Sidewalk Sheds

The city is testing the waters for a new look to the boxy, dull-colored sidewalk scaffolding sheds that fill the streets of Manhattan. Currently, about 4,500 of these aesthetic gems are set up in the city.

Patricia Lancaster, the commissioner of the city’s Department of Buildings, today announced a series of scaffold measures including the planned test of a prototype design of a sidewalk shed—one built “to improve pedestrian safety, increase natural light on the sidewalk, and improve the streetscape around construction sites,” according a press release.

Ms. Lancaster also announced a 30-day crackdown on unsafe scaffolding, a move that comes after the unsteady scaffold-related death of a worker at a Brooklyn construction site last month.  read more »