Conservation and Improvement Project - Week Ending 29th January 2016

Monday and Richard Frost, Master Thatcher, was at the Hall starting to strip off the old thatch.
Tuesday and Richard Boyles of Dart Electrics was on site making a start with the new cabling for the Hall. Dart Electrics worked throughout the week stripping out old electrics, including removal of the old consumer unit and meters from the Hall, and installing cabling for new circuits.

Steve Baber, Project Lead, Miya Bond, Treasurer and Richard Boxall, Project Manager held a project finance review meeting on Monday to consider progress with the project and monitor finances.

Steve Baber and Richard Boxall were on site on Tuesday morning to consider any issues that have arisen with the work on the roof. One issue is the length of the thatching pegs which may damage some of the plaster board in places. This is due to the thin coating of the existing thatch. It was decided to proceed with caution and to 'test' an area of the roof as soon as is possible.

On Friday there was the weekly project monitoring meeting with Richard Boxall, Richard Slee, Richard Boyles and Steve Baber present. These meetings enable any issues to be discussed, on project decisions to be made and future work and targets to be planned. Progress is in line with the plan.

It has been possible to start installing the insulation during this week.

The new timbers that will add to the strength and stability of the roof have arrived at the Hall and work has started in preparing them for installation.

 

 

Conservation and Improvement Project - Week Ending 22nd January 2016

Monday, and with scaffolding in place, Richard Slee's team was able to start work on the roof timbers. The first job is to add battens to the existing rafters to add sufficient depth for insulation to be added between the thatch and the plaster board ceiling. Work carried on with this task throughout the week. By Friday it was possible to start cleaning the old timbers.

On Thursday the insulation materials were delivered to the Hall in readiness to install in the roof.

A Project Team meeting involving Richard Boxall (Project Manager), Richard Slee (Main Contractor), Richard Boyles (DART Electrics and project electrician) and Steve Baber (Project Lead) was held on Friday to finalise the locations of electrical fittings and cable routes. This enable Richard to start work on first fixing electrical cabling.

Friday and Richard Frost was at the Hall starting work on the thatched roof.

 

Conservation and Improvement Project - Week Ending 15th January 2016

This week has seen the scaffolding erected both inside the Hall and outside the Hall.

Inside the Hall Richard Slee's team are starting to work on the roof. The old rafters that supported the ceiling have been removed. The A-frames and purlins can now be clearly seen and their condition examined. The only unknown issue was to find one of the A-frames did not have a wall plate block set in the top of the cob at one side and therefore nothing was supporting it. This is easily remedied with the insertion of a new wall plate block.

Outside the scaffolding erection was completed and this now enables Richard Frost the Master Thatcher, to start work on the thatch next week.

On Wednesday Dart Electric were at the Hall and disconnected old circuits and removed obsolete cabling.

On Thursday there was a project meeting involving Richard Boxall (Project Manager), Richard Slee (Main Contractor), Steve Baber (Project Lead) and the joiner to assess the work on the roof and agree a plan of action.

On Thursday evening the Trustees met and had an update from Richard Boxall on the progress with the project.

Trustees Meeting

The Parish Hall Trustees / Management Committee held their bi-monthly meeting on Thursday. Richard Boxall, the Conservation and Improvement Project Manager, was in attendance and provided the Trustees with an update on progress with the project. Work is moving forward as planned. Richard Slee, Main  Contractor, and Richard Frost, Master Thatcher, are now at the Hall and starting the next phase of work. It was also possible to discuss the issues associated with decoration, Hall use after the completion of the work, the refurbishment of the kitchen and the 2016 list of activities and events run by the Committee.

Conservation and Improvement Project - Week Ending 08 January 2016

Monday morning and Richard Slee's team were back on site preparing the Hall for the asbestos removal contractor to start removing the old asbestos based ceiling. The specialist company removing the ceiling were Shield Environmental Services  They worked from Monday until Thursday removing the ceiling product and cleaning the Hall. During the work access to the Hall was prohibited. A large container was delivered and left in the car park. This was used to dispose of the asbestos material.
On Friday it was possible to go into the Hall and see the roof timbers which are now exposed.
On Friday there was  site meeting of Richard Boxall (Project Manager), Richard Slee (Main Contractor), Richard Frost (Master Thatcher) and Steve Baber (Project Lead). The meeting was to plan the next stage of the works. Richard Slee and his team will be working inside the Hall continuing with the conservation work. Richard Frost will be starting to re-thatch the roof. The first task is to erect scaffolding both inside and outside the Hall and this should start next week.