Month: July 2020

Progress on the Thomas Field Hall is now starting to be visible above ground as the walls start to rise. The below ground works have been completed. The services have been installed in the underground ducts and the precast concrete beam and block floor has been laid with the ground gas protection membrane beneath. Now the builders can start to bring up the external walls and the extent of the Hall can be seen.

This week saw more demolition. The door opening in the back wall of the Ambulatory was formed and brickwork removed at the edges of the roof.  A dwarf wall was built across the width of the Hall to support the precast concrete beams forming the new floor.

There’s no going back now!

This past week has seen the demolition of a significant portion of the old building. The slates have been carefully removed from the roof and set aside for re-use. These have been identified as Delabole slates from Cornwall, which are quite special as they are random widths which gives the roof a lovely natural look. They and the ridge tiles have come off undamaged and we will be able to re-use all of them, which is good. The roof timbers have been removed back to the junction with the new roof.

At last some positive progress on The Thomas Field Hall: bricklayers arrived on site on Wednesday and the walls are rising. At this stage the brickwork is tricky as there are several openings to be formed for services ducts to pass through, and underfloor ventilation ducts to be built in.