Sometimes a specific type of scaffolding is common because the equipment is readily available and a lot of people know the system. You may already be familiar with these regional differences, like Kwikstage in Australia and Scotland, as well as tube and clip in England and Wales. There is a lot of local expertise on the intricacies of each system, as well as local codes written with these systems in mind.
Depending on where you’re working in the world, different types of scaffolding systems will be more common. In Scandinavia and Northern Europe where labor is very expensive, aluminum scaffolding is becoming more common. Since aluminum is lighter than steel, and most scaffolding has to be manually lifted to be put in place, lighter scaffolding means that the scaffold can be built faster, which reduces labor cost.
In some countries, aluminum is expensive and labor is much more affordable, so wooden poles and bamboo is fairly common. As a designer, make sure that you’re choosing the scaffolding system that works best for your project and follows local regulations.
