Hello everyone, quick introduction; I am Brian Hall the customer service officer for Interserve, really pleased to get involved with the Horsley upgrade.

Last week myself and a group of staff from the Horsley Water Treatment works took a day of our time to do some work on the car parks

at the rear of the Womens Institute and The Hearth in Horsley village. All of our staff were keen to put something back into the local community for the patience and friendship shown to us while carrying out the upgrade. Both locations are fantastic resources for this lovely village and it was a pleasure for us to do some work here. 

We spent the day cutting back old vegetation, cutting and trimming back grass, pulling away moss and ivy from walls, replacing rotten wood borders and laying fresh gravel. We were lucky to have a fine day before the weather changed.

We would like to say a big thank you to the ladies at the WI and the staff and volunteers at the Hearth for their help and cooperation while we did this work, especially the lovely all day breakfast we had after work at the Hearth!

Hi, everyone.

The main goal this week was to place concrete to the next lot of walls to the Actiflo area at the north-east corner of the site. The heavy rainfall on Monday and Tuesday tried hard to defeat our aim. However, after a sterling effort by the lads on site who worked through the inclement conditions, we completed the wall pours today using a concrete pump (see photos). Well done, lads!

We continued in the south end of the site with excavation to formation level (underside of the blinding concrete) to prepare for placing of blinding concrete in that area.

The weather in the latter part of the week was in complete contrast to the early days' rain. Friday in particular proved to be a glorious sunny November day, after the early morning fog obscured the Tyne valley (see photo). Reminiscent of autumnal Austria (if you ignore the scaffolding - oh to be conversant with Photoshop now that winter's here!).

Aufwiedersehen. Mach Spass!

Geoff

Hi everyone

Latest update on Horsley WTW below:

Work has continued to wall construction to the Actiflo area at the north west corner of the site. Work continued also to the ground anchor installation at the south end of the site. It is hoped to complete this work tomorrow (Saturday) and to commence work on blinding concrete next week. See photos attached.

Some of the site team enjoyed a break from work on Wednesday, when they carried out some community work in Horsley village. A report on the work carried out will be published separately.

Have an enjoyable weekend.

Geoff

Hi everyone,

latest update for Horsley WTW Upgrade follows:

I hope everyone enjoyed last weekend's fireworks in the cold without mishap.

Following last weekend's downpours the previously - installed temporary land drain around the periphery of the works area proved inavaluable in keeping the ground conditions as dry as could be expected.

Works continued to the base slab and walls to the Actiflo area in the north-west corner of the site. The base slab is now complete with wall construction progressing well. (Photos attached).

To the south end of the site work continued to install ground anchors. it is hoped to complete this stage of the work by Friday, 18 November, 2016. This will be followed by placing of blinding concrete to the base area of the proposed Rapid Gravity Filters. In this case "blinding" is not a colloquialism for some form of excellence. "Blinding" is a thin layer of concrete placed on the excavated strata below the proposed concrete slabs to be constructed in the future. This layer gives a seal to the excavated layer to protect it from further inclement weather. It also provides a clean, level surface for future works activities.

Some further rock anchor installation will be carried out over the weekend. (Saturday morning only).

Have a nice weekend.

Geoff

Hi everyone, please find below the latest update on the Horsley WTW upgrade for week ending 4 November, 2016.

Works continued to the north end of the site with steelfixing and formwork erection to base slabs and walls for the Actiflo area.

At the south end of the working area installation of ground anchors continued for the Rapid Gravity Filters base. As I mentioned on an earlier update these are being installed to prevent the building from floating (in cases of high groundwater levels).

Please find some photos attached showing progress to date.

Enjoy the weekend fireworks , remember - be safe. If you're lighting any bonfires don't forget to check for hedgehogs before ignition.

Regards

Geoff

Hi everyone. My name is Tom Hornsey; I study civil and structural engineering at the University of Leeds and am currently on a placement year with Interserve. I am working with other engineers to undertake the surveying and setting out of the Actiflo and RGF structures. I will be going into my 4th and final year of study upon completion of the placement.   

Below are the latest updates for the construction of the Horsley WTW upgrade.

Further developments have taken place in the Actiflo area. As previously stated, the concrete for the walls of the coagulation tanks in streams 2 and 3 was poured last Friday 21st October. The formwork for these was built just short of the turn in the walls. A vibro poker was used to remove any air voids and the top surface was subsequently finished with a steel trowel. The concrete was left to harden and set over the course of the weekend, allowing the shutters to be stripped on Monday and Tuesday of this week. On Wednesday, construction of the main walls continued. Steel fixing has taken place where the walls surround the flocculation tanks; some of the formwork for these has also been lifted in. On Thursday and Friday, the steel strips for the coagulation tank inside walls of streams 2 and 3 were torn out. The rest of the steel for these walls has been fixed also. The next planned stage of construction of the coagulation tank area is to fix the steel and build the formwork, for stream 1.

In addition, the main tank level slab was planned to be poured where the lamella scrapers are to be set.  The steel fixing for this area commenced towards the end of last week and followed on to the start of this week. The locations of the lamella cones and pipework were also boxed out; to prevent the concrete entering them during the pour. The pour itself took place on Thursday; a number of cubes were taken to test the 7 and 28 day strengths of the concrete. Furthermore, slump tests were taken on the concrete as it was being poured, to check the consistency of it was within the required limits. The concrete was finished using a steel trowel and vibro compactor, and jet washed on Friday once it had set.

Work has also continued in the RGF area, where excess water has been pumped out. Following on from last week, large amounts of stone have been bought in to build the ground up to formation level. This process takes time as only so much material can be placed before requiring rolling, so it can be fully compacted.  A drainage trench has been formed on the east side of the area, allowing the pipeline to be installed. Previously, six test ground anchors were installed and grouted in different locations around the RGF area. The grout was left to set; stress testing on these anchors then commenced on Wednesday to determine if the anchors are strong enough. The results of the tests will enable a decision to be made on whether they are suitable to be used.

Attached are photos of the latest proceedings. Enjoy your weekend.

Hi, everyone

Here's the latest update for Horsley WTW Upgrade:

As reported last week we have continued with steelfixing and formwork erection to the walls in the Actiflo area at the north end of the working area. We intend to place concrete to these walls on Friday ( 21 October, 2016 ). The quantity of concrete in these wall pours is much smaller than the quantities required for the base slab pours which we completed earlier. The time taken to place the concrete is, however, restricted by the height to which it can be placed per hour. This is necessary to control the pressure on the formwork as the concrete is placed. We will complete the initial wall pour during the working shift on Friday. We may, however, need to work to a slightly later time to complete the finishing works to the top surfaces of the walls. This work requires only a couple of concrete finishers to trowel off the exposed top surface of the walls. The timing depends on the curing (setting) of the concrete which will be influenced by weather conditions at the time. Should we need to work later than the nomal hours the work will produce minimal noise. I have appended some photos of the formwork erection in progress.

We also commenced work this week to install rock anchors to the Rapid Gravity Filters area to the south of the Actiflo. Believe it or not, but the large concrete tanks we are constructing below ground level can, given the right (or wrong) groundwater levels, float. We can calculate the upthrust that we need to guard against flotation thanks to my old schoolmate Archimedes (he was a right swot at school was Archie). The anchors are installed by drilling to a calculated depth in the rock below our excavation and grouting in heavy steel rods. The tops of these will then be cast into the base slab when we place concrete to the slab. In total there are 109 anchors to be installed. We are installing 6 of these this week, and will carry out testing, the results of which will be available next week. Successful test results will then allow us to install the remainder of the anchors (planned to take another 2 weeks after that). I have posted a photo of the drill rig in operation.

We will update regularly as work progresses.

Regards

Geoff

Hi, everyone

Due to late holidays the updates for the Horsley upgrade scheme have been missing for a couple of weeks. Works have continued in that time to construct the base slab to the new Actiflo area. Base slab reinforcement has been completed to the area and concreting of the slab is now 90% complete. You may have noticed regular deliveries to the site over the last two weeks when some fairly large quantities of concrete have been placed. Work is now under way to install reinforcement steel to the walls. This will be followed up by erection of "formwork" ( temporary moulds into which the concrete will be placed ) prior to pouring of concrete to form the walls. The weather has been kind to us so far but there's a feeling in the air now that that may change.

Please find attached some photos of the results of work carried out in the last few weeks.

Regards

Geoff

Hi Everyone - Quick  update on the structural construction of the new Actiflo plant at Horsley Wtw . Excavators have been used to trim the existing ground to the design formation and a blinding concrete has been placed . Blinding concrete is only used as a platform to construct on and provides a good clean surface to work from. The next stage of the construction is for the steel fixers to fix the steel base and joiners to install base shutters - Concrete will then be poured to form the base of the Actiflo plant.

The Interserve 70T crawler crawler crane has now been rigged and is being used to lift the concrete skip , reinforcement steelwork , shutters and all general lifts with in the excavation . 

I have attached a couple photos which show the formation and the blinding concrete .

Hope you all have a great week end !

Hi everyone,

Just to let you know the existing treatment works is experiencing some mechanical problems on the sludge plant.

Although this is unrelated to our construction activities, I’d like to make you aware that the works team have commenced a tankering exercise from Horsley to Mosswood Water Treatment Works to ensure the works can remain operational.

Since Wednesday, this has meant running approximately eight tankers loads per day.

The tankering operation will continue over the weekend and into the middle of next week after which it will be replaced by an on-site mobile centrifuge. The centrifuge will operate for seven days a week between the hours of 7am and 7pm for a minimum period of four weeks. We can assure customers that we are working hard to resolve the breakdown as quickly as possible and that this work is essential in maintaining our levels of service from the site.  We will make every effort to minimise any disruption caused to our neighbours by increased vehicle movements and noise as a result of  this unforeseen operational problem.

This work is essential to maintain water supplies from the Horsley, we apologise for inconvenience or disruption this may be causing.

Regards

Mike Foster

Project Manager