Hi, everyone

It's been another good week as far as the weather and progress are concerned. The rain managed to synchronise with the work-shift patterns by falling during the night. A large amount of concrete was placed this week to the base slab of the Rapid Gravity Filters gallery area at the south end of the site, and to the remaining external wall of the Actiflo building at the north end of the site. Work continued to higher level slabs inside the Actiflo area, with formwork and steelfixing progressing apace. Photos are attached. Water testing to the Actiflo cells continued throughout the week.

We celebrated "International Women's Day" on Wednesday and I know there were a number of events organised to honour the celebration. I hope all who partook enjoyed the day. However, I'm thinking about lobbying all English-speaking Governments of the world to celebrate all women and not just those who hold dual citizenship status.

Have a great weekend.

PS Before any accusations of pedantry are levelled at me I'd like to point out that in our company announcement regarding Wednesday's celebration, the Spanish version for our Latin employees was correctly headed "Dia Internacional de la Mujer". I'm just saying..........!

Hi everyone,

It really feels like Spring now, even after the early frosts at the start of the week. Work has pushed on again with a lot of activity on the Actiflo high level formwork to the walkway soffits and steelfixing and formwork to the southern wall of the Actflo building (photo attached). Steelfixing has also continued to the base slab of the Rapid Gravity Filters at the south end of the site. The weather on Friday wasn't as bright as earlier in the week so I switched the camera to black and white to reflect the feel of the day and give a sort of nostalgic ambience to the photos. (In reality I don't know how I accidentally switched to B & W, but I like the look of them anyway).

Looking forward to over 300 cubic metres of concrete over two days next week.

It was World Book day on Thursday so to celebrate the coming of Spring:

The Tyne River stills flows through my home town
Rolling and tumbling on its way
Swirling around Wylam bridge piers
Where a boy fishes the morning away
His bicycle leans on an old tree
While the cars rumble over his head
A plane leaves a trail in an empty blue sky
And the young birds call out to be fed

It's a dream
Only a dream
And it's fading now
Fading away
It's only a dream
Just a memory without anywhere to stay….

(plagiarised from Neil Young)

At my age it's getting more difficult to remember not to forget to reminisce.

Enjoy the weekend

Geoff

Hi, everyone

Storm Doris turned out to be in a teacup for this part of the world, fortunately. We did suffer some delay caused by high winds early in the week, though, as the cranes are not allowed to operate in very windy weather conditions. Steelfixing continued to the Actiflo Gallery walls and to the base slab of the Rapid Gravity Filter Gallery. Formwork installation to the soffits (underside of the beams and slabs) to the high-level floors in the Actiflo building commenced and is progressing well. Steelfixing to these areas is due to commence next week. Water testing of the Actiflo tanks has commenced and all looks well so far for successful tests.

I don't know if the tail end of Doris is what's forecast for us tonight/tomorrow (or if it's another lady visiting) but get set to stop indoors. Stay safe.

Geoff

Hi, everyone

 I must apologise for not producing an update last week. The weather this week has been a vast improvement on last week - it's like a different climate. Work has continued over the past fortnight to concrete placement to walls in the Actiflo area at the north end of the site. Formwork erection has also been advanced to the southern walls of this structure.

In the south east corner of the site the base slab has been cast to the Rapid Gravity Filter area and steelfixing has continued to the slab areas to the higher level base north of this location. The attached photos show progress over the two weeks.

Hi everyone,

once again we've been concentrating on fixing reinforcement to the base slab of the Rapid Gravity Filter area of the site. I always feel sorry for the bears that have to handle steel reinfocement in the winter. The work has progressed well and we're hoping that with a good spell of weather a large area of the base slab can be concreted next week. Work has also continued to constructing the vertical maze of walls in the Actiflo area at the north end of the site.

I heard on the local news last night that there's a festival of music planned for Horsley ( I think that's the Horsley slightly north of the Village) in the summer (4-6 August). It looks like they've lined up a proper eclectic mix of acts and should bring a load of people to the area who haven't realised before now how beautiful it is up here ( I always think that that's a double edged sword). Unfortunately, I'm away on holiday at the same time ( I'll have to see if the boss wants to cancel). I'm sure it will be good for local entrepreneurs.

Enjoy the weekend.

Geoff

Hi everyone,

Over the last couple of weeks we have continued with construction of internal walls to the Actiflo area at the north end of the works. Work has also progressed quickly to the Rapid Gravity Filters area (see what I did there) at the south end of the site. Here we've concentrated on the concrete blinding, and fixing of reinforcement steel to the base slabs and wall starters. You can see a big change from the last update of 2 weeks ago. (see photos).

Yesterday a trial was carried out on behalf of the Environment Agency to monitor flows from the Works down the Kitty's Burn. These flows may occur very infrequently in future after completion of the works . The trial was agreed to be very successful by all parties concerned. The only downside was that the trial happened to coincide with the coldest day so far in a long time and some of us had to endure the cold weather for a few hours in static locations where the wind coming down the valley made conditions worse. I admit to not being a real Polar Bear.

Enjoy the weekend.

Geoff

Hi everyone

I hope everybody enjoyed the festive break (I know it seems like a long time ago now). Work to the scheme re-commenced on Monday and already it feels like we've never been away.

Work continued to install blinding concrete to the Rapid Gravity Filter area at the south end of the site. However, the weather in the latter half of the week has hampered progress, mainly due to the high winds which scuppered the use of the cranes. The photo of the horizontal wind sock does not lend itself to emphasise the reality of the wind speeds encountered.

A couple of delivery vehicles have recently inadvertently accessed the Treatment Works via Mill Way. These vehicles were not associated with the current scheme, but we have, on request, erected signs which are visible from both directions (east and west) to advise that access to the Works is not allowed via this route. (photo attached).

Have a nice weekend. Wrap up.

Geoff

Hi everyone

The site is now closed for the festive break. Work will recommence on Monday, 9 January, 2017.

Work has continued to the north and south of the site. I've attached some photos to show the progress.

My wife's friend sent us a Christmas card because she reckoned that it has a photo of me on the front. I do agree it does look like me (I even thought that she'd had one of those moonpig or similar ones made). However, I can assure everybody that it is NOT me. I've never owned a pair of shades like that, nor had a mullet. It looks more like my twin brother but he assures me that he's received no fees from Hallmark. I'll leave him to take up the legal battle if he so wishes. Photo of said card attached.

Have a lovely Christmas and New Year.

All the best!

Geoff

Hi, everyone,

the unseasonally mild weather this week has introduced a raging contagion to the incubator (otherwise known as the site office). However, the site team has remained resolute in the face of physical adversity (aka tickly coughs).

This week we have continued with formwork and steel reinforcement erection to the southern walls of the Actiflo building at the north end of the site (see photos). We continued with placing of blinding concrete to the base of the Rapid Gravity Filter area at the south end of the site (see photos).

Next week the intention is to place concrete to the Actiflo walls and to complete placing blinding concrete to the RGF area.

Apparently there are some new £5 notes going into circulation (in fact one was released last week in a shop in Kelso) that could be worth £20,000 each. The source of the excitement is some micro engraving (5 mm high) on the transparent part of the note showing a portrait of Jane Austen. That's my weekend sorted with a pin and a magnifying glass if that's all it takes!!!!

Have an enjoyable weekend.

Geoff

Hi, everyone

When I mentioned winter being here last week I realised earlier this week that I was premature and the official start was yesterday, 1 December. Anyway, we're now in mid-winter and the weather has been kind all week. The formwork has been stripped from the concrete walls placed last Friday and re-erected further south for the next walls to the Actiflo area. We commenced this week placing blinding concrete to the Rapid Gravity Filter area to the south end of the working area. This will give extra stabilisation to the excavated slopes and provide a good clean working surface for future slab construction.

Access scaffolding and walkways are now being erected in the northern cells of the Actiflo to allow completion of minor intrnel concrete walls.

When I took the first photo of this week's collection I thought the shot in the viewfinder was like a New York skyline. When I downloaded the photo, however, it's more like Rotterdam docks. Maybe that's just my dodgy peepers. First we'll take Manhattan, then we'll take Berlin.

Have a good weekend. Surely it's still too early for Christmas tree erection?

Geoff