Haki Instrumental in Storkyrkan 

Located in Stockholm’s up-market Gamla Stan (Old Town), the Storkyrkan is the city’s oldest church with a history dating back to 1306. Such is its importance to Sweden’s heritage, the appearance of this 14th century church has changed as time has unfolded, with strong modification undertaken in the opulent, architecturally-ambitious Baroque period. To restore the Storkyrkan to its original exterior it was crucial to select quality, market-leading scaffolding and temporary access solutions that would enable restoration work to be completed as seamlessly as possible. As an expert in its field, HAKI was more than capable of rising to this special challenge. 

For this project the church’s entire façade, roof, tower and spire will be renovated, as over time the Storkyrkan’s emblematic copper roof has faded, with exposure to Sweden’s harsh winter weather contributing to the façade’s spalling. 

To ensure this sensitive construction work can be completed on-time and to budget without compromising safety, HAKI is collaborating with its client scaffolding specialist, Sydställningar, to deliver high-quality temporary access solutions. As a pioneer of technology in the scaffold industry, HAKI is utilising its BIM tool to attain 360-degree visibility of the challenging structure, most of which predates building standards as we know them today. This tool enables HAKI to produce a virtual replica of the Storkyrkan’s exterior so its engineers can design a true-to-life blueprint that will enable 95% accuracy on the delivered materials. 

HAKI’s designers use a point cloud system to produce raw data from the 3D scan of the Storkyrkan. As the data is stored on the cloud it can be easily imported and uploaded into HAKI BIM, a plugin which is hosted on Autodesk Revit, giving designers a holistic and scalable image of the structure at hand. 

Speaking of the use of technology, Sebastian Moa, VDC Engineer at HAKI says: 

The accuracy and level of detail the 3D BIM model offers will make the scaffold design far easier and safer to install for Sydställningar’s team. The age and sheer size of the church, not to mention the intricate, uneven details of its exterior, means it would be highly difficult to achieve the desired outcome without technology. An added challenge is the Storkyrkan’s location and budgetary constraints; it is in the middle of a busy city with typically narrow, medieval streets that would make it impossible to install scaffolding traditionally within the desired timeframe. The 3D model of the Storkyrkan’s scaffold design therefore, will improve the time and quality of installation. 

As well as using HAKI’s technology, the project will feature its products. HAKI Universal system, a safe, fast and light solution, will be applied around the body of the church, with HAKI’s weightless 750 roof system enclosing the tower. 

It will be a small roof system, but due to the Storkyrkan’s height we had to use a solution that would attend to the wind loads and even snow in the coming months. Both the HAKI Universal and 750 roof systems are versatile and flexible, and easy to adapt to a structure that isn’t straight. As well as reducing hammer action, the hook-on method of the Universal solution uses minimal components, enabling even the most complex structures to have a simple scaffold design. 

With the southside of the church renovation now complete, the next phase of the project will be the Storkyrkan’s tower. Here, HAKI’s 750 roof system will come into its own, and is anticipated to be in situ for up to eight months when renovation work begins in December 2020. The company will regularly maintain and monitor the solution so it performs as intended for the duration. Temporary works typically have a two-year lifecycle but, impressively, a system such as HAKI’s 750 system has an anticipated timeline of five years, creating a safe access environment for the projects’ renovation teams even at great height. 

A landmark project for HAKI, the presence of its quality scaffold solutions and utilisation of market-leading BIM technology will ensure the Storkyrkan’s delicate restoration can be completely safely and efficiently, bringing a much-admired cultural emblem back to its original glory.