Design & TG20.
Compliance sheets, bespoke design, and knowing which side of the line a structure falls on.
Load classes: the specification question that decides the price
A scaffold's load class determines its bay lengths, board widths and tie pattern — and therefore its cost. Getting it from the client in writing, before pricing, is the difference between a margin and a variation argument.
21 September 2026 · 4 min readA bill of materials straight from the model: what it changes
When the material list comes out of the structure rather than off a pad, the quote, the load list and the yard are all reading the same document. Here is what that fixes and what it does not.
21 September 2026 · 10 min readTypes of scaffolding: every arrangement, drawn and explained
Facade, birdcage, cantilever, truss-out, tower, gantry and the rest — what each type is, when it is used, and which ones always need a design. With a labelled diagram for every one.
15 September 2026 · 4 min readKeeping the design and what is standing in step
A compliant design leaves the office and the site adapts to what it finds. The structure standing is frequently not the one that was signed off.
8 September 2026 · 4 min readLoading bays and getting materials onto a scaffold
A loading bay is a designed structure carrying a concentrated load — and the commonest cause of overload is nobody agreeing what goes on it.
18 August 2026 · 5 min readTG20 compliance, explained: what a compliance sheet actually tells you
A TG20 compliance sheet is evidence that a scaffold matches a configuration already checked by NASC. Here is what it covers, what it does not, and where a bespoke design takes over.
11 August 2026 · 4 min readWhen does a scaffold need a bespoke design?
Compliance sheets cover a lot of ordinary scaffolds and nothing unusual. Here are the situations that reliably take a structure out of the guidance and into design.
16 June 2026 · 4 min readSheeting, netting and what wind does to a scaffold
Adding sheeting turns a permeable frame into something closer to a sail. It is the commonest way a structure stops behaving as designed.
19 May 2026 · 4 min readThe Work at Height Regulations, for scaffolders
The hierarchy behind every decision on a scaffold: avoid the risk, prevent the fall, then reduce its consequences — in that order.
3 February 2026 · 4 min readTemporary roofs: what changes when you put a lid on it
A temporary roof is not a scaffold with sheeting on top. It is a different structure with different loads and a different design basis.