Sustainable Scaffold?

A thing of beauty or does it make you feel a bit twitchy?

You wouldn’t think it, but traditional bamboo scaffolding is still in use today in Hong Kong. Despite being a city mostly made from concrete and steel, the humble bamboo is still used in construction and its tradesmen are revered as artists who are preserving the ancient skill and knowledge.

This traditional craft is as much about knowing the laws of weight and physics as it is about securing the poles together. Plus, unlike steel which can be cut to precise lengths, bamboo is a plant and much more inconsistent. Aside from being diverse in terms of quality and size, the lengths are tied together manually which requires a huge amount of skill, which has been passed along for centuries.

And the other huge advantage is that bamboo grows fast – you might have noticed this if you have it in your garden! It is the fastest-growing plant on earth, with the ability to grow up to 90cm a day, thanks to its rhizome-dependent system, making it highly sustainable and easy to source.

Now, no one’s suggesting we all immediately swap our steel or aluminium for bamboo, but there are ways to contribute to sustainability in scaffolding through the sourcing of boards and by using lighter materials where possible, which in turn reduces fuel consumption and emissions.

But here’s the conundrum.

Around half of all non-renewable resources mankind consumes are used in construction, making it one of the least sustainable industries in the world. But the other side of the story is that the buildings we construct create wealth. Roughly half of all fixed capital formation annually is vested in buildings, which, taken together with the inherited assets of buildings, represents about 75 per cent of all UK wealth.

Does that mean that as consumers we want to have our cake and eat it? It’s an interesting challenge.

We’re actively looking to expand our group of scaffolding companies at the moment, and as we grow, I believe sustainability will become of greater importance.  


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