Who you gonna call?

We received an urgent call from the Glasshouse International Centre of Music on Saturday to see if we could help and remove a failed glazed unit to the west elevation of the building. The call came in at approximately 10am and we were on site by 10:45.

The strong westerly wind blowing along the Tyne Gorge had put out the already failed unit, caused by nickel sulphide inclusion, leaving about 30% of it lying smashed along the pavement and the rest hanging precariously in the wind. The Last night of the proms was scheduled to be performed that evening to a sell out crowd and the BBC broadcast unit were set up to film.

A couple of security guards had been deployed to keep any passing members of public at a safe distance from the “crunch” zone. Fortunately an exclusion zone was already in place beneath the failed unit as It had initially show signs of failure10 days previously and was due to be removed in more managed environment with a 30M MEWP. Nobody had anticipated a strong warm Westerly wind gusting at up to 43mph, especially in late July.

Big question, how do we effectively remove the remaining shattered unit? Far too windy to deploy a MEWP and at such short notice highly unlikely we could get one, especially on a Saturday. We decided the only option open to us was to deploy a 65ft carbon fibre telescopic waterfed pole and use it with some careful and skilful manipulation as a hammer/blunt instrument to knock the unit out to the ground.

Not a terribly pretty method to carry out the task but ultimately effective. Full dynamic Risk Assessment was carried out and documented a crude but essential way of assessing risks in such a situation. Full PPE was selected and on the van all ready to go. Who do I call to assist, Jason Wrightson, Saturday morning 11:00h and fresh in from coaching his Son’s Saturday morning football team (Dudley Juniors)!

With the winds gusting so strongly at times it was a two man job to control the pole, every flick of the pole had to be perfectly timed to maximise the effect of the brush head to act like a rubber mallet, at times large sections of glass shards came showering to the ground. 3 hours later we had successfully nibbled the unit back to the frame and swept clear the bottom edge to ensure there were no remaining loose shards.

Bin fulls of glass were recovered from the surrounding area before we left site. Fortunately only the outer unit had failed so the building remains weather proof, the Proms was able to proceed and the Public enjoyed a great show... oblivious to the drama earlier in the day, and quite right to!