British School at Rome

Sector: Historic Buildings

Products: LVB and single anchor points

Location: Rome

Date: 2013 - 2015

The valley that lays in between the Parioli district and the Borghese Gardens, namely Valle Giulia, hosted the International Exhibition of Art in 1911 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the unification of Italy. On the following year, the British Pavillion designed by British architect Sir Edwin Lutyen on the occasion, was taken over by the research centre for archaeology, history and the fine arts British School at Rome.

CUSTOMER NEEDS:

• On the occasion of a major project of energy rehabilitation of the building and in order to secure future maintenance works, the customer needed a fall protection system on the whole roofing. However, due to the artistic and cultural value of the building, it is bound by the Superintendent of fine arts of Rome, therefore it was mandatory to choose a fall protection system with a very low visual impact so as to not impair its aspect.
• Sicurpal participated to the tender for providing a lifeline company that would design and install the fall protection system, putting LVBD forward, as it ensures both safety and low visual impact.
• LVBD is the perfect solution for historic and cultural building thanks to the high quality of its material (AISI Type 304 Stainless Steel), to its small dimensions and its particular installation under the ridge tiles, that ensure an almost complete invisibility of the anchor. Any damage to the roof is avoided because, should a fall occurr, the fall energy is distributed on the whole structure instead of only on the anchors, thanks to the extreme flexibility of the LVBD plates. Moreover, the double LVBD lifeline allows users to work on both gables of the roof while using only one anchor.
• The request was to secure the roofs of the three wings East, North and West on the back of the frontal pavillion which surround the internal courtyard in a C-shape.

OUR SOLUTION: LVBD installed with load distribution plates

• Sicurpal won the tender because LVBD has passed judgment as the perfect solution to match all the customer’s requirements, from the points of view of visual impact, safety and fixing methods.
• In order to solve the problem of the reduced load-bearing capacity of the supporting structure, Sicurpal installed load distribution plates on two beams so as to create the adequate support for the installation of all anchor devices.
• The double anchor plate LVBD has been installed under the three ridges in order to create three separate lifelines, totaling 11 plates.
• Single anchor points have been installed in order to solve pendulum effect on the roof corners: STC installed under roof tiles and STR installed both on gables and on the roof of the of the protruding part of the Western wing.
• In order to secure the walkway from the access (i.e. the flat roof of the frontal pavillion) to the lifeline, Sicurpal installed fall arrest eyebolt anchor points.