First 2012 Visit to Foresters

After several days of wind and rain, today dawned bright and calm, but fairly cold. I over-dressed with this in mind, but found myself mainly inside where there were now industrial heaters everywhere to allow plastering and painting to take place, so I was as hot as if it had been summer when I had far less on!

Everyone was welcoming and it was ‘Happy New Years’ all around, and whilst at the garages that lie immediately behind the high street shops, I met someone who reminded me that I had been at the site since the very first brick was laid, and another who said I must have taken a couple of hundred shots since I had been coming to the site! More like thousands, but I was not counting.

Several more kitchens and bathrooms were going in, lifts were being installed and coving being cut to size and fitted. Everyone seemed to be enjoying their work and smiling, and I put this down largely to the sunshine. Someone came up and said he had passed on my good wishes to Sean Mooney, and said he would probably welcome a call, so I feel another ‘Happy New Year’ coming on.

Jarvis Foresters Development Harpenden

Milky sunshine was the order of the day for this 6th May visit. The brickwork is now rising above ground floor level in many places, and scaffolding being added to take things higher.

In the basement the supports for water piping is going in.

More steelwork is due next week, but I will not be covering this as I go into hospital on the Wednesday, and will be having to take things easy for probably a fortnight, so I expect quite a change when next I visit.

Toureen Mangan’s Project Manager, Sean Mooney was on site for a meeting, and greeted me whilst the team were making their rounds of the site.

After the Frosts, Concrete Pouring in Harpenden

Thursday was scheduled for the pouring of the concrete for the ground floor at the Jarvis Development in Harpenden, after the hiatus caused by recent unseasonably cold and frosty weather. I made myself known to James Blackie the site Manager and the Project Manager for the sub-contractor.
I arrived too late to catch the first mixer arriving, but not so late as to miss the pouring. There were many more trades on the site this time, and Sean Mooney, the Project Manager for Toureen Mangan (currently the main subcontractor on site) took me to see the extra step he was taking to ensure they could pour with impunity, he had sealed the area beneath with frost blankets and installed Calor gas Space heaters!

It was interesting to see a trident-style mini flame thrower being used to clear some of the snow that had accumulated in some parts of the shuttering, as well as some workmen using magnets to collect stray steel wiring from the same recesses.

The crane was also active transporting beams from their storage area to the next section to be shuttered, and all around were small groups intent on sawing timber, creating new shuttering and vibrating or smoothing out the concrete.

When possible Concrete Mixer lorries were exiting the site as the next was arriving to take its place, but there did seem to be some occasions when traffic delayed their arrival, which was a shame with such a tight schedule due to the cold spell returning soon.

Harpenden Site Visit - Shuttering for Ground Floor

On the vague suggestion the sun might come out, I took a chance to visit the Jarvis Development, as the Project Manager had said they were preparing the shuttering for the later pouring of concrete for the first floor.

Sean Mooney was on a break when I arrived, but I met up with him in Esporitos, and he very kindly bought me a cup of tea and we discussed the stage he had reached. He was far less optimistic over sunshine and he was proved right, but I went ahead to capture this stage as this would soon be passed, and once the concrete was in place what is below would be lost.

I covered the whole site on this visit, from every conceivable angle, I think on future visits I will need to go part way up the tower to capture meaningful angles.

Invited Back!

A day after the visit to the new development site in Harpenden, I got a call from the Toureen Project Manager asking would I like to return – another one of those .009 nanosecond hesitation moments before accepting! I gathered the weather was closing in the next day, and as I was all prepared I asked whether I could come over shortly.

This time though the viewpoint was higher, the light was lower, so the shots were less exciting, but they were meaningful as they provided an overview and told me more about what I had shot from outside the day previously. I now understood more of what had been happening at the far side of the site, which had been unclear from my previous viewpoint. These shots completed the story of the previous day. I got to meet two more of the men on site; Bob the Crane Operator and Sean Mooney, Toureen Mangan’s Site Manager, and James Blackie, the Jarvis Site Manager, very kindly took the shot of me part way up the tower crane.

It looks like I’ll be back to tell more of the story of this development. So thanks to all who made this possible.