The sheet piling is taking place for the construction of all 3 Blocks, A, B & C, this photograph was taken on 17 July 2019,

Welcome to this months July blog about the progress at the St William, Courtyard Gardens development here in Oxted, this blog is number 7, previous ones can be found here.

For my regular readers and locals, you will be aware that the gas holder that once stood on this site for over 50 years was deconstructed earlier this year, its removal has made way for the construction of 111 luxury apartments due for completion summer 2021, my regular monthly blogs will keep you updated about the progress over the next two years.

This month I attended the site on July 17th, one of the hottest days of the year and the ground was dry and relatively easy to walk on, which compared to my visit in June when there was so much rain fall it had to be pumped away and the ground was very wet and slippery.

My past visits had all taken place on overcast and cold days, it was interesting to visit on a day when the sun was beating down as it made me realise how exposed the site is and how the people working on site need to have regular breaks and drink lots of water to prevent dehydration, I felt drained and I had only been on site for 45 minutes before 9.30am!

Machinery and operatives working on the insertion of the sheet piling, during July 2019.

The apartments are being built in 3 separate Blocks - A, B & C - Block C which sits north of the former Johnsdale car park has had the sheet piling inserted.

At this moment in time the crane and the rig are being moved to the top section of the site nearer to the railway station to allow for the sheet piling of Blocks A & B, this process will continue until mid August when my next visit is due. A new contractor will be brought in after this to do the foundation bearing piles which will continue through to the end of September.

The photographs I have taken (the sunshine makes all the difference) below show and tell you more…

A view of the top of the site, where Blocks A & B will be built , the railway station sits behind this view

Looking down the site, a hose on the right, is visible to drain out the excess water

Drilling for the sheet piling to be inserted

Block C will be built in this position where the former Johnsdale car park once stood

The edge of the base of the former gas holder is all that remains visible of where it once stood

Monitors to control noise and air pollution and CCTV information

An ‘echo barrier’ to reduce the noise levels

Where possible the concrete broken out from the base of the gasholder has now been crushed and reused on site to form the piling mat, additional crushed concrete is brought in as well.

The Echo Barrier used on site is scientifically developed by leading acoustic engineers, acoustic barriers are the most effective temporary noise control solutions on the market. They typically reduce noise energy by up to 99%, and are lightweight, weatherproof and adaptable to any setting.

Machinery in place to drill and insert the sheet piling for Blocks A & B

Mats in place for the machinery to sit on during the sheet piling process

Machinery in place for sheet piling to Blocks A & B

Crushed concrete ready for distributing to form the piling mat

Machinery maintenance to complete the piling task

A sound or ‘echo barrier’ to reduce the noise from generators and machinery

Top right of this image, the cabins where the project, technical and site managers are based

Piling is an essential part of building works to ensure strong foundations and prevent the risk of any future subsidence or ground movement.

Delivery of crushed concrete for the piling mats

Each piling sheet is lifted by crane from the delivery lorry with the guidance of the engineers to lower in place

Each piling sheet picked up by crane and lowered in a pile on site ready for insertion

A view from the former Johnsdale car park

Crushed concrete is placed at different points on site

This picture gives you an idea of the size of each piling sheet

Sheet piling lowered onto the site

Time delay camera takes an image every 20 minutes

A view of the site from the back of the flats that are above the shops in Station Road East

If you are interested to know more about purchasing an apartment, follow this link to Robert Leech, the Estate Agents for this development by St William, part of the Berkeley Group

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I’ll be back next month with further updates, watch this space for further developments.

Thanks for reading, bye for now.

Stella

To read other previous blogs these can be found on the ‘Featured’ blogs below by using the arrows on the right to scroll through the past 30 blogs.