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Superior Scaffold hangs a whopper of a job at Seneca Niagara Casino, Niagara Falls, NY
This is a monstor of a job. We promised some photos and since we, at Superior Scaffold, keep our promises – here they are.
It’s hard to believe that this all hangs 40 feet ABOVE the entire gaming room floor while people are hustling and bustling about underneath.
They sit above the interior that is the size of 2 full length football fields.
These wings or fingers are 300 and 400 feet long!
What this project entails is getting crews up underneath the ceiling while the casino remains open for business as usual so they can get the new HVAC and mechanicals installed.
The solution came in the form of what is called a multi-point suspended scaffold. It’s not only wide, but stable enough to hold equipment, rolling towers, HVAC piping, etc.
These giant work platforms actually hang from chains from the arched trusses at the ceiling. It’s netted in so nothing can fall off of the sides and its sturdy enough to support just about anything you can put onto it.
We’ve done these before (see blog on Hanging bridge platform) but never at this scale.
The ceiling has giant arches which of course curve and give different elevations along that curve. So the challenge for our crews was to get the lengths of chains correct over the entire spans of this platform while they were assembling them to keep the platform perfectly level.
The segments had to hang at different elevations from the trusses to accommodate the particular ducting and venting going on up there. Some lengths would be 20 feet while others would be 10 and so forth. But once our guys go the proper lengths in place the platform was installed, level and sturdy.
Here is a video so you can see in real time what these platforms look like.
There aren’t many comapanies that can or will undertake an immense job like this. Our star estimator, Anthony Pini, made it his personal mission to come up with solutions to solve this engineering problem – and his team succeeded without incident.
The new HVAC and mechanicals are installed and everyone at the Seneca Niagara Casini can literally breathe easier!
Call Superior Scaffold today at (215) 743-2200 for solutions to your unique scaffolding project. Ask for Tom Cruise, AKA Tony Pini.
Amtrak rides the Superior Scaffold rails around the entire building
Superior Scaffold is proud to be providing scaffolding support for Amrak’s renovation of their 30th St. Station in downtown Philadelphia. The historic building that opened in 1933 will get a much needed facelift. It’s an incredible looking structure and can you just imagine what it’s going to be like when it’s finished? Wow…
Amtrak wants to make the neoclassical 30th Street Station a more welcoming gateway to West Philadelphia and Center City. The 30th Street Station handles 120 Amtrak trains, 960 SEPTA trains, and 26 NJ Transit trains each weekday. More than four million Amtrak passengers went through the station last year.
Superior’s first order of business was to erect canopies and sidewalk protection around the entire building – and that’s a good sized building. The station is a hustling, bustling metropolis all of its own with cars, buses, and lots of people all the time. Those are just some of the challenges faced when erecting scaffolding around a busy building like this. For that reason, most of the work was done at night as pedestrian and vehicle traffic was diminished.
I love this part of the description because we actually get to see BEFORE and AFTER shots of the scaffolding (something we don’t always get). But this gives you an insider’s look at just what goes into scaffolding an historic building like this. It also lets us see some the challenges crews face.
The jersey barriers on each side were quite the problem. Superior had to scaffold around all the physical obstacles, lamp posts, bollards, parking meters, taxi cabs, pedestrians.
All of 30th Street Station is hollow underneath so Amtrak required Superior to build canopies on top of barriers to distribute weight load.
This was done so scaffolding can be installed on top of the canopy to do facade restoration.
Amtrak even specified the type and color of paint…a beautiful soft green. Customizing the look and color of a canopy is an option that many of our clients choose.
This is going to be an 8 – 10 year project.
Superior had to construct overhead protection at different elevations for buses, cars and pedestrians.
The biggest challenge was finding jersey barriers with one flat side as Amtrak mandated.
Fortunately Rob Buckley from Buckley Construction had what the doctor ordered. 177 – 12′ barriers.
Next challenge was setting them in place. We used a lull and a unique clamp made just for lifting the barriers.
We also had to cut many of them to fit into Amtrak’s layout (parking meters, doors, etc.) It’s not easy cutting concrete barriers!
Some shots to give you an idea of the scope of work with the canopies and overhead protection.
Before.
After.
Some of the detailed work that goes into doing an extensive job like this.
These structures are just the first phase in an extensive renovation. They have to be strong enough to support additional scaffoling when they start renovating the facade of the building.
Superior provides scaffolding for renovations, inspections, new construction – just about any type of project.
Give us a call today at (215) 743-2200 or visit www.superiorscaffold.com for more information.
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.
Superior Scaffold and the historical Bausman Memorial United Church of Christ
This neat old church at 1064 Penn Ave, in Wyomissing, PA, that began its life in 1909, needed some repairs to the high vaulted plaster ceilings – so they called Superior Scaffold.
Photo courtesy of Ed Reneger
Superior is known for its skill working with historical buildings and the care it takes around one of a kind artifacts and structures. This was no different. We had to construct some cool system scaffolding up, over and around pews, alters, and priceless objects at Bausman Memorial United Church of Christ
The ceiling was divided into sections with flying buttresses, so the layout had to be spot on accurate.
We used system scaffold with joists and plank to not only get to the hard to reach places but to also build a solid platform or dancefloor for the workers.
The steep, sloped, plaster ceilings had new sheetrock added over the old plaster, and then they were textured and painted.
This gave the old girl the dress up she needed for the next 100 years.
We were proud to bring our skills and experience working with historic buildings to Bausman Memorial United Church of Chris.
Here are some articles detailing Superior Scaffold’s work with historic buildings:
A little history on this church.
Bausman Memorial United Church of Christ is part of a denomination which is a merger of the Evangelical and Reformed Church and the General Council of the Congregational Christian Churches of the United States.
Construction of a small church began in 1909 and it was dedicated in 1911. As the congregation grew, members decided to complete the church building with an addition begun in 1922. The completed building was dedicated in 1924.
1064 Penn Ave Wyomissing, PA 19610
(610) 375-9790
Bausman Memorial United Church of Christ is a church of diverse learners seeking answers to life’s questions based on the teachings of Christ. We nurture each other with respect, share with each other as family, and engage God and others in worship, music, study and in service. Every Sunday we offer Church School programs for all ages at 9:00 a.m. and gather for worship at 10:15 a.m.
Univeristy of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology completes phase 2 of $15 Million renovation
The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology | 
at 3260 South Street | Philadelphia, PA 19104 | (215) 898-4000 has just completed
phase 2 of it’s extensive rennovations.
Widener Lecture Hall now looks like this after a complete restoration – thanks to the many craftsman and companies that took part – including us – Superior Scaffold.
The completion of the Widener Lecture Hall marks the end of the second phase of the Penn Museum of Archeology and Anthropology’s $15 million renovations of its west wing, which began in 2010.
This is what it looked like when Superior was brought in to provide scaffolding support so crews could get to the arched ceiling for mechanicals, electric, HVAC, sprinklers, and more. The challenge was to get workers to the hard to reach areas while allowing the ground below to remain open for access.
Superior used system scaffold towers connected with trusses up top to free up space for other trades below. Everything was decked in high above the ground to make a safe working platform.
The new space got air conditioning for the first time in its history, as well as new windows, lighting, and a state of the art audio visual system.
Built originally as a lecture hall in 1899, Widener Lecture Hall has most recently been used for woodshop exhibitions.
The first phase of the renovations of the west wing of the Museum was the renovation of the second and third floor galleries.
Following the completion of the Widener Lecture Hall, the third phase of the project will be the renovation of the conservation labs and teaching labs, which are on the first floor of the building.
For more information check out these sites:
http://www.thedp.com/article/2013/05/penn-museum-completes-phase-two-of-renovations
For all of your scaffold / scaffolding needs call Superior Scaffold (215) 743-2200
Changing ceiling tiles is MMM MMM good at Campbell’s Soup Headquarters.
This is one of those, once in a lifetime, cool jobs that you just have to brag about. Superior Scaffold was called out to the Campbell’s Soup Worldwide Headquarters in Camden, NJ to rig a special scaffolding in the boardroom.
This is the same boardroom where one of the original Andy Warhol Campbell Soup Can paintings lives.
And even cooler was the job. We had to come up with system to allow crews to change the ceiling tiles over the handmade wood table that resides in the boardroom. Sounds simple, right? Not really. The table is 8 feet wide by 30 feet long and could not be moved. It was hand picked by the Dorrance family (heir to the Campbell fortune) and cost over $100,000.
Needless to say, they needed a company with a history of preserving priceless artifacts to erect scaffolding around this table without causing any damage.
The table was first protected with poly, then foam, and then plywood as a precaution.
Superior built scaffold over and around the table using 2 foot wide X 34’ long towers on either side and then connected them with 10’ trusses. This made a solid platform. “Then we decked it in solid – so the crews would have a nice safe place to work,” said Superior estimator, Pat McAndrew.
They decided to install long life light bulbs while they were up there.
The job came off without a hitch and the Warhol is back presiding over the elegant table (with new lighting and ceiling tiles in place).
And just for fun – I couldn’t resist:
Nothing’s easy – The Road from Israel to South St. Philly for the famous LOD Mosaic
On January 26th, 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)
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.
Our Lady of Lourdes blessed morning photograph
Superior Scaffold estimator Pat McAndrew was at Our Lady of Lourdes medical center early last week and snapped this gem of the Mother Mary statue in her full glory. Yes, it’s an iphone picture but you can clearly see that she’s up and beaming once again.
I particularly like the halo at the top.
Pat was at the medical center for another scaffold install we are doing up “air” (as they say in Philly). I’ll get you details on that just as soon as them become available.
Until then – enjoy.
You can read the original article about saving our Lady of Lourdes here:
And the follow up article in scaffold magazine – here.
Superior Scaffold uses unique earth anchors to hold canopy in place.
So, not only did we help scaffold the building for the new support steel but we just installed the canopy at the entryway. In the background, you can see the 5 story steel structure where our scaffolding used to be. They are making great progress on the new addition at the Chester County Hospital, and we are grateful to be a part of such a unique project. (See the original blogpost here.)
And speaking of unique, this was a very cool and innovative way to tie-down a canopy. It’s not something you see everyday.
Normally, there are many places to tie-down a canopy to keep it stable and secured from the elements. But as you can see from the pics there wasn’t much to hold on to out here in the front of the hospital. On the one side, you see the large cement Jersey Barriers (no problem) but the opposite side just had blacktop. And how would we tie into that?
So our super duper team of engineers and builders came up with an awesome system to keep this baby anchored properly.
Look at this little gem – called an Earth Anchor. Aptly named for its ability to anchor just about anything down to the good ole’ blue planet. If you look carefully, you will see an X type of bracket that has two tubes on it at 45 degree angles. X.
Long steel rods (about 2′ – 3’) are driven through those X tubes and down into the ground itself. The idea is to create an apposing force in the soil that is virtually impossible to pull out. “You would literally have to move something like 40 square feet of dirt to pull one of these ties from the clutches of mother earth,” said Superior Scaffold’s main man, Shawn MacDonald.
And then, at the top of the X bracket is a fastener where the tie-downs hook in. The canopy then can be ratcheted down to these brackets making it super stable and virtually impervious to high wind.
Here are a few photos of the canopy (sidewalk shed) in place.
Superior Scaffold – innovative scaffolding solutions. (215) 743-2200. Philadelphia, PA
Chester County Hospital in West Chester, PA is embarking on a $45.2 million building project to increase inpatient bed capacity with 72 new private rooms and to install a new, state-of-the-art linear accelerator for the treatment of cancer.
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