Holdfast Training Services Trial Blog

Well it’s been one more week closer to the Cross rail Mile stone of excavating the shaft by 2 May, and we have got no closer.

Temporary Works

1.   The Temporary Works design for the steel platform has finally been produced and after a few alterations we have sent the final design to the fabricators.

The new delivery date for the steel platform has moved to the right and SHOULD be delivered by the 29th Apr. My fear is that once it gets delivered it’s not going to fit without some serious alterations on site… we shall see. However once the platform is in place the generator, compressor, receiver, settlement tank, siltbuster and electrical MDU can be placed in position. As you can see the platform is most defiantly on the critical path for this project.

2.   The Muck bin saga continues, it looks like the design has been approved by Cross rail, now that Merebrook Consulting have resolved the sub-basement propping issues in the building opposite. This means that the reinforced concrete slab can be poured next week and the retaining wall units put in place later that week.  

3.   The equipment steel platform on the other side of the shaft has now been designed and should go in later next week. This will allow the Concrete pump, accelerator tanks and the concrete remixer to be put in place.

4.   Finally the 80T crane platform has been signed off by Cross rail. The idea is that the Over Site Development Geothermal Piles that have been put in place will be able to take the load of the 80T crane. The majority of the bearing capacities of the piles are through the end bearing capacity and not the soil friction. As the piles are deeper than the shaft there should be limited loading onto the shaft wall.

Who is watching the Watchmen?

As the Cross rail project is funded by the public taxpayer, the client (Cross rail) has employed an entire team that monitors the contractors (BFK). This ensures that we (BFK) comply with the standards that were drawn up in the contract. However it means that every single piece of paperwork has to be authorised by Cross rail. That includes the: Daily Briefs, Work Specific Activity Briefs, Method Statements, Risk assessments, ITP’s (Inspection Testing Programs) and signing off on all the materials that we use. However, we sub contract a vast amount of work, so we have to check that the sub-contractors are applying then Cross rail ensure that we are complying, the whole process is man power intensive and massively inefficient.  Who would have thought that a Public funded project would have been so inefficient…?

Anyway, less moaning. I’m off on a two week holiday next week for my Easter break. I will keep you updated with the site photos. AS you can see below, not much change from last week. Hopefully you will see much improvement over the course of the next two weeks.