CPB Jersey Barrier Hoarding: Less Temporary Structure Around the Temporary Structure

How existing lifting anchors supported a wind-designed hoarding solution without drilling into the concrete barriers.

Temporary hoarding often looks simple once it is standing.  Getting it there can be another matter.

CPB Contractors needed timber hoarding installed above concrete Jersey barriers. A conventional approach would have required extensive drilling, timber framing and additional props to achieve the required wind-load performance.

CPB was already familiar with NON-DRILL and asked whether the existing lifting anchors in the Jersey barriers could provide another way to support the system.

Within 24 hours, a steel-post solution had been developed using those lifting anchors to support the timber hoarding and meet the project's required wind-load design.

The project reduced the amount of material and installation work involved and avoided drilling into the concrete barriers.  But the most interesting part of this example is not the speed of the design response.  It is the question that came before it.

Are we building another structure because we ignored the one already there?

Temporary works can accumulate quickly.A barrier needs hoarding. The hoarding needs framing. The framing needs props. The props need room. Suddenly a straightforward requirement has created a second structure around the first.

Sometimes that is absolutely necessary.  Sometimes it happens because nobody asked whether the existing structure could participate in the solution.

The Jersey barrier already had engineered lifting points.

NON-DRILL's approach was to investigate whether those connections could be used as part of the hoarding methodology rather than immediately introducing another fixing system.

That is the thinking we believe deserves to happen earlier.  Temporary works should not automatically create more temporary works.

The better question is:  What does the permanent or existing site infrastructure already give us?

Where there is an appropriate engineered connection available, it may provide a cleaner starting point for the next requirement.

That does not remove the need for wind-load design, engineering or project-specific assessment.  It simply changes where the design conversation starts.