It has BEGUN!

The heavy machinery has moved in, and the groundworks have begun. Deo gratias!

Before we can build up, works commences below ground with the installation of concrete trench foundations and soak away drainage.

The soakaways, made up of stone filled voids beneath the new road and car park, will deal with rainwater runoff from the church roof and new hard surfaces. These voids will capture and hold rainwater allowing it to gradually ‘soak away’ into the ground. To meet building regulation, these voids must be able to cope with the worst storm that might be expected to happen within 1000 years. They are therefore significant in scale and expense, even if they are only an invisible part of the completed project.

Excavation has been somewhat hampered by the discovery of what unfortunately didn’t turn out to be a miraculous well but an existing, previously undiscovered water main leak.  The blue mains pipe has been uncovered and, as I write, workers are trying to pinpoint the precise location of the leak, no doubt at a connection point somewhere underground! It is a case of a needle in a haystack!

A temporary road made of rubble and dirt is being installed to aid the movement of vehicles on site. This will prevent the site turning into a quagmire and keep the existing school driveway and site entrance relatively free of mud and debris.

This below-ground phase of the projects will also include the installation of services ducts that will distribute power, data and heating pipework to and from the church and the installation drainage from sink and toilet facilities into new drainage runs out to Harts Lane. Once again, although not hugely exciting to most people, nor part of the visible structure, these elements are the results of months of design work and are crucial for the successful operation of the church building.

God willing, by mid-July, work will start on the steel frame and brickwork. You will then begin to see the first indication of a church emerging from the clay ground.