Maintenance of Wooden Benches for Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE)

Description

We require our sponsored wooden benches to be maintained, as they are exposed to all weathers in all seasons. We currently have 95 varnished benches and 60 unvarnished benches. For varnished benches we require the following: Maintenance at an approximate rate of 20 – 30 benches per year (this number may decrease throughout the duration of the contract as we plan to replace all varnished benches with unvarnished ones in the long term); Steps for maintaining the benches: Wash with warm water and mild soap Fill any cracks in the wood Sand any loose paint and areas of bare wood Clean off dust from sanding Use Sikkens Cetol HLS Light Oak or equivalent on any bare wood and leave to dry Then apply 2 coats of Sikkens Cetol Filter 7 Plus or equivalent on the top side of the bench, the sides of the rails, plus legs and any worn areas on the rear of the back and underneath if required. For continuity, we currently use the products “Sikkens Cetol HLS Light Oak” and “Sikkens Cetol Filter 7 Plus”. Any alternative product used must be consistent with this. We will consider alternative products if you can demonstrate that they meet the above requirements at your own cost. We are unable to provide an undercover location on-site to allow the benches to dry, so the preferred method would be for the supplier to uplift the benches, maintain them, and return the benches within 6 weeks. Ideally two or more benches would be uplifted at any time. And for unvarnished benches: These benches are currently untreated and we are seeking to get them all oiled in Year 1. Year 1’s initial maintenance of: Light sanding, followed by Three initial coats of Osmo UV Protection Oil or equivalent; After Year 1, we anticipate that each unvarnished bench would need to be oiled with just one coat every two years (unvarnished bench numbers will increase as the contract continues); This maintenance can be done in situ, provided weather permits. We additionally request an annual survey with a representative from our Estates team to identify the year’s maintenance priorities.