If you’ve been to New York, there might be something that catches your eye more than impressive skyscrapers. You’ve already seen them in dozens of movies, but one of the world’s most iconic cities is also famous for a less spectacular phenomenon: the scaffolding that covers a large portion of its buildings. It is enough to take a walk through almost any street of the city, especially in the Manhattan area, to notice the hundreds of scaffoldings and nets that cover the facades of many buildings.

And this is interesting for two reasons: They are almost never removed, and they are found only in buildings under construction.

It was reported that they were removed. It’s normal to wonder what will happen with scaffolding in New York. The problem isn’t too much, it’s too much. It is estimated that the almost permanently installed piers would be approximately 640 kilometers long when placed one after the other, and many of them have been standing for years. According to a map prepared by the New York City Government, there are more than 9,000 piers in the five boroughs. They have basically become part of the city’s never-sleeping landscape.

So much so that the city began to recover and a few months ago, news came to the fore that the 100-meter-long pier, which had been standing in the same place for 15 years, had been removed. Authorities have confirmed that these are unsafe spots for pedestrians as they can be sources of crime, and 270 of these structures have been removed in recent weeks.

Local Law 11. But the real question may be why the city is pushing to install so much scaffolding, turning some sidewalks into near-underground passages. It turned out to be his first and last name: the Frontline Safety Act, or Local Law 11. It was originally Local Law 10, which was implemented in 1980 after a young woman walking on the sidewalk died after being hit by a car. dislodged piece of wall. It should be noted that many New York facades are made of brick.

According to this regulation, all buildings with more than six floors were required to undergo periodic facade inspection. This had to be completed every five years, with a detailed report submitted to the authorities. If any problems were found, the owner was required to make the necessary repairs immediately.

Money. The problem, obviously, is that repairing the damage costs money. Keeping buildings in good condition is expensive, and restoration and maintenance takes time, given that many buildings in the city are very old. The cost is so high that there are owners who decide to postpone the process but leave the scaffolding installed because this way debris is prevented from falling on passers-by. Moreover, it is cheaper to leave the scaffolding there (some even illuminate the street with their own lighting) than to face the cost of work on the building.

Security. To understand how ingrained scaffolding is in New York, we just need to realize that it has a name: scaffold blightthis will become a “pier plague”. This is not something everyone in the city is happy with, but it is a necessary element to prevent deaths like those that led to the creation of Local Law 10 40 years ago.

Are there alternatives to these structures that are ugly, damaging to businesses and a source of crime? For example, cries. Instead of installing full scaffolding, some companies use protective netting or netting that attaches directly to the building façade. These heavy-duty nets are capable of holding small to medium-sized debris, preventing them from falling onto streets without the need for bulky structures, and are more inconspicuous than scaffolding. They can also be installed and removed more easily.

problems. As we said, New York is determined to clear its streets of these masses of metal and wood (in some cases), but it does not compromise on the safety that scaffolding implies for pedestrians. The problem is that there are a number of factors that delay building maintenance work.

We have already stated that these are expensive and frequent repairs, but we also need to take into account that the Covid-19 epidemic has led to the postponement of many projects, thus creating a bottleneck in the system due to the accumulation of pending works. There is also a delay in building inspections, which means they must remain installed. Add to that delays in construction permits and even possible labor shortages.

We must not forget that these maintenance works must also affect the pace of such a densely populated city as little as possible, so cutting down streets for long periods of time to improve a facade is another element added to the list of difficulties already mentioned. And after all, although hundreds of scaffoldings have been removed recently, thousands of scaffoldings that have already become iconic in the New York landscape remain installed.

Image | hiku2

in Xataka | For decades we climbed this New York skyscraper without knowing that the screws holding it in place would not hold up.