Industrial work is its own discipline. The elevations are taller and plainer, the buildings are usually still running, and the access window is often fixed long before anyone rings a scaffolder. We work across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire on exactly that kind of job.
Call 01869 254017 Request a site visitNot offices and shops — that is commercial, and it is on our commercial page. Industrial means warehousing and distribution, manufacturing and production, agricultural and grain buildings, plant and process installations, and the estates that surround them.
Production does not stop because a scaffold is going up. Deliveries still arrive, forklifts still move, and staff still need their routes. The scaffold has to be designed around the operation, not the other way round.
Shutdowns, holiday closures and planned maintenance periods do not move. If the scaffold is late the whole programme slips, so the sequence and the labour are planned backwards from the date you give us.
Most industrial sites run permit-to-work systems, site inductions and their own PPE rules. We are used to working inside them, and our RAMS are written to be reviewed by your safety team rather than filed unread.
Erecting over conveyors, vehicle routes or running machinery means an exclusion zone agreed with the site before we start, and on some jobs a banksman for the duration. It is one of the first things we want to walk, because it changes the sequence more often than the structure does.
Industrial elevations are tall enough that carrying material up is frequently not realistic. That means a loading bay designed into the scaffold, a hoist, or crane lifts booked against the site’s lifting plan — all of which need deciding at quoting stage, because each one carries its own cost and its own permit.
Industrial elevations are often tall, long and uncomplicated, which suits system scaffold and makes the erection efficient. What complicates it is usually everything else: ground bearing across yards and hardstanding, vehicle movements, overhead services, and tying into cladding rather than masonry. Anything outside standard TG20 configuration gets a bespoke design.
Where the roof is coming off or the building cannot be exposed, we also install temporary roofs spanning up to 40 metres, craned in or on a rolling track.
The industrial estates across Oxfordshire — Bicester, Banbury, Didcot, Witney and Kidlington — and into Buckinghamshire for Aylesbury, Buckingham and Milton Keynes, and Bedfordshire along the A1 and M1 corridors where the logistics stock is concentrated. See Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire for more on each.
CISRS-qualified scaffolders working to TG20 and SG4. RAMS and a job-specific toolbox talk issued before work starts. Statutory inspections at least every seven days while the scaffold is in use, and again after anything that could affect its stability. Advanced CHAS accredited, CITB trained, first-aid trained supervision. Ask and we will send insurance certificates and CISRS card records over.
Industrial scaffolding is rarely about height. It is about load, access and keeping a working facility running. The starting point is the duty class under BS EN 12811-1 — the load the platform is permitted to carry per square metre, agreed before design and recorded on the handover certificate.
| Class | Load | Typical industrial use |
|---|---|---|
| Class 3 | 2.0 kN/m² | General access for trades, inspection, light maintenance |
| Class 4 | 3.0 kN/m² | Heavy duty — cladding, steelwork, blockwork |
| Class 5 | 4.5 kN/m² | Heavier material handling and plant maintenance |
| Class 6 | 6.0 kN/m² | Very heavy construction loading |
Class 4 is roughly 300kg per square metre, Class 6 roughly 600kg. On industrial jobs the mistake we see most often is a scaffold specified as general purpose and then loaded out with cladding sheets, steel or plant. The class cannot be exceeded, and uprating a standing scaffold means altering it — dearer and slower than getting it right at tender. Tell us the loads and we design to them.
A large share of industrial scaffolding is not just access. It is a container.
Grit blasting, spray painting and coating work on steelwork, tanks and structures has to be contained — for the people working inside it, for the rest of the site, and because blast media and coating overspray are a genuine environmental problem if they leave the enclosure. That means a fully sheeted or shrink-wrapped scaffold with controlled entry, and often sheeting rated for the job rather than standard debris netting.
Two consequences people underestimate:
We also build the supporting scaffold and platforms for licensed asbestos removal enclosures. To be clear about where the line sits: the removal itself is carried out by a licensed asbestos contractor under the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 — we provide the access structure and work to their enclosure requirements and their programme.
Industrial approvals look nothing like commercial ones, and the difference catches people out.
The practical version: on a commercial job the council sets your start date. On an industrial job the site does.
Under the Work at Height Regulations 2005, a scaffold must be inspected by a competent person before first use, at intervals of no more than seven days, and after any event likely to have affected stability. Each inspection must be recorded.
After handover the duty sits with the user — on an industrial site normally the principal contractor or the site operator, not the scaffolding contractor. On a long-running maintenance scaffold that is the single most commonly dropped obligation we see. Put it in the contract: either your team inspects and records weekly, or you instruct us to, under the hire. We do the handover inspection and tag the scaffold either way.
We work to TG20:21 for tube and fitting and SG4 for preventing falls during erection and dismantling. CISRS-qualified scaffolders, Advanced CHAS accredited, RAMS and a job-specific toolbox talk before anyone climbs.
Portal frames and cladding rails are not masonry, and a lot of industrial buildings offer very little that will safely take a tie. The answer is that the structure stops relying on the building: it is designed as a buttressed, raked or freestanding scaffold, or it is kentledged — weighted — at the base. Where ties are possible they go to the steel rather than the cladding, because cladding will not take the load. All of it needs a bespoke design with calculations; none of it sits inside the TG20:21 compliance sheets.
That is most of what industrial scaffolding is. A shutdown window is fixed and expensive, so we plan the sequence and the labour backwards from the date the plant has to be running again, and we tell you honestly at quoting stage if the window is too tight for the scope. Erecting outside production hours, at night or across a weekend, is normal on this work.
Usually not. Most industrial work sits inside a private site boundary, so there is no section 169 application and no council licence fee — one of the few things simpler than a high-street job. If part of the scaffold reaches a public road or footway, for example on a perimeter building or a gatehouse, then the county council licence applies as normal and we apply for it.
Higher than most people assume, and it is decided by what goes on the platform rather than by the building. Inspection and light access is class 1 or 2, general trades class 3, and anything involving stored materials, heavy tools, blast equipment or steels runs to class 4 and above under BS EN 12811-1. We state the class on the quote. If a quote does not mention one, ask — that is usually where the price difference is hiding.
Yes, and it is a large part of the work. Full sheeting or shrink-wrap with controlled entry, designed around the extraction, the material route and emergency egress. Bear in mind that sheeting dramatically increases wind loading, so an encapsulated scaffold is a different structure from an open one and needs its own design and calculations rather than the same scaffold with sheets added.
The scaffold must be inspected by a competent person before first use, at least every seven days while it remains in place, and again after anything that could have affected its stability under the Work at Height Regulations 2005. We carry that out and record it for the full hire, with scafftags on the structure. Your site keeps the records in its own file, and on a managed industrial site they will usually want copies as the job runs rather than at the end.
CISRS-qualified scaffolders, CHAS Advanced accreditation, £10 million public liability, and RAMS plus a job-specific toolbox talk issued before anyone starts. They turn up expecting a site induction, a permit regime and a sign-in process. If your site requires specific additional training or medicals, tell us at quoting stage so it is in the programme and the price.
Tell us the building, the works and the window, and we will come and look at it.
01869 254017 info@oxscaffold.co.ukPlease feel free to contact us anytime to discuss your requirements.
Please feel free to contact us anytime to discuss your requirements. Or use the form below and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
We provide access solutions tailored to your requirements and have experience delivering on projects of considerable scale. Incorporated in 2018, Ox Scaffold Ltd have shown credibility within the industry and this was recognized by the Oxfordshire Prestige Awards from 2020 to present, winning ‘Oxfordshire’s Scaffold Company of the Year’.
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