Singapore climbers add rooms

Demand for more living space in Singapore is driving growth in the mast climber rental market, according to local access rental company and Oy Scaninter Nokia dealer Scan Platform Systems, writes Claire Symes.

'The Government's Housing Development Board's (HDB) ongoing investment plans include adding extra rooms - known as Space Adding Items (SAI) - onto existing apartment blocks and a lift upgrading programme (LUP),” said Scan operations manager Mr Toh Kah Tiam. 'Upgrading work has been underway for some time, but the HDB has recently announced another 10-year programme to continue the upgrading work.”

According to Mr Tiam, construction of most SAIs and some LUPs is the main use of mast climbers in Singapore. Cranes position the precast concrete SAI units but operatives work from mast climbing platforms to attach them. The HDB started to move from using scaffolding over to using mast climbers for the upgrading work in 1993 in a bid to boost efficiency and safety.

Scan was established in Singapore in 1991, importing and renting out Scanclimber working platforms and started out with 10 units and now has just over 100. The average height of units rented out by Scan is 50 m - ideal for the standard 15-storey apartment blocks in Singapore - but the company can also supply units up to 100 m.

Mr Tiam claims that Scan has around a 50% share of the mast climbing rental market and the company has two main competitors. 'The mast climber rental market in Singapore is fairly well established,” he said. 'There are around 300 mast climbers in the country, which given its small size, is pretty significant.

'Due to the competition, rental rates in Singapore are quite low, but we are hoping to grow our share of the mast climber market by finding alternative applications for the equipment, such as ship building and maintenance.”