Hello everyone

Last month staff from Interserve and Doosan on our Horsley site volunteered their time for a community project at The Hearth community cafe in Horsley to prepare the ground for Tree Day; a family tree planting day being held this Sunday 24th November https://www.thehearth.co.uk/special-events which looks to be a great event, contact the Hearth for more details. We were lucky enough to get one of the last good days weather wise and the team powered through the work, moving healthy trees to better locations, removing trees in a poor state and cutting back the undergrowth to make space for new planting. All of this was carried out with a view to preserving the environment for nature as well as improving the accessibility for the community. A stepped path was laid to improve access for users. We were very happy to support a great little event for this brilliant community facility.  I would also like to that Pam and the rest of the team at the Hearth for looking after us with hot drinks and food. 

Hi, everyone

The latest update from the Horsley Upgrade Scheme follows:

Insatllation of cable tray continued to various locations around the site. Cable installation has also continued around site.

Concrete was placed to the second lift of the walls to the static mixer chamber. This will house pipework and injection points for the chemicals used to treat water prior to introduction to the Rapid Gravity Filters. Tanks for the storage of chemicals were delivered to site and intalled to the Chemical Building to the north end of the site.

Metalwork (stairs and flooring) installation continued in the Rapid Gravity Filters area.

A couple of weeks ago three colleagues and I visited a treatment works in Hodder, Lancashire to pick up on any lessons learned since their similar upgrade was completed a few years ago. On the way back up I suggested we stop for some lunch at one of the hostelries I'd spotted on the outward journey. The first one was closed and the second one was so busy we couldn't get a spot in the car park. I must go back there on another Wednesday afternoon at 2.00 p.m. (in the middle of nowhere) to find out what the draw is! We then continued on and visited the "Truckstop" at Tebay just off the M6. I was mildly surprised at the condition of the place which was nothing like the transport cafe suggested by the name. The menu displayed things like "Hacher at boulettes", "legumes", and "frites" (obviously catering for the European truckers). I stuck with something more Anglo (chicken curry and rice) but watched one of my travelling companions order from the counter. The items I've listed from the menu turned out to be mince and dumplings, vegetables and CHIPS! At least I think it was, as when I got to the table with my meal I couldn't distinguish what his was as it was hidden by a layer of tomato sauce (ketchup a la tomate). What would Escoffier have made of it? You couldn't make it up!

Happy eating!

Geoff

Hi, everyone

Now that the holiday season is over It's time to update the report on progress at Horsley WTW.

Mechanical and electrical installations have continued in the Actiflo, Rapid gravity Filters, and the new Birney hill Pumping Station (BHPS). With pipework installation completed in the BHPS the roof construction commenced with structural steel support columns erected and the construction of falsework (support frame) and formwork to the roof slab soffit (underside of the slab). Fixing of reinforcement steel has now commenced to the slab.

Laying of underground ducts for electric cables has continued around the site. Cable drawpits are being constructed as this work progresses.The crawler crane which has been stationed alongside BHPS for some time has been dismantled and has been transported from site. A mobile crane will from time to time be used for any further lifting operations required in this area.B

Support steelwork and metal covers have been fitted to the Inlet distribution chamber at the head of The Works.

Work to the Static Mixer Chamber commenced with excavation completed in August. Concreting of the base slab and first lift to the walls has now been completed. Backfilling around the lower section is complete and the second lift of concrete walls will follow.

One of my colleagues at Horsley went on holiday with his family and friends on a return visit to the hotel they all stayed at last summer. They knew the full drill for the fortnight as they were now veterans. Said colleague's wife was tasked with confirming the return pick-up details, and duly returned with the intel (it's like I've seen "The Bodyguard" and know all the snip-speak) that the pick-up point was the same as last year. As the roads around their hotel are narrow and tricky for a coach to navigate the gang of seven trooped down the hill on departure day to the same departure point as the previous year ( I should point out that this was the middle of the day in Spain and they were all rigged out in their new travel gear which was designed for the English winter - it being mid-August). They'd arrived in good time for the pick-up but started to worry when the bus hadn't arrived 30 minutes after the allotted time, particularly when my colleague pointed out that a coach from their tour operator had passed the recce point and headed half a mile up the hill to the air-conditioned hotel they had recently vacated. I'm not sure why nobody endangered his/her life by standing in the middle of the road as the bus passed them again on the Airport-bound return run. It was probably because the instructions were so clear re this year's return pick-up and specifically because the normally infallible, right-first-time, do-it-once only person in the squad had provided the verification.Turns out that the bus pick-up point for this year was the bus stop on the street with exactly the same name as that of the hotel (a different bus stop to last year). Anyway, 2 taxis and 140 euros (which now equates to about 300 quid) later the mood at the airport was what was described as smouldering. He decided that silence was the most suitable form of retribution, armed with the (probably misguided) opinion that any of his similar previous misdemeanours now paled into insignificance. The wife was inconsolable with shame, horror, and embarrassment at the departure airport. In my head I have a picture of her being an outcast sidling to the empty quarter of the airport departure lounge to leave everybody else to enjoy the last few hours of the holiday experience. I'm surprised nobody's thought of producing a comedy series based on similar exploits. You couldn't make it up.

Enjoy the rest of the week.

Safety milestone

Our team at Horsley recently completed 350000 working hours without a lost time accident. A fantastic achievement that shows the high standard of working and commitment to safety by everyone involved in this project. Well done everybody

Hi, everyone

Time for another update to the Horsley WTW Upgrade scheme:

In the last month, concrete work has been completed to the walls on the new Birney Hill pumping station at the south end of the site. Installation of pipework and fittings has commenced ahead of the roof construction.

Storage silo installation has been completed to the Actiflo Chemical building. Roof cladding to the Chemical building has continued. Electrical works have continued with cable tray and below-ground cable duct installation ongoing. The Filters' MCC (motor control centre) has been installed in the designated kiosk and cabling work is ongoing. Externally, transformers have been positioned adjacent to this kiosk. Various high voltage operations have been carried out.

In the Rapid Gravity Filters area, filter nozzles are being inserted to the filter flloors. This is a labour intensive operation as all 24,000 of the nozzles have to be fitted by hand.,

At the east side of the site, excavation for the sludge tank and centrifuge bases has been completed. Blinding concrete is to be placed this week prior to reinforcement and structural concrete works commencing.

About a month ago the Project Manager invited me to an event entitled (he said) "From Berwick to The Baltic". I surmised that this must be part of the Coast and Castles cycle route which I'd tackled some years ago. I immediately commenced training for the event with ever-increasing cycle rides in the evenings and at weekends. Imagine my chagrin when, 2 days before the event, I found out that the it was actually called "From BEWICK to The Baltic" - a talk on the local, nationally-acclaimed wood engraver, Thomas Bewick, who plied his trade in Mickley. The talk, at the church hall in Horsley village, covered art in the North-east from Bewick's time (late 18th century) to the present day. It was very interesting and informative, giving details of the many venues in the area showing local art, especially in this time of the Great Exhibition of the North. However, my newly- honed glutes were not used to a prolonged period of sitting and I fidgeted to gain a comfortable mien throughout the talk. I failed to win a prize in the end of show raffle but I won great applause for my break-dancing effort afterwards (I'd only attempted to get to the toilet at the rear of the hall when the glutes went into spasm and I looked like a cross between Michael Jackson and James Brown in their heydays - I'm sure most people know that these two styles are wholly incongruous). I climbed out of the toilet window and staggered in a cyclist's crouch to the car to make good my escape.

You couldn't make it up.

Hi, everyone.

Work is bowling along nicely on the Horsley project.

Concrete work has continued to the new Birney Hill Pumping Station with wall construction nearing completion. Storage silos (lime and carbon) for chemical treatment of the raw water have been erected to the east side of the Actiflo/Chemical buildings. Piling work has commenced adjacent to the Sludge building ( surprisingly quietly). Electrical first fix work has continued in the Actiflo building (this involves fixing of support cable trays and containment). Some of the high voltage (HV) work has been carried out, with the installation of switchgear inside an existing HV building. The roof cladding to the chemical building is now being installed.Summer's here!

I went to the Lake District last weekend for a one-night stopover in Troutbeck. Once we were sorted out and dropped the bags, my wife and I went for a walk up onto Wansfell Pike. Having conquered the Pike I decided it was time for a well-earned drink. I hailed a bloke leaning on a gate in the mist:

Me: "Hello, my fine fellow. Are you acquainted with the locale?"

FF: "Lived here man and boy, eh?"

Me: "No, this is my first time here. Could you direct me to The Mortal Man, good chap?"

FF: "Straight up the road on the right, about 300 yards, eh?"

Me: "I don't know. Like I said it's my first visit. Is it far to The Mortal Man?"

FF: " I just told you, eh?"

At this I gave up, bade him a fond adieu and returned to my bemused-looking long-suffering wife.

Wife: " Is it far, then, because I'm clamming for a glass of wine?"

Me: " I don't exactly know because I seem to know more than him, and he's lived here all his life."

Wife: "Eh!??"

Me: "Don't you start!"

How come Cumbrians always answer my simple enquiries with a question, eh?

You couldn't make it up!

Geoff

Hello everyone

You may have seen us out in the village today when we celebrated National Walking Month #walkthismay by doing a lunch time 'walk and pick' where we combined stretching our legs around the village with a litter pick. Everywhere was nice and tidy as usual but we managed to collect a good bag full of rubbish by the end of the walk. All back to work now but we hope to organise another one soon

Brian

Hi, everyone

I dropped a proper rick last week by talking in jargon - when I mentioned MCC's on a number of occasions. A motor control centre (MCC) is an assembly of one or more enclosed sections having a common power bus (a strip or bar of copper, brass or aluminium that conducts electricity within a switchboard, distribution board, substation.......blah, blah, blah.....nuclear submarine....) and principally containing motor control units. Motor control centers are, in modern practice, a factory assembly of several motor starters. A motor control center can include variable frequency drives, programmable controllers, and metering and may also be the electrical service entrance for the building. I hope that's now clear to everyone and you can show off this new-found knowledge over your next favoured drink. Although derived from the Latin "omnibus" the bus reference here has nothing to do with a mode of public transport - which reminds me that as I entered my 61st year on the planet somebody spitefully advised me that my Local Authority had withdrawn the bus pass I'd been looking forward to for the last 10 years (apparently if I'd moved to Liverpool I would have got one - don't get me started!!). A photo of an MCC panel is attached.

Anyway, work has continued in the Actiflo MCC (see above) room with the installation of cable support trays. Similar work has continued around the Actiflo building. Underground duct installation to provide electric cable routes around the site continued. High level weir walls were cast in the Birney Hill Pumping Station at the southern end of the site. Final concrete benching concrete work was completed to the Inlet distribution chamber (this is the location where raw water enters the site from the River Tyne and Whittle Dene reservoirs. Work to support the outlet channels in the Rapid Gravity filters was completed.

As a treat from our respective companies we've been given the opportunity of completing a short walk from the site through Horsley Village and back, coupled with a litter-picking event. (Look out for a band of well-honed people trudging through the village at lunchtime on Wednesday, 16 May. If you see a group fitting this description give me shout as you're looking the wrong way. This is to support the wellbeing of all staff. The fact that we're doing this in our lunch break begs the question will I need to stock up on Gaviscon for the impending heartburn brought on by eating en route? Oh, well, if we're not marching we're fighting!

Have a nice weekend.

Geoff

Hi, everyone

Sorry I've been missing for a while.

You should see a big change in the construction stage at Horsley since my last offering.

The biggest change is at the Birney Hill Pumping Station at the south-east corner of the site. Wall construction has continued apace. Pipework (both above and below ground) and duct installation have continued since the last report.Pipe testing has commenced in the Actiflo building. The Actiflo MCC panel has been installed inside the MCC room. The kiosk which will house the Rapid Gravity Filters MCC panel has been erected on site.

Have a nice weekend.

Geoff

Hi, everyone

I left the update for a couple of weeks after the so-called Beast from the East put paid to any progress for the best part of the week. Since the short-lived enforced standstill progress has picked up again.

Pipelaying activities have continued around site (sadly for the pipelaying gangs they have to bury most of their work so it's not on show for the beholder's eye).

Concrete placement has continued to the Birney Hill Pumping Station walls at the south end of the site.

The Motor Control Centre panel has been delivered and fitted in position in the Actiflo MCC room. This controls all of the equipment in the early stages of the water treatment process.

Excavation works and blinding concrete have been completed to the high voltage Transformer area immediately south of the Rapid Gravity Filters. Reinforcement is now being fixed to teh base slab.

I'm pleased the decent weather's here now. I wonder what the Europeans think of us when the country grinds to a halt after a few inches of snow. I dug out an old photo from 1963 (the last proper winter the north east endured). That could be our mam on her way home after dropping us off at school in our short pants. She must have left the 4x4 at home that day.

By the way, when I checked out some archive photos of Newcastle for that winter, the buses were still running in the city centre. I'm just saying!

Enjoy the balmy weekend.

Geoff