Morning everyone,

We have complete the chamber and pipe installation at Jesmond Dene Rd and this week, have started the backfill and tidying of the area. It has taken a little longer than anticipdated due to the complexity of the new fittings and chamber. However, a good, high quality end product has been safely produced and the pipe is now operational once again. Hopefully we haven't caused too much disruption to your daily commute!

The next couple of weeks will see installation of a large concrete slab which will cover the chamber in beneath the road, backfill of the road and finally, tarmac.

Whitely Rd is underway and the buried cables and pipes I made reference to in my last post have been exposed. A lot of hand digging has been carried out and we can now see what we have to deal with and work around. We have established a small pedestrian diversion when crossing Station Rd onto the Southbound footpath. Please take care when crossing and follow the signage displayed. The first isolation of the water main (shutting off supply) will take place today for less than 3hrs. This minimising disruption to customers and allows our team to safely install a new pipe connection. Take a look at the nice new shiny blue section of pipe we are installing!!

Next week, we'll be construcitng the first of our chambers in the verge and footpath. Due to the location of the water main and size of the chambers, it is necessary to have our fencing and cones so far out into the road. This ensures safety of our workforce as well as the road users. There will be less activity than normal during the day next week as the bulk of the works will be carried out during the night. Traffic lights will be set out between 2000hrs and 0600hrs in order to install a new section of pipe in Station Rd Southbound carriageway.

Enough from me for now, take a look at the some of the photos from both sites...

Mark

Morning everyone,

Hope you're all looking forward to a long weekend? I know I certainly am!!

Works are well underway on our Jesmond Dene site and progressing nicely. We have constructed our reinforced concrete chamber in the road and today, we will be starting the ductile iron pipe installation. The concrete base has been constructed which the thrust walls sit upon and the steel built ready for the final pour next week.

Whitely Road started on Monday and we have set up our site boundary just off the roundabout. You can't miss us, certainly not with the traffic management we've had to establish in order to safely carry out the work. Please be careful as you approach and travel around the roundabout. Beward of the narrow lane heading onto Station Rd past the central island.

The first task was to dig up the new footpath and verge to look for existing services (ducts, cables, pipes etc). We found quite a few which we are currently looking into as our chamber and pipe work has to fit between all of these. It certainly makes things interesting!

You'll notice we like to display a lot of signage on our boundary fence. The signs warn public of the dangers within the works and tell everyone to keep out mainly. However, none of our signs really explain what the project is. As there will be several sites across North Tyneside, we're making a nice big banner to display on the fencing which should help, and also promote our portal page. Keep an eye out for these soon!

Have a good weekend,

Mark

Morning everyone,

Works are progressing nicely on site at Jesmond Dene Rd. We have now severed the pipe, excavated and installed trench support for the main chamber and poured the 400mm deep RC concrete base. Our joiners and steel fixers are currently building up the chamber walls ready for a pour later in the week.

On Monday, we start work at another location, Whitley Rd. A new gang will appear just off the roundabout establishing our work area and carrying out trial holes to locate existing buried services. Please take care when approaching the roundabout as traffic management will be established forcing road users towards on of the central islands. I'll provide an update and photos when we land next week.

Enough from me for now, here are some of the photos from Jesmond Dene Rd as promised.....

Mark

Afternoon all,

I posted this morning with a brief update of our works along Jesmond Dene Rd and while we are well underway with our excavation and placement of concrete blinding, we will have to leave our pump running over the weekend to control ingress of water from the pipe. By doing this, we ensure our temporary works and excavation aren't compromised, as well as avoiding any flooding on the carriageway.

As I mentioned previously, there will be a hose housed within a ramp at the pedestrian crossing so please do take care when approaching. We will be working tomorrow and dropping by on Sunday to make sure everything is safe.

Have a great weekend.

Mark

LOST CAR KEY

Our team have found a black Hyundai car key on the pedestrian crossing next to our works (Jesmond Dene Rd/Ilford Rd Junction)

The key has been handed in to the police station in Byker (Clifford St, Newcastle upon Tyne NE6 1EA)

Morning all,

As you will have probably noticed we have commenced works on Jesmond Dene Rd installing the first of many valves. In order to safely carry out our works we have had to pinch Lane 1 of the road (dedicated lane from Jesmond Dene Rd onto Ilford Rd at the traffic lights). In addition, we have also had to close a section of the adjacent footpath and close the bus stop. A diversion has been set out through the tree canopy using a temporary footpath matting so you can still pass by. Flood lighting will be set up each evening to ensure the area is well lit but do be careful when walking through.

Before we can chop out the existing pipe and install our nice new valve, we have to drain down the water and prepare for the works. This is known as isolation. The reason I'm telling you this is because at present, you will notice a hose pipe running from a nearby hydrant just in front of our excavation, along the kerb line and past the pedestrian crossing. A ramp has been set out at this point, highlighted and visible with signage either side of the road. When approaching and crossing, please take your time and be careful. If you're a cyclist, please dismount before crossing. Our operatives in the area will carry out checks throughout the day to ensure this is safe and intact. If you need assitance crossing the ramp, don't be afraid to give them a shout and we will happily assist!!

So...progress...We currently have a large hole in the road and our trench support has been installed to create a safe working environment. The water main was drained down yesterday and today, we intend on cutting out the pipe. Concrete will be placed in the base of the excavation later today and this will act as a clean, solid working platform from which we can build our chamber to house the new valve, known as blinding. We will be working tomorrow to install the steel reinforcement which will form the chamber base, ready for the concrete pour on Monday.

That's about it for now. I'll upload some photos soon and be in touch next week. Have a great weekend!

Mark

Hi

As promised I have now added a further photo of one of our team.  Mark Robinson has now got over his shyness.

Christine

Hi all,

Following Richards blog, I thought it would be a great time to introduce our team.

This project is slightly different from our usual sites as we will be moving around the area.  The good news is we will be working with the same team throughout, and they will be posting on this portal to keep your community updated of our progress.

We would also like to hear from you, our customers, the residents of the community we are working in.  This portal enables us to talk to the community about our progress whilst listening to any feedback we receive.

Now for our team introduction...

My name is Christine Taylor, the Customer Service Manager working for Esh-MWH on behalf of Northumbrian Water.  I am happy for any of our customers to contact me direct to discuss any feedback or concerns. Over the period of the works you may see me walking around the area with the project team. Please feel free to come and introduce yourself and ask any questions you may have, alternatively as I said earlier you can post messages here on the portal.

Mark Robinson, is the Projects Manager for the scheme working for Esh-MWH on behalf of Northumbrian Water Ltd. He will oversee the progress of works on site.. Mark will be helping to maintain high levels of safety, quality and customer engagement.

Dave Eden is our Site Agent for the project, he will be working on site throughout the duration of the work; overseeing the daily operations of the scheme delivery.

Tony Birkett will be the appointed Community Liaison Officer. Tony will be on site regularly, providing support to the site team and the local community. He will be happy to help with any queries you may have.

Throughout this project we will all be posting from time to time.

There is one more member of our team who will introduce herself next week, Amanda Hunt.  Amanda works for Northumbrian Water as a Customer Care Manager.

If you have any queries or questions please feel free to contact anyone of our team.  Some of our team are shy, so we will be posting more photos of our team in due course.

Have a great weekend

Christine

Good Afternoon everyone,

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself, Richard Johnston Northumbrian Water Project Manager, I am the project manager responsible for the water mains improvement works which will be taking place over the next few months in and around Tyneside.

Jesmond Dene Road is the first of 22 Electrically Operated Valves (EOV's) we will be installing on our strategic trunk mains network, with the help of of our delivery partners Esh-MWH we hope to minimise the impact of our works on you and your journeys in and around town.

If you have any concerns surrounding the works hopefully we can put your mind at ease, to help us do this the customer portal is an opportunity for you to raise any queries or questions about our works and give us feedback, we will be utilising the portal over the coming months to keep you updated on our progress as well as using it to give advance warning of the impact our works may have as we progress through Jesmond, Gosforth and central Newcastle and parts of Gateshead.

We will introduce you to our construction team in our next blog.

Thank you for your time..

Richard