in to help support the weight.  That was probably the biggest challenge on the job.  The steel was so long it took several cranes and expert crews to get them in through the alley and into place.  Superior Scaffold shoring guru, Bob Robinson, had to calculate all of the weight loads so the proper equipment could be utilized and the work done safely and up to code.

The underneath shot.

What’s going on above the shoring.

Some of the concrete beams in the new design were 36” wide X 42” deep and spanned 42 feet  column-to-column!

When it’s all done, the exhibits will be divided up into different rooms that reflect various aspects of his personality and his life.  The museum will feature interactive displays exploring his life as a private citizen and statesman through individual, room-like installations. The library is intended to be the culminating experience.  Other 21st century additions to the underground museum include interactive elements like touch screen kiosks, a computerized version of Franklin’s glass armonica a musical instrument employing glass and water to create sound, and two-minute animated vignettes designed to help visitors understand critical turning points in Franklin’s life.

A clear view of the shoring necessary to support the work going on above.

More information:

CBS local news coverage on the job.

Click here for news on the construction job.

Truly amazing 4 story shoring project in Princeton, NJ

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Surprise, surprise, surprise.  I walked into this old building thinking I would find a few dirty post shores holding up a section of calapsing entryway or maybe even a portion of cieling that needed support but what I found was truly amazing.

Now, shoring isn’t the most glamourus sector of the construction industry – relegated to dusty old basements and haunted houses deep in the underbellies where ghosts and spiders live…  So this renovation at  the Princeton Academy of the Sacred Heart  at 1128 Great Road was a pleasant surprise.  They are expanding this old structure in a big way, updating the old 4 story brick school building to a more open style learning environment.   But to do that – they needed to take out most of their support walls and put new steel and concrete in to carry the weight.  Normally, not a big deal because you do it one floor at at time.

But this job was doing it ALL AT ONCE…  Yes, 4 massive floors of concrete and steel being supported or shored up at once.

These old buildings once had many rooms and walls that would support the weight of the ceiling/floor above them.  Take a look at these pictures and see just how incredible a task it was to support the floors above one another simultaneously.

 

The really unique challenge here was that most projects like this work on one floor at a time as the new steel and concrete are added.  Once that structure is stable and in place you move to the next floor up the line.

   

But with this project, Superior Scaffold engineer, Bob Robinson, had to design a shoring system that supported the existing steel and concrete for ALL 4 FLOORS AT ONCE!  Crews could then modify and add the new steel and supports needed for the additional weight.

 

You can see the bottom floor in the photographs.  This was where the bulk of the support weight was being carried from the floors above it.  Robinson had to calculate the weight loads and provide the proper shoring equipment necessary to keep this project standing.  All of the architectural drawings had to be PE stamped in NJ before the project could begin.

 

Currently, the bottom and the second floors are complete.  We will bring you updates and photos as the job gets closer to completion.

 

Superior solutions for shoring projects call (215) 743-2200

http://www.princetonacademy.org/main/index.html

http://www.facebook.com/PrincetonAcademy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princeton_Academy_of_the_Sacred_Heart

Additional information on the school.

Princeton Academy of the Sacred Heart is an independent all-boys Catholic school located in Princeton, New Jersey and is part of the Sacred Heart Network of Schools. Princeton Academy serves students from Junior Kindergarten through grade 8 and is the only all-boys Catholic primary school in the state of New Jersey.^[2] The school operates within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Trenton.

Creative Scaffolding Solutions at Eisenhower Middle School, Norristown, PA

We get this call quite a bit.  And even though it’s a smaller job, we wanted to show you what can be done when there doesn’t not seem to be an easy solution.

The good people at Eisenhower Science and Technology Leadership Academy were installing a new HVAC unit and couldn’t figure out how to make the tie-in at the top safely using their ladders and scissor lifts, so they called Superior Scaffold.

Superior estimator and creative guru, Pat McAndrew, quickly devised a solution that put system scaffolding on either side of the unit and then added an access ladder and 2 decks for workers on the top so they could span the section across the apex of the HVAC unit.  Crews were then able to safely tap into the duct work up top and then down into the HVAC unit itself.

It looks simple, but trust us, it takes an expert designer to devise a safe and simple solution like this.

Call Superior Scaffold (215) 743-2200 when you need creative scaffolding solutions.

Amazing underground scaffolding

This is one of my favorites.  Yes, it’s technically under a building – the Philadelphia VA Medical Center but it’s still underground.

  

Superior Scaffold set this up so crews could get to the electrical underneath the floor of the hospital.

But that’s not the half of it.  Getting the equipment into and beneath the hospital building was the major challenge.  Check out the video for what was involved.

        

Superior salesman Tom Creighton did a bang up job estimating the layout and materials to make this happen.  Not only is it under the building but it’s on a radical inclined as well.

        

Crews had to lug all of the materials through a maze beneath the hospital and then out a tiny door and then climb up a rope just to get to the bottom of the bottom.  And then they had to assemble the scaffolding; all of this intricate craftsmanship to run new conduit from one electrical box to another!

In the end, the client was happy.  The job was completed.  And we got another story to tell.

For all of your scaffolding needs call Superior Scaffold (215) 743-2200

Shoring up the AAA Mid-Atlantic Headquarters Building, Philadelphia, PA.

Superior Scaffold was called in to provide heavy-duty shoring for the New AAA building conversion into apartments.  And when we say heavy duty, we mean it.  The design for this 4 story building calls for adding an additional 8 FLOORS!!! Wow.

The building at 21^st and Market (2040 Market) was built in 1968 and was a 5 story structure (including a floor of underground parking)

PCM Property Group and their architects Stephen Varenhorst Architects needed the best in the business when they had to shore up the existing structure, remove the old columns and replace them with new, even larger supports.

Superior salesman, Anthony Pini, worked with PCM to design a custom solution using heavy-duty kip shores that would allow enough room for crews to work in and around each column.  Most of the pics show at least a 25 Kip (25,000 Lb) load capability.  You can see where crews set up to pour new heavy duty footers and Superior gave them plenty of room while still shoring up the floor above.

The real challenge was that the engineers kept changing the size and scope of the building footers as they added new floors.  At one time Superior had to shore up the entire length of the building to support the additional weight above.  Instead of shoring up one portion and then removing the old footer and pouring a newer larger one (able to handle more weight), and then moving to the next one, engineers decided to remove all of the footers in one fell swoop and pour them all at the same time…

  

Think about that for a second…  That means that the ENTIRE weight of the building is being supported by our steel beams and shoring columns.  Sounds wonderful, and hey, we always accommodate…  So after several site changes we settled on a solution and put it into place.  We shored up the entire building while the new, stronger, larger, more incredible ones were poured to support the additional 8 floors that were about to be added on top of the structure.  We rocked.  It rocked.  Everything was a huge (and I mean huge) success.

  

Several sections needed shoring; the larger exposed areas that where going to be modified to handle the new structure above, and then the smaller sections tucked back in the lower floors.  Superior provided shoring support for both areas.

    

When it’s all said and done this building will have 282 units and will be the largest number of new apartments in the past two years.  It will also increase the square footage from 120K to 300K.

To read more click on the following links.

http://corporate.pmcpropertygroup.com/node/108

http://philadelphiaheights.wordpress.com/2011/08/02/large-new-apartment-development-on-market-street-west/

http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/blog/natalie-kostelni/2012/06/pmc-making-progress-on-turning-aaa.html

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