Record scaffolding for Layher

By Batipole Edition Published on Sunday, July 4, 2010 at 02:00 AM

Photo credits : LAYHER

To enable roller skater Ta¨g Khris to achieve his feat at the end of May at the foot of the Eiffel Tower to celebrate the 5th anniversary of M6 Mobile, Layher designed a giant ramp 40 meters high. A difficult challenge, requiring compliance with the safety standards imposed by Paris City Hall and the organizers themselves, for the champion's safety.

Batipôle Editorial

LAYHER builds a Mega Ramp for a MEGA JUMP at the foot of the Eiffel Tower

For the 5 years of M6 Mobile, Taïg Khris, double world champion in roller skating on ramp and the most successful French athlete in extreme sports, will attempt the Saturday, May 29 at 19 p.m. de break the world record for roller skating. To surpass the last record held by Danny Way, he will launch himself from the first floor of the Eiffel Tower. This "Mega Jump" at more than 40 meters above the ground will be animated by a event village, fun and festive which will be installed at the foot of the tower from May 28 to 30. 80 visitors are expected to experience this exceptional event, placed under the aegis of the Ministry of Youth and Sports

An achievement for Taïg Khris as well as for LAYHER

The construction of the giant ramp, the largest ever built (30m high), was entrusted in its entirety (scaffolding structure and wooden part) to LAYHER:

• 100 tonnes of Universal® scaffolding,

• 70 tonnes of ballast

• a 9-tonne wooden ramp with a rolling surface of 400 m²

The work required very precise calculations from the LAYHER design office for its design and represents a real challenge in terms of safety, deadlines and finishing.

Total security

Taking into consideration the continued flow of traffic around the Mega Ramp and the queues for visits to the nearby Eiffel Tower, Paris City Hall has imposed drastic and necessary security requirements.

LAYHER has therefore worked to implement total safety on the ramp: Vertical and cantilevered nets surround the structure so that no element can possibly fall to the ground and the calculations go so far as to take into account extreme winds (150 km/h).

Another important aspect in terms of security: that of Taïg Khris.

The champion and the LAYHER design office considered all scenarios, whether the landing was perfect or not, and opted for tarpaulin guardrails made up of a plinth, 3 rails at 0,50 m - 1 m - 1,50 m - and a drumhead tarpaulin to send Taïg back to the center of the ramp in case the landing went badly.

At the end of the track, an airbag absorbs the champion's arrival at 100 km/h

The different infrastructures

The Mega crawls for the record,

A half-pipe for professional demos.
A “Rollerblade park” (roller skating rink) for young people, supervised by BE-qualified teachers
A mini-ramp for the final of the amateur competition; the qualifying phases will have taken place previously in skateparks and other regional competitions,

The M6 Mobile Mega Jump is an original event created by Taïg Khris, Jonathan Politur (Puzzle Media) and the Double 2 agency - also the event organizer.

The elastic attachment points of the airbag transfer several tons of force to the scaffolding, which has therefore been sized accordingly.

The safety of the fitters has not been forgotten. To avoid any risks when they are working on the structure under construction, LAYHER has designed it with alternating large mesh (3,07 m) and small mesh (0,73 m).

A race against time to assemble the scaffolding

The deadlines for the assembly of the whole project are very tight (9 days). No fewer than 18 assemblers have been working flat out since May 17, from 6 a.m. to 18 p.m. They will spend 5 days assembling the scaffolding structure and 4 for the ramp itself.

Impeccable finish

The ramp is made of curved tubes and horizontally placed wooden beams, on which are fixed sheets of plywood whose screws must not be flush to avoid any snagging on the champion.

It is therefore very meticulous work which must be carried out, however, within record timeframes.