Despite the size constraints of the Upper Road site, this week we managed to squeeze in a 35 ton crane and the erection of the Timber frame is now well under way.

 

Ground floor walls and first floor cassettes are being installed while the scaffolders start on the tubing for the 3rd lift which will be used to land the roof next week.

 

 

 

 

The scaffold around the buildings footprint has been the focus this week with the Timber Frame due next week the first couple of lifts will need to be complete to enable the Joiners to erect the frame.

 

Being such a small site the importance of keeping safe pedestrian access to and from the building is always an important consideration. So before the internal trades arrive on site in the up coming weeks O'Donnell's, our Groundwork specialists have been working diligently to lay as much of the drainage and surface water pipe work as possible before the site population increases.

 

 

It was always expected to be a messy start to the job in the fact that we encountered deep basements from previous buildings which had been demolished before Wates started on the project. A re-design on the upper plot meant a prolonged start however TKL managed to gain a few days coming into November. Unfortunately on the lower plot we again came across old basement which meant deeper than expected foundations. These had to be cast at a lower level then built up in mass blockwork to the underside of block and beam.

Storage of site materials is proving to be difficult due to the size of the site however the neighbour has been very helpful in letting us access our site through his land temporarily. On 12th November we will be placing block and beam floors.

 

 

 

Getting out of the ground has proven to be a challenging process making this week all the more rewarding, seeing the beam and block floor installed at the begining of the week followed by the preparation work for the concrete floor at the end of the week.

All went well in the start of the week and the weather stayed dry on Friday allowing the concrete slab to be poured.

 

 

The concrete foundations are now complete, although the excavations ended up being rather larger than hoped, due to the building that previously sat on the site being demolished.

The neighbouring land owner has kindly allowed us to use an area of his land, up to Christmas, so that the timber frame materials can be stored ready for erection, which has helped due to the tight nature of the site.

The concrete floor will be getting installed over the next couple of weeks with the scaffold and timber frame to follow.