Vertical Access was retained by O'Donnell and Naccarato, the Owner's Representative working with VITETTA's Historic Preservation Program, to assist VITETTA in its investigation and documentation of existing conditions of the copper roofing on the dome of the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Philadelphia, PA. The scope of work for this survey included hands-on inspection of the copper cladding at the exterior of the dome, ultrasonic measurement of sheet metal thickness at representative areas of copper cladding and live-feed and recorded video documentation of existing conditions of typical areas from top to bottom. VA's investigation of the exterior dome of the Cathedral Basilica was undertaken to assist the project team consisting of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, the building's Owner; O'Donnell and Naccarato, the Owner's Representative; and VITETTA the Architect and Historic Preservationist contracted by the Archdiocese to complete an assessment of the 50-year old copper roofing on the dome to better understand its current condition.

More on the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul

We have recently finished upgrading our live-feed video setup. There is a new SONY HDR-FX7 camcorder and high-definition flatscreen monitor. These both create a picture for the client that is larger and of much better quality than ever before. We have also eliminated our old red and yellow cables for audio and video and replaced it with a 500' long section of Canare A2V1 cable, which has the audio and video sheathed into one cable. We have coiled this cable onto a reel making it much easier to deploy and retract for the person conducting the video documentation.


 

Vicente Galvan Bernal will be joining Vertical Access' staff as an intern architect for six months beginning in April. Vicente received an architecture degree in 2008 from the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Valencia (Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain). During his studies he worked in several architecture offices in Valencia, including Pateco Urban Office, CMD Engineering and Architecture and Jose Costa Architecture Office. Most recently, Vicente was an intern with Fernando Vegas & Camilla Mileto Associates in Valencia.

Vicente will be based in Vertical Access' New York office but will also be involved with work in Ithaca, NY. Vicente will participate in VA's survey work and report preparation from the New York office. As part of VA's continuing research into the construction and assessment of Guastavino vaults and domes, Vicente will coordinate and oversee the construction of a full-size mock-up of a Catalan vault. The mock-up will be constructed in Ithaca, NY by Spanish masons and will be used to provide a controlled environment for the investigation of appropriate non-destructive evaluation methods.

Vicente's internship is sponsored by the Spanish government as a means of providing young architects with international professional experience.

In January 2009, VA technician Mike Gilbert received his Society of Professional Rope Access Technicians (SPRAT) Level III certification. A SPRAT Level III technician (rope access supervisor) is designated as a rope access supervisor, qualified to assume responsibility for overall rope access job site safety and to perform advanced rescues from rope access systems. In preparation, Mike completed a 32-hour course in advanced industrial rope access techniques. The course was conducted in Reno, Nevada by a company specializing in rope access training, with a purpose-built indoor rope access training facility. The course curriculum focused on the skills and techniques required to meet the Level III certification requirements. After the course Mike passed an 8-hour SPRAT level III evaluation.

While in Reno, Mike also attended the annual SPRAT Conference. SPRAT's mission is to promote the development of rope access safety standards, primarily in the United States and Canada, by developing and promulgating consensus-based industry standards for rope access. The first day of the two-day conference comprised SPRAT committee meetings. Mike attended the Evaluations Committee meeting in the morning followed by the Standards Committee meeting later in the day. The second day of the conference was given to member presentations with topics including:

• Rope Access Applications on Hydraulic Structures
• NASA Gantry Crane Inspection Case Study
• Leadership in Rope Access
• Risk Assessment for Rope Access Safety
• Rope Access in the Entertainment Rigging Industry
• Implementation of Artificial High Directionals Within Rope Access Work
• Anne Curry On Rope: The Today Show Feature on the Crazy Horse Memorial

TPAS^TM is Vertical Access' system of direct digital annotation used in our investigations of buildings and structures. Vertical Access developed TPAS^TM to input both graphical and numerical data directly into AutoCAD, on site, using tablet computers and digital cameras. Along with project samples and other information about TPAS^TM, you can now view on our website an online demo that illustrates the features and functionalities of the system. The direct link to the TPAS^TM demo is http://www.vertical-access.com/tpas_demo/TPAS.htm.


 

Vertical has set up an RSS Feed to share our news with clients and friends as it happens instead of waiting every three months for a newsletter. The link for the feed can be found here: http://feeds2.feedburner/VerticalAccessNews?format=xml This news feed will not replace the newsletters, but will allow anyone who is interested to view our news as it is published.