Rope access inspectors have scaled London Stadium’s 30m-high roof to clean and survey its steel structure.
The job involved a team of six rope access specialists and six elevated platform technicians from structural services contractor CAN, part of the RSK Group, who inspected the former Olympic Stadium’s steel roof framework.
“The condition of the paint is an important part of maintaining the steel – it not only looks great from an aesthetic point of view, but also serves to prevent corrosion,” explained project manager Louis Thomas. “Where the team identified defects in the paint, this was cleaned and corrected to avoid potential corrosion.”
The outer areas of the stadium were accessible by an elevated platform extending to 50m above. However, due to different floor constructions across the stadium and weight restrictions, some areas were unsuitable for this access method.
Accessing the roof structure
To counter this, the rope team accessed the roof structure, setting up and anchoring to the steelwork itself. Furthermore, the team’s usual inspection approach of abseiling down the structure was not possible as the metal structure sat above the stadium’s roof line.
Instead, “technicians first sent ropes over the top, climbed up the steel structure and then manoeuvred between structural bays along horizontal tensioned ropes and spanset ratchet strap anchoring systems to carry out the work”, said Thomas.
Due to time constraints, the team also had to rejig its cleaning strategy. “It became apparent that the original plan of hand cleaning was not practical from a time management perspective,” Thomas said. “With a set window to carry out the work, we needed something that was time-efficient but also delicate enough not to cause damage. Jet washers were effective for this, and it was possible to use integrated water bowser, pressure washer and generator units in combination with the elevated platform set-up to reach all areas.”
