Installation at a great height

A lofty height above Potsdam: It promised to be a project with a view. But the team of professionals from the Berlin SCHOLPP team didn’t have time for that. The floodlight systems at the Babelsberg football station were due a technical overhaul. System specialist BF-Systemtechnik GmbH & Co. KG from Berlin ordered installation support from SCHOLPP along with personnel and lifting equipment.

The company BF-Systemtechnik specializes in conveyor systems, stage technology and security, with a high level of consultancy and engineering expertise. It was commissioned by the stadium operator to carry out the technical overhaul and partial replacement of the floodlight systems at the Potsdam-Babelsberg football stadium. The engineers and technicians were supported with the installation and logistics by the SCHOLPP team in Berlin.

A focus on occupational safety: Installation at a great height

This project involved the dismantling of the mastheads and floodlight stages on all four lighting masts and then reinstalling them following the technical overhaul. The work was carried out on a step-by-step basis and therefore took a few weeks to complete. One noteworthy aspect of this project was the fact that the Berlin SCHOLPP team had to work at a great height of almost 40 meters. As well as carrying out the professional installation work, it was particularly important for the team to deploy maximum concentration and to work in a reliable fashion while strictly adhering to occupational safety and height safety regulations. To this end, scaffolding was erected around the masts up to a height of 24 meters by a scaffolding company, which made the work somewhat easier. For this reason, only the most experienced fitters were deployed for this project.

The main problem area with regard to the lighting systems were the folding joints on the four masts. Replacing these joints required a lot of metalworking. SCHOLPP carried out a range of accompanying tasks during the dismantling phase in collaboration with the BF-Systemtechnik team, such as detaching the cabling and removing the old cables, dismantling the floodlights (approx. 4 x 4 meters) and the mastheads (13 meters long), and taking them down with the mobile crane. The 4-metric-ton floodlights, i.e. the top part of the lighting system including the lights, were relocated to the construction site and professionally stored for later use. This was a necessary step that allowed for an external specialist company to replace the electric cables. The mastheads and joints were transported to Lutherstadt Wittenberg to be overhauled.

Smooth logistics, on-time production

SCHOLPP also coordinated the transport logistics between the site and the steel construction company, the use of the mobile crane and the crane cage as well as the positioning of additional consoles for the floodlight systems. And the Berlin SCHOLPP team also provided the necessary technical support as well as personnel for the reinstallation: installing new cabling and lifting, attaching and precisely aligning the mastheads and the floodlight platforms. Technical equipment was used to carry out the work, some of which was brought to the construction site from the SCHOLPP fleet in Berlin and some of which came from other service providers: various hydraulic rams and special tools from SCHOLPP, two mobile cranes and a crane cage from a crane company and the scaffold towers together with structural calculations from a scaffolding company.

The SCHOLPP fitters had the crane cage at a height of approx. 20 meters for the transportation of personnel, tools and small items. When working in the crane cage, particular attention needed to be paid to the weather, as the cage can easily move in windy conditions. It was therefore fixed to the mast in order to ensure that work could be carried out safely. For the fitters, tightening nuts with a high torque from a loose cage is no mean feat, and even with safety measures in place, the cage will always experience a bit of movement.

Navigating the precise timings for possible deployment on the construction site and coordinating delivery times for the overhauled floodlight systems posed a real challenge in this project, but thanks to good early planning, the team was able to ensure that the job went smoothly and was completed on schedule.