When does a scaffold need a bespoke design?

The line between a compliance sheet and a bespoke design is not a judgement call made on site. It is set by whether the structure you intend to build sits inside published guidance. The problem is that the structures which cross the line rarely announce themselves — they arrive as a small request from a site manager on a Friday afternoon.

The usual crossings

• –Loading bays, and anything else carrying a point load the guidance has not assessed.
• –Sheeting or netting added to a structure that was designed bare — cladding changes the wind loading entirely.
• –Bridges, beamed sections and anything spanning an obstruction at ground level.
• –Temporary roofs, and structures carrying a covering intended to keep weather out.
• –Scaffolds tied into a facade that cannot take the tie pattern the configuration assumes.
• –Support and shoring work, where the scaffold is holding something up rather than holding people.

Who can produce the design

A bespoke design is the work of a competent person — in practice, a scaffold designer with the relevant engineering competence, producing calculations and drawings for that structure. Software does not replace that person. What software can usefully do is make the boundary visible early: flag that a requested configuration falls outside a compliance sheet while the job is still being planned, rather than when the squad is standing on site with the wrong kit on the wagon.

Recording the design once you have it

A bespoke design is only useful if the people inspecting and adapting the scaffold can find it. Held against the structure, it tells an inspector what they are looking at and tells the next squad what they are allowed to change. Held in an email thread, it tells nobody anything.