Established in 1945, the NASC sets trading standards and provides a wide range of guidance for contractors and operatives.

Scaffold operations manager Billy Carson and assistant manager Sam Bleakley, both from Glasgow, currently undertake independent scaffold inspection for a range of clients as both are Advanced Scaffold Inspection accredited.

Marshall Construction has operated a specialist scaffold division for the past fifteen years - operating out of its depot in Alva - together with other divisions covering general building and plant & fleet.

Current clients for Marshall Scaffold include Fife, Clackmannanshire and Falkirk Councils, national housebuilders like Cala Homes, pharmaceutical company Macfarlan Smith and Marshall Construction itself.

Billy said: “Looking after Marshall Construction‘s scaffolding provision keeps us busy and clearly it’s an advantage for the company that we don’t have to hire in scaffold. But as a separate division we have our own thriving set of clients, such as many of the national housebuilders and other construction companies too across Scotland, such as Robertson Construction, Morrison Construction and the Bell Building Group.

“These companies are competitors to Marshall Construction but they don’t have their own scaffolding divisions so look to us for that expertise. We are happy to tender for work from very large construction firms in Scotland and the North East of England and we want them to know that we have the necessary equipment and skills base. Winning and retaining this type of work is very important to us in growing the division. We have done very well over the last four years to build up our client base to its present level.”

Sam, who has been with Marshall Construction for nine years, added: “Billy and I work well together and qualified in the Advanced Scaffold Inspection at the same time. It takes a bit of time as you pass the basic inspection first and then have to leave it a couple of years to gain even more experience before you then sit the next level. The course lasts two to three days each time. It is a coup for Marshall Construction to have two of us qualified in this as there are only around two training courses held each year with around a dozen people on each course.

“Basically, being Advanced Scaffold accredited means that we can offer a full design service with drawings and can suggest forms of scaffolding which will work for challenging projects such as scaffolding hanging over water or off cranes. We have also carried out a couple of projects at former whisky bonds and they can be very challenging and problematic too, due to the nature and size of the buildings.”

Billy and Sam hope to achieve membership of the NACS by next year.

They said: “This would be a great achievement for us. As a company Marshall Construction is hugely committed to the safety of its employees, its customers and the general public and has a full time safety team. All our scaffold operatives are already Construction Industry Training Board trained and registered and take part in a comprehensive ongoing training and development programme.”