Once the tower cranes have been dismantled and the scaffolding removed from a high-rise development, fixing any additional snagging issues poses a major headache for the professional team. This was the scenario that confronted the Hilton Garden Inn, part of the redevelopment of the mixed-use Society Business Park in Lusaka.
Following the recent refurbishment of the area, Hilton Garden Inn called upon the specialist rope-access skills of Skyriders to assist in removing and replacing 15 large windows. The challenge posed by the project was not only that the windows were in varied locations, but that access was a major factor in terms of safety and risk.
Skyriders was already familiar with the Hilton Garden Inn, as it had assisted with waterproofing work the year before, Marketing Manager Mike Zinn explains. Here the areas that had required attention lacked any straight vertical or horizontal surface, which made traditional access almost impossible. In order to enhance safety while working-at-height during, temporary rigging set-ups were erected to allow for sufficient deviation to access the areas that required attention.
Its latest scope of work focused on the window replacement specifically. “There was really no other equally safe or cost-effective means other than rope access to carry out this project,” Zinn stresses. A six-person technical team was dispatched to site to investigate the optimal method of removing the damaged windows and replacing them. This involved measuring the glass and cutting it to size on-site.
“We had to be extremely precise, both in preparing the new windows and fitting them, which required precision rigging on the part of our team. This was really a showcase project for the skill and dedication of all of our team members,” Zinn comments.