Western Depot – New look
Western Depot – New look
by: Steve P
This week saw more significant changes at Western Depot with the new fence being completed, the barn extension and woodshed floors being concreted, and some of the internal fences being removed so that we can now start to get a feel what the updated depot will look like.
Monday saw Big John’s team working to complete the canal side fence which by the end of the day was joined onto the previously installed rear fence, and Steve P’s team working on the woodshed side fence. By the end of the day all of the panels were in place, with final fixing being done on Wednesday.
This means that we now have a full new external fence so Reg and Martin took advantage of this on Tuesday to remove the old compound gates, and connect power to the repositioned new office container. Bob A’s team continued to work on the barn extension, completing the compacted base ready for the concrete delivery scheduled for Wednesday.
Wednesday saw the arrival of 8 cubic metres of concrete, so it was all hands-on-deck (including Reg!) to move and lay this in both the barn extension and woodyard areas. Surprisingly (to everyone!) the barn floor was completed in about 1 hour and Bob’s team could then move on to tamping and floating the surface to give a better finish.
The team them moved on to laying the concrete floor areas in the woodyard where a new storage container will be sited, and this was also finished by lunchtime, although some hand mixing was required to fully fill this area and cast the new pedestrian entrance ramp.
Whilst this was going on Steve P and team started to remove the old compound fence at the front – as this no longer had any gates it was now redundant! Getting to the fence proved more of a problem with metal, fencing, racking etc being moved over to Prentice’s field, but soon the shape of the expanded depot working area could be seen.
By the end of the day the internal fence had been removed (although there is still a lot of clearing up to be done!), and the new concrete had been smoothed to perfection although the autumn leaves did cause the team a few concerns, and some of these may now be preserved in concrete for posterity.
The work will continue next week with trenches to be cut for service ducting, wiring updated, and the hospitality unit and containers prepared ready for the move to their new locations, as well as the ongoing clean up which will probably require more storage facilities in Prentice’s field. Overall, we are now in much better shape for the expansion that Phase 1B grant and activities will require, but we still have some way to go to complete the full update with enlarged barn and workshops.
