Webnet Balustrading at Ripon Cathedral
Cathedral Maintenance Walkways Secured with Jakob Webnet Wire Mesh
The Cathedral Church of St Peter and St Wilfrid, more commonly known as Ripon Cathedral, was built between the 13th and 16th centuries. Located in Ripon, North Yorkshire, the Grade I listed Cathedral is notable for its English Gothic style and welcomes over 100,000 visitors each year. Ripon Cathedral will be commemorating a great milestone this year, celebrating the 1,350th anniversary since the Cathedral was consecrated in 672AD. Marking the occasion with events including a festival weekend, keynote speakers and an art show, the Cathedral will be celebrating still being a welcoming space for prayer and reflection so many years later.
Discreet Balustrade in Cathedral by Jakob Rope Systems
Ahead of the anniversary celebrations, we specified, supplied and installed a balustrading system to provide protection on the elevated maintenance walkways at the Cathedral. As it is a listed building and of great architectural value, it was important that the balustrade system chosen to secure the walkways was discreet and didn’t detract from any of the Cathedral’s beauty.
Working closely with the Cathedral’s architects, we helped to specify a balustrading system that was discreet yet robust and secure, ensuring the safety of the building’s maintenance team. A crucial request for the balustrading was that from ground level, it was inconspicuous and didn’t obstruct the flow of light. The light, filagree structure of Jakob Webnet wire mesh provided the perfect infill for the balustrade, as while it is efficient at protecting people and objects from falling, it allows for high light transmission and is extremely discreet. Our design team paired round stainless steel balustrade posts, round handrail and connectors and fixings with the Webnet wire mesh to create a minimalist yet robust complete balustrading system.
Stainless Steel Balustrade in Cathedral by Jakob Rope Systems UK
The balustrade installation planning required in depth liaison between our project manager, operations manager, health and safety co-ordinator and lead installers due to the maintenance walkways being situated at height without edge protection. Our team decided the safest approach was for our team to wear harnesses with lanyards to anchor themselves to the Cathedral’s pre-existing man-anchoring system on the walkways. Additionally, our installers tethered their tools and equipment to the anchoring system to ensure nothing was dropped. As well as the height considerations, we had to tailor our installation schedule to fit around the services and events taking place in the Cathedral to ensure no disruption was caused.
Steel Balustrade Cathedral by Jakob Rope Systems UK
If you are working on a project requiring safety mesh for a bridge, car park or elevated walkway, please get in touch and our technical team will be happy to advise and put together a free quotation.
Details
Materials
1.5mm x 100mm Jakob Webnet wire mesh
6mm Jakob wire support ropes with clevis ends swaged onsite
Stainless steel square balustrade posts
Stainless steel tubular handrail
Architect: Caroe Architecture
Main contractor: Stone Technical Services
Installation: MMA Architectural Systems Ltd