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Repairing and cleaning the exteriors of high-rise structures is arguably one of the most daunting challenges in building management. With the potential for irregularly shaped buildings creating challenges when accessing the façade, to safety considerations inherent to any labor performed at height, a building project’s team must facilitate safe, successful work—all while achieving the project’s functional and aesthetic ambitions—with proper façade access systems.

These challenges can become less difficult when building teams plan façade access at the project’s design stage with help from Façade Access Solutions North America’s (NAM’s) Integrated Design Services (IDS) experts. To learn how, read more about the challenges and solutions to properly navigating the complexities of exterior building maintenance.

The Challenges Contractors Face During Post-Construction Building Maintenance

Some of the challenges in high-rise building maintenance are like any other commercial property. Environmental stresses including wind, sunlight, rain, and more can accelerate the deterioration of exterior structural components and require routine maintenance and regulatory compliance with OSHA, CCOHS or other standards that may apply to a project. 

When you contact Façade Access Solutions NAM’s IDS experts at the design stage, they can help you develop access systems that will help contractors navigate these issues, as well as additional factors particular to skyscrapers, including the following:

• Height: Buildings like the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, for example, stand at a height of 163 floors, multiplying potential hazards. For your tall commercial building, working with IDS experts at the design stage creates opportunities to plan façade access solutions that include building maintenance unit considerations that minimize risk and increase the likelihood of successful maintenance work.
• Exterior Construction Materials: Materials like glass, metal cladding, and composite panels can increase a façade’s aesthetic appeal, but also be delicate. Consulting with IDS experts early can help you devise façade access solutions with lighter materials that are easy on more fragile components while still facilitating contractors’ cleaning, repair, and maintenance responsibilities.
• Cost and Resources: The height and complex architectural designs of many high-rise buildings demand that maintenance contractors use special equipment like building maintenance units that can safely and efficiently move workers across building surfaces. While developing the right access system could be costly, working with Façade Access Solutions NAM’s IDS experts can give you access to consultants who can identify solutions that meet architectural, maintenance, and safety needs while staying within your project’s budget.

Addressing the Complexities of High-rise Maintenance

Even with these complexities factored in, there are multiple ways to streamline high-rise exterior building maintenance.

First, consider custom façade access design at your project’s design stage. Taking this step can help your architects determine access solutions your building will need for future maintenance without compromising on their artistic vision. It can also help architects execute a forward-thinking approach that accounts for contractors’ safety.

The next thing you should do is involve Façade Access NAM’s IDS experts in these early conversations. Whether the issues your team navigates include height, architectural design, materials, or even broader budget concerns, IDS experts can ensure that your team begins building with custom façade access solutions in place which both achieve the architectural vision while facilitating safe, successful maintenance operations after completion. They’ll do this by recommending equipment that meets your building’s specific needs while complying with any prevalent safety regulations. This early communication with façade access experts will help make it easier for contractors and architects to determine the right equipment for exterior building maintenance.

Get the Right Façade Access for Your Exterior Maintenance Needs with Façade Access Solutions

Façade Access Solutions NAM’s team of IDS experts is a part of Alimak Group, a leading partner in developing access solutions for high-rise buildings offering a range of equipment for all exterior building maintenance tasks. With our help, buildings receive custom solutions that comply with safety regulations, meet façade access functionality needs for maintenance and repair, and never compromise on teams’ aesthetic visions.

To see these results for your new building project,contact our IDS experts today.

Façade access functionality is one of the main concerns for teams, but it doesn’t have to be the only priority. When your architects and contractors are in the design stage of a project, consider environmental friendliness, too. Using sustainable façade materials might make you think you’ll have higher up-front costs than you would with traditional options, but there are multiple benefits—including cost effectiveness—that make sustainable façade access solutions an appealing option.

One of the best ways to learn about those benefits and receive sustainable recommendations for your façade access needs is to reach out to our Façade Access Solutions North America (NAM) team of Integrated Design Services (IDS) experts. When you include them at your building project’s earliest stages, they can deliver custom access systems for your structure that don’t compromise on architectural goals, that facilitate successful installation and maintenance operations, that comply with all necessary OSHA and CCOHS regulatory standards, and that are created with minimal environmental impact in mind.

Creating Potential for Architects

Solutions like that call for designing with energy-efficient façade materials (i.e. those that don’t require large amounts of carbon emissions to produce, and which are light enough that they don’t need too much energy to operate either). However, architects may not always be aware of all energy-efficient materials at their disposal. They might also have concerns about how well sustainable materials will integrate with elements like the curtain wall—will the access system clash with their artistic vision?

If this lack of expertise is causing hesitation or confusion, Façade Access Solutions NAM’s IDS experts can offer clarity, spelling out clear benefits that include:

• Innovation and Differentiation: Embracing energy efficient façade materials can also create opportunities to incorporate them elsewhere in the exterior. As a result, architects have a larger playground to operate in, one where they can integrate bio-based composites like bamboo for texture, kinetic facades made of lightweight fabrications, or green walls with vegetation that are not only beautiful but improve cooling and air quality for their surroundings.
   
• LEED Certification Potential: The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification is a major ranking system for green buildings, and an attractive designation for potential tenants that want their businesses to be seen as environmentally conscious organizations. Using sustainable façade materials contributes to points necessary for achieving certification, meaning that architects who include them in a project could help raise the building’s overall value.
   
• Lower Life-Cycle Costs: Architects who opt for sustainable materials do so when they know that these options are, generally speaking, durable and low maintenance. In the long-run, that means using more energy efficient façade materials can equal lower costs for maintenance, repairs, or replacements of materials throughout the structure’s lifespan.

Giving Contractors a Boost

To contractors responsible for everything from curtain wall installation to glass maintenance, or even access system repair, façade access functionality is key.

If contractors on your team are nervous about incorporating sustainable materials into the structure’s access system, Façade NAM’s IDS experts can provide information to build their confidence in the approach. They can also collaborate with your team (including contractors) to integrate sustainable materials that help workers achieve:

• Easier Material Sourcing: Growing demand for sustainable materials among architects and developers means more availability in the market, resulting in easier work for repair contractors locating them for maintenance throughout a building’s life.
   
• Improved Health and Safety: With fewer carbon emissions, sustainable façade materials can be potentially less harmful for curtain wall contractors during installation, for example, or for repair during maintenance procedures. When designing with environmentally friendly materials, IDS experts can recommend access systems with considerations like slip resistant surfaces to aid in worker fall protection.
   
• Streamlined Operations: From installation to upkeep and repair, using lightweight and modular sustainable materials for façade and access system design can make it easier for contractors to lift, load, place, or remove them as needed. This can lead to potentially reduced project timelines and, consequently, lower overall project costs.

Contact Façade Access Solutions NAM for Sustainable Façade Access Solutions

For years, the Façade Access Solutions NAM IDS team of experts has been helping architects, contractors, and more as they have created some of the most iconic structures throughout North America. With our help, buildings receive custom, regulation-compliant solutions, meet façade access functionality needs for installation and maintenance needs, and never compromise on teams’ aesthetic visions.

To see these results for your project with an environmentally sustainable approach, contact us today.

Embarking on a new commercial building project is full of exciting possibilities for the future, from the aesthetic vision as it comes to fruition, to the façade access equipment that will make that vision possible…and compliant with regulations.

It’s vital to consider the latter at a building’s design stage—not only to ensure that your façade access equipment solutions don’t compromise on the project’s artistic ambitions, but also to protect the construction and glazing contractors responsible who act on the architect’s goals.

That’s where the Façade Access Solutions North America’s (NAM) Integrated Design Services (IDS) experts come in. When you contact us at your building project’s earliest stages, our proven team can listen to your stakeholders’ needs, then return with recommendations that can help you stay ahead of safety concerns including regulatory compliance.

The Standards Your Team Needs to Know

To incorporate façade access safety into your building project’s design stage, you first need to remember the regulations & standards governing your work.

For example, while OSHA 1910.66 in the US sets numerous regulations affecting facade access equipment, these regulations can change depending on geography. When you include experts like Façade NAM’s IDS team, we can help you stay aware—and ahead—of any compliance concerns.

The Architectural Benefits of Compliance

When your team begins considering the regulatory requirements in place to protect workers, it becomes easy to see how your architectural ambitions benefit from maintaining compliance with local regulations.

These benefits include:

Efficiency: By considering compliant façade access equipment solutions early on, the project team saves itself from having to potentially retrofit systems into a design after the building’s completion. Preventing that means cutting the amount of downtime for the building, which in turn decreases the risk of accidents on the site. Early consideration also prevents a retrofit from reducing the façade’s exterior appeal or marring your architect’s initial vision.

Cost: Avoiding retrofits later helps reduce costs in the long-term. However, architects also benefit from considering façade access safety at the design stage because it helps them determine when they require custom access solutions, and grants them time to work with experts (like the Façade Access Solutions NAM’s IDS team) who can develop recommendations that fit the project’s budget.

Innovation: When an architect plans a building with many varying angles, heavy use of glazing and glasswork, or rounded, organic shapes, the project may require a custom façade access system. This presents an opportunity to work with integrated design experts to create a wholly unique access system. Achieving this can help architects position themselves as forward-thinking artists capable of keeping their buildings appealing well into the future.

Protecting Workers at Each Stage of Your Building Project

When you consider regulatory compliance at your building’s design stage, contractors win, too.

The benefits that contractors experience when you solve for compliant for façade access equipment early include:

• Streamlined Installation: When curtain wall contractors and other workers can know the façade access layout before construction starts, they can plan loading procedures and storage and materials, creating safer operations when they arrive to begin the project. This is especially good for glazing contractors due to their work with fragile and expensive glass panels.
   
• Faster Repairs: Compliant façade access systems benefit repair contractors by providing efficient designs that can help them easily access points of interest on a structure and quickly complete their tasks. When designed with expertise, access systems can control workers’ movements in ways that give them all the mobility they require without forcing them to divide their attention between maneuverability and sometimes intricate operations. 

By contacting Façade Access NAM’s IDS experts, you can provide these benefits to the contractors on your building project. Incorporating our team early also means that your contractors’ needs can be heard and accounted for before they begin their tasks. When an IDS team member is present at the design stage, they can hear what contractors need to load building materials and tools, access complicated parts of a building’s structure, and more safely and successfully.

Stay Ahead of the Curve with Façade Access Solutions NAM

Regulatory compliance isn’t a luxury for commercial building projects—it’s essential. That’s why the Façade Access NAM team is vital to ensure your project’s success. We have a proven history of developing custom solutions for everything from standard, traditional builds to the most unusual and artistic commercial properties in North America. With every project, our experts develop systems that prioritize compliant façade access safety and meet maintenance and repair needs while never compromising on a building’s aesthetic vision.

To learn more, contact our IDS experts and begin achieving these results for your project today.