Closing Stage of Construction

The atmosphere at the site was somewhat different, people without hard hats scurrying around organising deliveries; new unfamiliar faces of different workers, taking over from those of the main contractors, Jarvis and Toureen Mangan. There was an air of vibrancy, excitement and purpose, it did not seem like just another day, one of many; everyone seemed to know that this chapter was coming to a close and the birth of a new one was just beginning. Foresters was going to become a community of homes and shops, the shells were going to be filled, the sounds would no longer be those of construction, they would be the sounds of ordinary life, of new beginnings.

Although I found that in the retail units there was still work to be done, I realised that progress work was no longer with the main contractors, and that my visits had come to a close. I have felt very much a part of this development, I have been shown friendship and respect, and have always been greeted with cheerful banter, told which was their best side, as they struck poses when I passed by, and in return I have ensured that I took photos that always tried to show them in the best light, and it was flattering to be asked for my business card, so they could see what I had covered. Processes were explained to me; features I might be interested in covering were pointed out. It has been good to see how each trade has taken pride in the work they contributed to the whole.

It is interesting to think back to the earliest progress photos I took, during the construction of part of Imperial College, London – the shots were in black-and-white, the camera was a Sinar 5x4 monorail; everything was shot using a tripod and bulb flash, the numbers of shots was limited and far fewer than now where everything has been hand-held, bar the time lapse series taken of the dismantling of the tower crane. Everything has been in colour, yet ranged from the darkest recesses of the basement to exteriors in the brightest of sun. For the technical, I have used from ISO 5000 down to 100, and speeds from 1/4 second to 1/4000th, and everywhere between! And thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.

Jarvis Foresters – Grass Goes Down

I made a point of arriving early in order to catch the laying down of the turves as a continuation of the previous day, but learned that what had been done was all that was being laid this side of Easter, so I have shots of the first laying complete, so having captured that I moved to the basement which is much less crowded, but not yet clear enough to do the marking out of the parking bays, and I suspect the pavers outside will need to be completed so that vehicles can enter the underground car park to remove the remaining stored items.

Above ground the metal frames that render the basement skylights safe are mostly in place, the individual garages now have their up-and-over doors. The staircases in some instances have their glass panels, banisters and skirting, and in places metal trim is being fitted.

Wrought-iron black painted rails are being fixed in place, and now most of the exterior path lighting is in place. In some of the apartments the lifts are now having their protective plastic covering removed, more bathrooms have been tidied. Wooden balustrades have yet to painted or varnished, flat signs and numbers are now up – levels of completion vary across the site, and I have tried to reflect this. Toureen Mangan high viz jackets were very much in the majority with Jarvis and Balgard completing numbers.

It was a bright and buzzing area with evidence of the previous night’s rain glistening in bright sunlight, and it was pleasantly warm.

Jarvis Foresters – Paths and Pavers

Toureen Mangan are once again hard at it laying down the tarmac for the paths, which are due an epoxy bonded gravel top surface eventually, the topsoil is down for the grass turf which is due any day now, possibly going down upon the arrival of the forecast rain later this week.

I arrived somewhat late in the afternoon having been absorbed with other work in the morning and early afternoon. The entrance to the site was having the last of the pavers being laid at the service road end as I made my entrance. At the other end, they were also laying the last few blocks as I left the site; the area I had seen started on my last visit was now complete bar the edges. At the far end to the right one of the drains was being given a thorough check and found to be flowing well.

I managed to capture yet another kitchen being completed, and I was able to take some high-level shots from the balcony. And around the back the garden path was tarmacced, and the turves laid much earlier now looked like a lawn.

This is definitely the countdown. Somehow I need to get down to the show the final turf going down within a couple of days, and by that time the entrance to the underground car park should be clear so that it can be emptied for the various bays can be painted.

Foresters Ever Closer to Completion

Toureen Mangan people are more in evidence on the Jarvis development site again, now that soil is going down to add the finishing touches to paths and grassy areas to come. And inside the basement is lessening its grip as a storage area.

Upstairs many of the bathrooms and kitchens have been cleaned up, tiles are up on the walls and down on many of the floors, the staircases are looking far more finished and lighting is going in all the common shared areas, and outside lighting for the pathways are being completed.

My sense of humour baffled one of the men when I asked whether this was the Cameron apartment – he was fitting the number ten to the door with infinite precision! I had had to lean into many of the more finished rooms on my knees as much of the protective coverings were being removed and this led to an amusing encounter where one of the builders noticed I had removed my hard hat, since I was always insistent upon only shooting those properly attired I felt very sheepish, thanked him, and scurried back upstairs to retrieve it – I had needed it off to be able to take one of the shots, and was thus ‘improperly dressed’!

Foresters – Countdown to Completion

Arriving in Harpenden, I found the traffic much busier than normal, and almost every available parking space occupied or had a car patiently queuing whilst the previous tenant was  gathering their shopping and wits in preparation for their departure. I had already driven around the islands between the High Street and service road, so pulled into the back of the development, hoping I’d be allowed to park on site. Fortunately that permission was granted, which meant I need not panic about Traffic Wardens for a change.

The first sight that greeted me was the power-jetting of the brickwork on the cottages, a sure sign that work is nearing completion. Then I spotted the last roof tiling being done, on the garages towards the front of the site, behind the existing shops.

Topsoil is now appearing around the front, so it will not be long before a new colour appears here – the green of grass; the frontage is beginning to look closer to the brochure picture.

Jarvis Foresters – Fixtures & Fittings

Visiting the Foresters Development this day was slightly less than straightforward as the approach is beset with bright orange plastic guard rails, and the end of the service road is entirely blocked off. The reason for this is down to the number of essential services that are now being brought to the site, and this has involved considerable disruption to both the road itself and much of the pavement and kerbing. Also additional drainage is being added; whilst I was there a fairly deep hole was being widened to take a large concrete sump.

I had already decided that this visit I was going to be using a wider angle lens to capture some of the kitchens and bathrooms as they took shape, and although I have covered some of the more accessible rooms, the smaller or awkward ones needed me to have a shorter focal length than 24mm. What that meant was that my concentration for this visit was more about the interiors and the fixtures and fittings than the groundworks going on.

One pressure I always face is limiting myself to parking close by and avoiding punitive parking fines, by allocating precisely an hour, including donning my PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) and subsequent disrobing to drive back. There were other parts of the site I would have preferred not to have missed, but I am in the midst of a massive tech-editing job, which has an effect on time available as well. Anyone know where I can lay my hands on a forty-eight hour day?

Jarvis Foresters in Cold January Sunshine

Once again it was hard to decide just what to wear – if all the shooting was inside – the heaters on at full blast to keep the interiors warm would make it hot and sticky; if  the exteriors showed the most changes, then it would be just right. The latter was my choice, so initially I concentrated on what was happening outside, but it was soon inevitable that I found myself checking out the most conspicuous changes to bathrooms, and corridors.

When the bathrooms and kitchens are more finished I will use a wider angle lens, but for the moment, the details of the unfinished work is more important than the overall view, so the less wide the shot is, the larger it appears within the galleries. The electricians and carpenters were hard at it, connecting up and testing the electrical wiring, and hanging doors in the corridors.

The garden areas are now being planted, hopefully allowing them to bed in; I just hope the frost does not kill them all! Most of the last roof structures are now weathertight, these are the garages. Outside the site, work has been carried out in the service road parallel to the High Street; it is largely complete but protected by brightly coloured plastic guardrails, so access along the service road is somewhat restricted till these are fully restored. It was good to see that some effort was being made to clean the wheels of vehicles leaving the development site.

Second 2012 Visit to Foresters

It was a crisp and bright winter’s day and for a change there was not the biting wind that we have had recently, so it did not seem so cold, and as I entered the site there was much more of the intended Retail part of the development to be seen as the scaffolding was now removed completely, and this was an area that I had not covered on my last visit.

There was a lot of outside work being carried out, removing some of the now redundant pipework in one area, and round the back the garden area was being rotivated and receiving topsoil. One of the electricians spotted my capturing his work in the retail section and told me that the main board area was now far advanced, so I shot that and I spotted that doors were now being hung on the storage areas in the basement, and also the water pipework now had meters fitted.

I had no time to visit much of the interiors this visit, except the drywalling was going on in the future retail section, so this will take priority on my next visit.

Last 2011 Visit to Foresters

This is likely the last visit in 2011 to the Foresters Development in Harpenden, and there was occasional sunshine, but it had rained a good deal over the last few days, so it was extremely muddy.

I spent some time covering the connection being made to heavy duty three-phase electricity cabling immediately below the Site Office Portakabin. I was intrigued by the clever shear bolts used to ensure a sound electrical connection; the studs shear when the intended torque is reached. The individual phases are shrink-sealed with a semiconductor material to ensure there is no crosstalk between the individual phases, and a conducting shield is then wrapped around the joints and bonded at each end by jubilee clips, before being covered by an outer plastic cover that is itself sealed at each end. The cover has two ports into which a mastic is poured that encases the connections completely weather-sealing them.

Nearby another man is grinding several steel reinforcing rods that were protruding from the edges of the pit where the electrical work was being done.

Elsewhere I took shots that finally showed some of the buildings more clearly now that the scaffolding is down, and that interior finishing was going in, and the work that was nearing completion at the back of the site, on the curving pathway.

Foresters Losing the Scaffolding

It is good to see the brickwork more clearly and most of the blind gaps replaced by windows; the building show much more of their finished looks, and now that the render at the back has been completed, they were getting ahead with the same for the top halves of some of the buildings at the front.

On the left of the site a row of garages are nearing completion of the walls, and in the apartments many of the kitchen cabinets are going in and some of the bathroom fittings, elsewhere more of the plasterboarding is also going up, together with more of the wooden staircases.

Externally trenches are now being dug for some of the services, and the basement plumbing is even more apparent. It does not seem long before most areas will be weather-sealed, which will mean many of the workers will be inside carrying out their fitting whilst those outside will be concerned primarily with groundwork activity and very much at the mercy of our famous British Weather.

But just for today, we were treated very well indeed with sunshine the entire time I was on site.

Important Meeting with Jarvis Directors

Having worked hard to create photo reports of progress on the Foresters Development by Jarvis, just off the High Street in Harpenden, the dismantling of the crane gave me the vehicle to transport me, to the offices of the developers. Today, I had an important appointment with the Managing Director, Steve Cook.

I had originally been drawn to the site by the sight of the crane as I approached Harpenden back in November of last year. When I learned of its impending removal, I decided that I would attempt to create a time lapse movie of the work by shooting the dismantling one shot every ten seconds over the six or so hours that it took to be carried out, and compiling them into a movie. I was a time-lapse virgin, but I spoke to colleagues and read various articles and mentioned to the site manager, James Blackie that this was my intention, and he thought it might be a very interesting project, and discussed how the operation was to be planned.

Later when he saw what I had produced, he and several of his colleagues told me that it was a very interesting result and when I asked who I might contact at head office, they gave me their Managing Director’s name and contact number, and Jason said yes, he would try and put in a word for me. I then contacted Steve Cook on the following Monday and today at nine thirty I found myself in his office and soon after, in walked the Marketing Director Geoff Hollis.

Only time will tell whether I have convinced these two of my competence and value, but certainly I felt that the presentation went well, and I sincerely hope that at some date in the future I may be invited to tender for work with the company. Above is a photo of the headquarters building shot just the afternoon before.

Scaffold Comes off at Foresters

After a day of rain, I arrive on site in glorious and warm sunshine, but hey, this is the end of October, and the clocks go back this weekend, Summer is officially over!

Somehow the site is not the same without the crane towering over all the work, where it rose out of the concrete two workers are clearing plugs from the skein of concrete, and the gap will soon disappear it is as if they are working on the crane’s tomb.

Elsewhere on site baths are now in in some of the apartments, kitchen units are in, tiles have been laid, and are now covered in hard-wearing rubber mats to prevent heavy boots from damaging them, and those areas not being worked upon are now locked, soon the work will be mainly confined to the interiors, and fitting out whilst the land outside is cleared and prepared for the final levels.

Possibly because it is school half-term there seem to be fewer tradesmen on site, so presumably dads are taking their kids out to exciting venues elsewhere, and making the most of this surprising good weather.

Jarvis Foresters 7th October Visit

This day’s visit means the last of the high level view point from the Cerex crane at the Foresters Development by Jarvis Homes, as this coming Wednesday sees the dismantling and removal of the crane which has dominated the Harpenden skyline for  much of this year.

A gentle breeze was what the weather forecasters described, but it still felt slightly more than that when I was close to the cabin height to get the last images of the work from this viewpoint.

There forthcoming departure of the crane has meant considerable change to the far right end of the site, as the earlier wooden gates are open and the future road entrance is now visible. Another change is that a bit more of the scaffolding has been dismantled, giving a much clearer view of the finished result. A wooden staircase has gone in in one of the end cottages.

Although upon my arrival the sun was out, by the time I was concluding the skies were lowering and the clouds looked threatening and few drizzling spots of rain were falling.

Jarvis Foresters Development, Harpenden

As I was parked in the High Street, I was limited to one hour, and on this occasion this was insufficient – the alarm I set on my phone warned me that time was up, but one half of the site I had not even seen on this visit.

I found that on several floors underfloor heating pipes were going in as well as much of the plumbing, so I was going up and down the scaffolding as I was also trying to take note of all the roofwork that was going in – in one area even the tiles were starting to go on, so really I need to pay another visit to get a good idea of what has happened this week.

I am actually falling behind with the post processing which bothers me, and this has come about because I lost time going to Milton Keynes with my Mac, so the Apple Store engineers could reload my system, because the DVD supplied originally would not work, and having erased the disc, I now had no machine until I restored its system, and they could not supply a replacement, but would happily reload one for me, which involved two round trips to Milton Keynes, if I brought the kit in. The issues I had also pointed up a faulty keyboard which they replaced, and they also had concerns over the machine so arranged for me to have it replaced free, so I shall have another machine in my hands only a month after taking delivery of this one. So it’s not all bad news.

Harpenden Site Visit 19th July

Although there was sunshine on my arrival at the Foresters Development site today, I could not claim I had brought it along; it certainly did not last long, and in fact the clouds threatened rain during my short visit.

Some parts of the roof are now coming close to becoming watertight, or at least having some cover from the elements. Electrical wiring and light fittings are going in within the basement area, and even more piping is in evidence. The different areas of the site are at different stages, yet it is more evident as to how it will look when completed.

It is somewhat ironic that despite it being more than halfway through July, it is way cooler than it was a few weeks back; so much for English weather!

Jarvis – Foresters Development 11th July

Arriving initially in sunshine, I owned up to Trevor that one reason, (but not the only one) was that I would have found it difficult to maintain my boast that I always brought sunshine with me! However, the sun soon left the scene as if to say you can’t even make that claim today!

The main change to note was even more roof trusses in place across the site, but a visit to the nether regions of the basement showed that even more drainage was in place, and that the electricians were beginning their routing of cables. Another area was being populated with switchgear and junction boxes, but it was also the only storage area available to them, making it difficult to take tidy photos.

At the far right end of the site, gable end brickwork is looking more finished and at groundlevel a brickie was pointing up one of the many dummy chimneys, which will eventually be hoisted into position using the crane, and bolted in place.

I then left the site to meet up with the editor of Harpendia, an embryonic magazine covering a wide range of local topics, it will be interesting to see whether I can help.

1st July Visit to Jarvis Development at Harpenden

I had a deadline to meet – I had to find four different images in Lightroom to create two birthday cards and get them in the post before I could set off for the Foresters site being developed by local builders, Jarvis in nearby Harpenden.

The sun was fairly shy today, often disappearing behind clouds, but the temperature was ideal. Arriving on the site, it was very apparent that woodwork was the name of the game now, roof trusses were topping several of the areas where steelwork had been prominent earlier.

The basement is now becoming a maze of pipework for drainage, water and electrical services and this work is also now moving to the floor above, it is quite a challenge taking shots down in the basement, and I find myself regularly using 4,000 ISO and shutter speeds down to 1/60th and still barely managing an aperture of f/4, whereas outside in the bright sun I am using 100 to 200 ISO and shutter speeds as high as 1/250 at apertures of f/14, but if I need to capture movement I drop the shutter speed as low as 1/30th. It seems ancient history to recall using a 5x4 or larger camera on a tripod and having to set up sometimes as many as six separate flash bulbs and still only manage to capture in black and white! That was the 1960s!

Digital photography is definitely very liberating, and what is impressive is being able to produce quality results with post-processing in programs like Lightroom, I can create images where the verticals remain vertical without resorting to lenses with Tilt and Shift movements, by taking into account some spare area in the images to allow for cropping. When you also factor in the ability to maintain good colour between sunshine and cloudy shots, it is a real bonus. All this post processing can be carried out within just the one program – Adobe Lightroom.

23rd June 2011 Jarvis - Foresters Development

Arriving at the site in sunshine on a day when showers were forecast is not necessarily a good omen, but all I experienced were just a few isolated drops on just a couple of occasions, fortunately towards the end of my visit.

The main change was the addition of some of the wooden roof trusses going up to the left end of the site. Another point of note was how almost every spare space was filled with stacks of insulation panels! I learned this was to beat an imminent price rise!

To get a better idea of what was going on across the site, it was once again worth a higher viewpoint which meant climbing to the third platform of the crane, because the mesh of scaffolding precluded getting a good view of the progress of the brickwork from the ground.

In the basement, the array of pipes was further advanced, with bays beginning to be built, whilst outside the crane was helping move pallets of breeze blocks and preformed trusses around the site and the forklift truck was resiting some of the insulating panel stacks.

However, scaffolding planks were being transported by hand from where they had done their job at second floor level in one area and were now needed in the left hand corner of the site, just above ground level.

Jarvis – Foresters, Harpenden June 14th

I still seem to have the happy knack of bringing sunshine to the site, and I mentioned this to Trevor as soon as I arrived, and he said he might have to call on me for that at sometime in the future! Since my last visit, the major change has been the arrival of steelwork for the roof structures. The brick work has also had another scaffold lift.

Down below in the basement many more pipe arrays have gone in and some new holes have had to go in to carry some of the services. It is interesting to not how window and door fascias have been pre-assembled, put into place and then pointed in situ. It seemed odd to see a pre-assembled chimney stack had arrived on the topmost slab, with only its pointing needed to complete it once in place.

By the time I was ready to leave I was feeling the effects of the sticky heat, so perhaps bringing sunshine is not all its cracked up to be!

1st Site Visit since Op.

After a forced absence of more than a fortnight, I returned to the Jarvis Foresters site in Harpenden to see for myself how much the brickwork had progressed. Once again I had brought sunshine, at least that’s my story! Some on site reckon I only turn up when the weather’s good, but I’ll admit it has rarely rained on my visits. Even Steve Morcombe had been fairly lucky weatherwise when he generously took shots whilst I was away.

One surprise visitor to the site was a hedgehog that had fallen into the basement, but Steve was on hand to rescue it; there is not much nourishment to be found on a building site, especially in a basement! Although I did catch a glimpse of a crow finding some morsel deep within a skip, and flying off with it in its beak!

Arrays of pipes are appearing in the basement mainly but a few are reaching the higher levels, and it’ll not be long before steelwork for some of the roofing will be arriving on site.