Scaffolding Solutions is excited to announce that our work on the Howard University Energy Plant Modernization has earned a 2023 Washington Building Congress (WBC) Craftsmanship Award in the Special Construction Category for Scaffolding and Rigging! Among ten entry categories, WBC received 231 nominations for the year. We are honored to be recognized as one of only three companies to win an award in this year’s Scaffolding and Rigging category.

WBC Craftsmanship Award Criteria

WBC Craftsmanship Awards are difficult to win; largely due to the WBC’s honorable inclusivity in granting eligibility for nominations. According to the WBC, “All craftsmen, whether employed on job sites, in plants, or in shops, performing work in the architectural, structural, mechanical, electrical or other general trades are eligible for nomination. Craftsmanship entries will be evaluated in person for aesthetics, the difficulty of execution, technical excellence, and overall quality of craftsmanship.”

Howard University Energy Plant Modernization Project

The purpose of this project was to perform extensive masonry repair to the entire exterior of the building’s chimney. Scaffolding was required for this project to provide hoisting of materials to the top of the chimney and access to the chimney above the fourth-floor roof for workers to perform repairs.

This project was challenging and required heavily engineered solutions. The primary challenge was the need for the alleyway below to be clear at all times. For this reason, scaffolding could not be built from the ground up and overhead protection for the alleyway was required. The chimney itself stands 130 feet tall, and the fourth-floor roof rests at sixty feet. These challenges were still no match for the Scaffolding Solutions team, who constructed an I-beam platform, system scaffolding to a height of 138 feet, cantilevered beams out on one side to support the scaffolding, and an overhead protection platform to allow for the safe completion of this project.