Good evening everyone,

Not the day for a site visit with the wet weather but still I needed to have a look at the work our guys have carried out.

It was lovely to see the posters the local children designed for our fencing, they look great.  On another note, myself and the Project Manager Ian Davison wanted to look at the Swale as a few residents were concerned.  It is not completed and please be assured that once the team remove some soil, construct some low fence and grass seed the swale will look more presentable.  We know that the rain and the children biking on their has not helped. 

Whilst on site we visited the local school and I have arranged for the students to visit site next week to understand the dangers of playing on the swale.  If anyone has further concerns please feel free to comment here and I will be in touch shortly.

We are hoping to post some photos of other swales we have constructed on this blog to show everyone the end result, hopefully by next Friday.

Christine

Hi

All has gone well this week, the Drainage along Castle Road is connected and working, just a few bits and pieces to finish in the manholes early next week before we do our final tarmac reinstatement. The road will be reopened on Friday next week and the temporary access at Sycamore Grove will be removed.

Next to the school, the basins have taken shape, they are also now connected and just required topsoil to finish them off next week. They will also be finished by Friday.

We'll start to set up the fencing in Maple Grove towards the end of next week to store materials ready to start once Castle Road is reopen.

Simon

Hi

We've started in the area on the grass next to Castle First School today. We'll be forming basins which will store excess surface water during exceptionally high rainfall, they will remain dry most of the time and only come into use when the existing surface water sewer reaches full capacity. We'll form these basins with a cut and fill exercise using a GPS enabled excavator. This work should take no longer than 3 weeks.

Simon

Hi

We have been delayed on our programme by a few days as there was concrete around the existing culvert which needed to be removed. As long as things go to plan and there are no other obsticles in our way we may be able to catch this lost time up. The manhole over the stream is almost built now and we are getting on well the the drainage along Castle Road.

Next week the drain run should be complete ready to start the new manhole at the end of our fencing next to the Rowan Grove Junction.

Simon

Hi Everyone

We had special guests at our site on Castle Road this morning. We ran a safety poster competition with Prudhoe Castle First School for the children to design two posters to be displayed on site.

The winners, Alfi and Amelie from year 4 visited today and met with Project Manager Ian Davidson, Site Manager Simon Bright, Esh's Claire Davidson and I. Ian gave them an insight into why the work is necessary and Claire presented them with certificates and prizes.

It was lovely to see Alfi and Amelie and we thank Prudhoe Castle First School for their participation in the competition - the standard was very high and it was a very difficult decision to whittle it down to just 2!

I have atttached a few photographs.

Tony

Hi

Here's a video to show you what we are doing on Castle Road since you cant see the bottom of the excavation from the footpath. We have dug around the existing pipe, cut the top out of it and starting to place a concrete base to build the new manhole. Over the next couple of days, the manhole will be built and we will be laying drains along the road.

Simon

Hi

As you can see, the work has started on Castle Road, we've cut the road, excavated down to the existing pipes to check the levels and have now started excavating for the manhole which will be built over the stream. Next week we'll be building this manhole and will start the drain along the road.

We've been monitoring the temporary access and have adjusted things slightly in line with your observations and comments.

If you have any queries just ask me, I'm walking between the compound and site on a regular basis.

Simon

Good afternoon

I have had a call from the site team to let me know the recycling bins have not been emptied.  We are aware of the situation and are currently in discussion with the local authority.  The issues will be resolved by end of play tomorrow, please leave your bins out to enable us to get them emptied.

We apologise for the delay in them being emptied.

Christine

Good morning,

Isn't it great to see the sun out? 

Maybe summer is finally on its way...

I thought I would take the time to point out the 'Rate this project' feature on this portal on the right hand side of the screen.

It would be great if you could take the time to let us know how we are doing?

We will update the portal with our work later this week.

Enjoy the sunshine

Christine

Hi

The access has been formed at Sycamore grove for the Castle Road closure and will remain fenced off over the weekend. On Monday Castle Road will be closed at 9 AM between Rowan Grove and Sycamore Grove, a diversion will be in place for local residents with traffic control at the temporary access on Sycamore Grove. Once the traffic management is all in place, we'll fence off our work area to start the drainage improvements on Castle Road.

Simon