The small town of Otterfing is the northern gateway to the Bavarian district of Miesbach. With a population of 5,000, it is situated between Munich and the Alps, which seem close enough to touch when the weather is right. The Catholic church of St George, built in the late Gothic style around 1530, stands in the middle of the cemetery and with its 40 metre high bell tower is a prominent landmark that can be clearly seen from afar. Woodpeckers and exposure to the elements have taken their toll on the wood shingles over the years and the tower roof is now in need of general refurbishment. Specialists from Gerüstbau Westermaier GmbH of Bockhorn, a good 60 km away, have already taken on similar scaffolding challenges in recent years while working on other projects in the local region. Franz Westermaier Senior and Franz Westermaier Junior are the firm’s joint Managing Directors. The decision to use a 3D laser scan as the basis for planning and the first-ever deployment of around 40 tonnes of Layher’s modular access system for facades AGS were what made the Otterfing assignment unique.
“To get straight to the point, the AGS System convinced us both in terms of handling and because it combines easily with our other Layher material – we’ll definitely be using it for more projects in the near future”, says Managing Director Franz Westermaier Junior in conversation with our Area Sales Manager, Ardian Gashi. In order to comply with current safety regulations, the Bavarian scaffolders opted for the modular access system for facades AGS made by Layher, whose AGS standard and AGS guardrail permit assembly from secured levels. An external platform stairtower and additional scaffolding construction hoist facilitate access and material transport.
Optimal combination of safety and productivity
“As part of Allround Scaffolding and with its simple basic principle, the AGS System is not only very straightforward to assemble but also very efficient and maximally safe”, comments Adrian Seuß, the foreman in charge at Westermaier, who erected the scaffolding together with four colleagues in just over three weeks. “What’s more, the AGS standard has the same load-bearing properties as the Allround standard LW. And thanks to the integrated Allround rosette, we can connect standard Allround components and mix them with our existing material”, Franz Westermaier adds. “We see the AGS System as a smart investment in our Layher material pool and, as such, in the future.”
Two guardrail variants for any scaffolding task
The red levers at the AGS guardrail connection enable the guardrail to be secured without tools during assembly. They remain closed during advancing fitting and removal from the secured level. Opening the bar allows the AGS guardrails in Otterfing to be removed quickly and easily once the scaffolding is complete – again, with no need for tools – for instance, in order to supply material to the construction site or dismantle the bell. If this is not desirable for safety reasons, the AGS guardrail Fixx can be utilised instead for a permanent guardrail solution. The matching AGS double end guardrail secures the open ends of the AGS System and can likewise be assembled quickly and easily from the secured level without additional couplers while advancing.
3D laser scan makes a lot of things better – and anything possible
“As with many historic buildings, no reliable plans or structural analyses exist for the church in Otterfing”, the Managing Director explains. “That’s why we took Layher’s advice to have the church scanned by Layher 3D laser scanning experts from Eibensbach as a basis for planning.” That data was then used to generate a digital twin and plan the scaffolding for the tower in 3D in LayPLAN CAD, right down to the
last detail. “That way, we’re much more efficient from the point of view of both material logistics and assembly, and we avoid any unpleasant surprises on the construction site”, Franz Westermaier Junior emphasises. “It often happens with historic buildings that the structure we’re obliged to deal with in reality has little or nothing to do with the original plans. In that case, a flexible response to each individual situation is called for. Apart from costing time and money, without the umpteen standard components in the Allround System that wouldn’t even be possible at all.”
The strengths of the Layher Integrated System
Planning in 3D is a good idea whenever the geometry of a building is complex and there are numerous interference contours that make it difficult to erect scaffolding. If no 3D-files of the Since the AGS System is fully integrated into Layher Allround Scaffolding, any system components can be used. In Otterfing, for example, the top section of the tower is octagonal in shape. The resulting corners were a very simple matter to close using U-steel decks 45°. In view of the tower’s unclear structural properties, the top section of the scaffolding also had to be shored with Allround brackets fastened to the 1.3 metre thick tower wall. The modular Allround System includes suitable inner brackets, which enable the scaffolding to be adapted to the spire’s geometry step by step all the way up to the tip, ready for refurbishing.
Partnership going back more than 35 years
When Franz Westermaier Senior – a master butcher by trade – founded his scaffolding business back in 1988, the Deutschmark was still around and the Berlin Wall still standing. At the time, no one could have imagined that, today, the firm would be operating very successfully as a specialist for new building construction, monument preservation, refurbishment and industry on 6,000 m2 of premises in the Greater Munich area. “From the outset, the scaffolding components that my father bought second-hand were always Layher material”, Franz Westermaier Junior recalls. “And there’s never been any doubt in my mind that Layher, who were the first provider of a revolutionary modular system with Allround Scaffolding, offer better solutions and better quality than anyone else in the market.” It comes as no surprise to learn that the Westermaier yard is occupied exclusively by Layher material. Layher Area Sales Manager Ardian Gashi is in no doubt: “We believe it’s the partnership with companies like Westermaier that’s the basis for our success. After all, frank, two-way communication between us as manufacturers and the professionals working on the construction site is fundamental to our ability to keep on developing even better solutions.”
