{"id":516870,"date":"2025-03-31T10:45:57","date_gmt":"2025-03-31T09:45:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/?p=516870"},"modified":"2025-03-31T10:19:23","modified_gmt":"2025-03-31T09:19:23","slug":"scaffex-hails-opportunity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/sections\/long-reads\/scaffex-hails-opportunity-31-03-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"ScaffEx hails opportunity"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NASC\u2019s inaugural event featured talks on opportunity, pricing and technology in scaffolding<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Walking around Belfast, you won\u2019t see much scaffolding on the buildings. Construction started on only five major buildings in 2024, and many of the city\u2019s grand, ageing edifices have been left to fester. But for one day last November, a city\u2019s worth of access equipment could be found on the inside of Waterfront Hall.<\/p>\n

More than 500 people flocked to ScaffEx24, the National Access & Scaffolding Confederation\u2019s (NASC\u2019s) inaugural conference and exhibition. The day-long event was a clear statement of intent from a trade body keen to raise its profile. There were speeches from Build UK chief executive Suzannah Nichol and Construction Industry Training Board boss Tim Balcon, and a big-budget dinner and dance that lasted into the small hours.<\/p>\n

The conference theme was \u2018opportunity\u2019, and its maiden speech belonged to Connolly Scaffolding managing director Wayne Connolly, fresh from his inauguration as the NASC\u2019s next president. Connolly certainly knows how to seize an opportunity. Having moved into scaffolding from car repairs almost by accident, his \u00a37m-turnover firm really took off once it adopted system scaffolding in 2018. Few at the time were willing to change their way of working, and Connolly worried that retraining his 60-odd staff would be an insurmountable challenge. \u201cBut we did it, and it\u2019s one of the best decisions we ever made,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For Lee Rowswell, group director of GKR Scaffolding, scaffolding was an outlet for his ADHD \u2013 a neurodiverse condition affecting impulsivity and concentration. Scaffolding suited people like him, he said. \u201cConstruction attracts creative people, people who are focused on the detail, people who prefer to be active physical workers \u2013 these are neurodiverse strengths,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Later, Nichol called on attendees to hold firm when pricing jobs. \u201cHold your heads up, you\u2019re a valuable specialist trade,\u201d she said. \u201c[Clients] cannot build a job without you.\u201d Nichol flagged guidance published by Build UK in 2023, highlighting six contract terms to avoid to support a strong supply chain.<\/p>\n

After lunch, AT-PAC head of product and marketing Julio Black gave guests a primer on high-tech hype. Black encouraged firms to get to grips with existing digital platforms before investing in flashier tech like generative AI, but also hailed the potential of robotics for improving productivity and safety. \u201cThink about a future \u2013 not that far away \u2013 where manual labour tasks such as taking material off the back of a truck and passing it to scaffolders can be done much more efficiently,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is happening in other industries and it will happen in scaffolding too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following Black was a glimpse of what that future might look like. Yasuo Toyosawa, president of Japan\u2019s Scaffolding and Construction Equipment Association, described how Japanese firms are implementing 8D BIM, which digitally captures a project\u2019s safety information. Trainees in Japan use augmented reality to model how they respond to accidents. Attendees were treated to a graphic recreation of a virtual avatar falling off a scaffold from six different angles.<\/p>\n

In the evening, actor James Nesbitt hosted the Scaffolding Excellence Awards, and later Mike Tindall joined Denise van Outen in handing out individual awards.<\/p>\n

The NASC has bet big that its momentum will continue. The 2025 conference will take place under the vaulted arches of Manchester Central \u2013 a venue with five times the capacity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The NASC\u2019s inaugural event featured talks on opportunity, pricing and technology in scaffolding Walking around Belfast, you won\u2019t see much scaffolding on the buildings. Construction started on only five major buildings in 2024, and many of the city\u2019s grand, ageing edifices have been left to fester. But for one day last November, a city\u2019s worth …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":141524,"featured_media":516934,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false},"categories":[79553,559],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n