Building Redevelopment Progess

Here is an update on what is happening on the WBC site. Scroll down for latest ...

Tues 17th Jan 2012

Work has begun on erecting the hoardings around the perimeter of the site. Posts are standing / cemented in the ground.

Work has begun on removal of asbestos from site.

Wed 18th Jan

The cross beams and panels are put in place for the hoarding.

Asbestos removal continues.

Thursday 19th Jan

Rest of the hoarding now going up. Temporary fences along by the front of the schoolrooms removed. I think the asbestos removal is complete - no sign of a van. Looks like the Hoarding is coming to completion. The gates I think are being fitted. There seems to be a strange single door in the corner that is also there.

Sat 21st Jan

The internal side fence (between the church and the schoolrooms) is being removed.

The perimeter hoarding is all complete. The gates are fitted. A single gate is also fitted.

Mon 23rd Jan.

Today is the day that the church site is officially taken on by Watson & Cox.

At 7:33am a little Red van enters the site.

The first of the site huts appears on the scene. The demolition company begin their work by concentrating on the inside. They are beginning witht he schoolrooms. First of all, the kitchen has been cleared out, fixtures and fittings are removed.

The walls to the vehicular entrance have been removed. Now the gates can be opened and larger vehicles can be moved on to the site. A channel is being cut in the ground to supply water to the cabins from the mains.

The grave stones are relocated.

Tuesday 24th Jan

The scaffolding is going up at the front of the schoolrooms. The upper schoolrooms are being stripped out. A big yellow container is on site. Big Yellow JCB on site, with some sort of grabber thingy on front.

Two JCBs. I now see what the big yellow container is for ... I would say that the demolition has begun - the tiles are being taken off of the schoolrooms. One of the JCB's is lifting the container up to roof height and the men are taking the tiles off and throwing them in. Hope no one falls off the roof! ... They're tied on to the machine with a safety harness.

Looks like all the tiles are now off the roof, and work is continuing inside the building.

The roof is off of the schoolrooms on the East side. Many of the rafters have been removed - you can see right inside!

The window in one of the vestries has been removed and scaffolding erected round the back of the church.

Wed 25th Jan

Large blue container arrived on scene this morning. Scaffolding going up around back of church. The schoolrooms now completely emptied inside. Men continuing to dismantle schoolrooms roof, moved on to the west side now. I am told that the demolishing of the schoolrooms is perhaps going to begin tomorrow. The inside of the church is being removed. The metal hand rail alongside the steps outside of the schoolrooms just lifted out of the ground my a massive grabber ... "It's the claw" my children cried out (Toy Story reference).

The roof has been fully removed from the schoolrooms. The wall at the road end is being removed stone by stone. The windows are nearly all removed.

Thursday 26th Jan

Been over to the site with the hardhat and luminous jacket to take some pics (thanks demolition guys) . The demolition of the schoolroom west wall is taking place, stones being salvaged. The date stone of 1835 has been put aside. Inside of the church sanctuary, the radiators, most of the downstairs pews have been removed, one of the door handles has gone (couldn't open the door!) the safe is lying on its side.

A lot of the schoolrooms upstairs west wall has now been removed.

Friday 27th Jan

The work on removing the upper schoolroom continues with the removal of the east wall. This is all being done through a combination of "The Claw" and men pulling the stones off with their hands! To think that this building has stood there for 177 years and is now being pulled down in places brick by brick by hand. You can also see from the internal stonework where the original 1835 building was added on to at some stage to make kitchen, etc. The triangluar roof beams are stacked up having been removed as one piece.

The upper schoolrooms floor is removed by the claw in three huge pieces.

By the end of the day the schoolrooms has virtually all disappeared. Still the East wall stands, acting as a perimeter wall to the site.

Wednesday 1st February

The main church also continues to be stripped out. The pews in the church balcony have all been removed from their fittings and lying on their side. The balcony screen and the East Balcony stairs removed. The stone from the schoolrooms being carted away. The schoolrooms ground floor has been pulled up. Many of the stones bagged up and piled up. Some rubble left. Electric should be cut off sometime today.

The tiles have started to come off of the main church now, starting at the back.

Nearly all of the West facing roof tiles now off.

The East facing tiles off. The outside store room demolished. Much of the floorboards inside removed. The inside entrance screen removed. The two baptistries exposed. You can see into the boiler room from inside the church. Loads of sawdust found - used as some sort of insulation within the balcony floor.

Thursday 2nd February

The roof battons and fabric of the main church now being removed - exposing the main beams. Hardcore / earth being laid down on the grass over the top of a membrane to protect the ground for when the heavy vehicles come on site.

Monday 6th February

The site cabins have been unloaded onto the site. Work is continuing in the snow on demolishing the church, with bricks at the North end gable being removed by hand. The vestry wall continues to be removed.

Tuesday 7th February

The porch has been demolished. A hole in one of the walls where the window was has been created and the screens removed. The inside of the church now completely empty.

Site cabins connecting up to electric and water.

Wednesday 8th February

The two wall plaques in the main church successfully removed and now standing in the Manse garden.

The "Erected 1867" stones are in our back garden, along with the two normal sized engraved bricks of what we presume were the original builders "WB" and "W Panter". The demolition of the main church front continues.

Church stain glass window successfully removed and now sitting in the Manse Garden. Huge "Claw" on site to be used on the main church.

 Thursday 9th February

The whole of the South wall of the church is now gone, and they are working their way along the West wall.

Friday 10th February

Stones from the church lorried off site in the snow. Continuing to remove the East and West walls.

Workmen digging holes in the pavement - gas, water?

Only one part standing now - looks like the Arc de Triomphe. The rest will be taken down tomorrow.

Saturday 11th February

Only part of the upper vestry and some of the North wall remaining now.

Tuesday 14th February

The vestry has now gone. Only part of the north wall standing. There is a stone crusher on site, to provide a rubble matting for the pile-drivers.

Wednesday 15th February

The toilet block now removed. Work continues to bring down the north wall. Rubble created for the piling mat. The safe is now safe. A ladder has been placed in my back garden.

Friday 17th February

Continuing piles of rubble being created - at a moment a mountain of rubble. A little set of steps created to a pedestrian access to site.

The demolition site hut no longer on site. Surveyors surveying. The digger uprooting the boiler room. Black sheeting covering where the schoolrooms were and a flat rubble surface laid out over it - I assume for the pile driving rig.

Saturday 18th February

The stone crusher taken off site today, along with two diggers. The demolition side of things now seems complete.

Monday 20th February

More digging going on, people measuring things.

Tuesday 21st February

Various men on site looking at and measuring things and having conversations.

Thursday 23rd February

Work continuing leveling the ground across the footprint of where the new building will be. The front border wall, alongside the pavement, where the schoolrooms were, in front of the hoardings, now removed.

Friday 24th February

The footprint of the church continuing to be cut out and parts of the substructure are being delivered. Metal & plastic.

A number of banners / signs are now on the outside of the hoardings, detailing Watson & Cox, Chris Haire, Considerate Constructions Scheme, Contact for site Manager, etc.

Monday 27th February

More ground being levelled, rubble apron deepened, footprint extended slightly reading for piling to begin in a few days time.

Tuesday 28th February

Piling rig now on site, driven on expertly on a huge low loader.

Wednesday 29th February

We now have the beginning of piles!

Thursday 1st March

Our Piles are continuing to multiply. Other preparation for the foundations also going on on site. The piles are constructed using a massive corkscrew machine that drills down to a few metres, concrete is poured in automatically and then a metal tubular mesh is pushed down into the concrete.

Friday 2nd March

All the piles are now driven, the piling rig, cement mixer and deliverer are all off site.

7th March

The piles are being tested.