Stagsden 2 x New Builds

Demolition

Our first task on site was to demolish 3 existing farm buildings. Our customer, acting as Principal Contractor, facilitated an asbestos survey, as we suspected at least one of the roofs to be asbestos. The roof was indeed asbestos, and we recommended WJ Redden from Wellingborough, to safely take down the roof and remove the material from site. With the asbestos safely removed, we bought an 8 tonne machine to site, with a grapple bucket attached, and set to demolishing each of the three buildings in turn. The mixed waste was put into skips and removed from site. Any hardcore from the walls and floors was kept on site, to be crushed later on for future use. 

Footings

One of the two barns was to be built with a standard concrete ‘strip’ footing, the drawings detailed 1m dig depth, however we proactively went down to 1.2m due to the top of the dig appearing to be made-up ground. Building Control and the Warranty Provider were happy with the dig, and we continued to pour the concrete footings. On the second barn a piled foundation was required, due to the close proximity of trees on site. The customer had instructed a structural engineer to design the ringbeam, which would sit on the piles. A pile design was put together by the same structural engineer and we instructed a third party piling company. The piles were steel casings driven into the ground, welded together as they were dropped in, and then filled with concrete and reinforcing bars. With the piling complete, we broke off the top of each pile and cut the metal casing on each to the correct height, and then bent the reinforcing bar into where our ringbeam would sit. The ringbeam dig was lined with cellcore to the bottom and then permanent formwork installed all round. The ringbeam was constructed on site and each section lowered in and fixed together. Claymaster was required on the inside of the permanent formwork, all part of the design and as a resut of the trees on site. The concrete ringbeam was poured, completing the foundations for both barns.

Drainage

We installed all foul drainage prior to the masonry being done. This included laying underground drainage pipes to the positions of foul stacks inside each barn for the foul. As there is no public sewer in the village, we installed two treatment plants, one for each barn. These were ‘6-person Marsh Ensign’ treatment plants, a modern-day equivalent of a septic tank. These were installed in full concrete surround as per the manufacturer’s specification. We laid a drainage field for each treatment plant, within the site. Soakaways were installed for rainwater drainage, and pipes laid from the downpipe positions on each house, to the soakaways. 

Masonry

The oversites were reduced to give 200mm clearance under where the block beam would sit, and then we did the masonry to the underside of the block and beam. This consisted of a total of 300mm, so a block and a brick in most places, on both the inner and outer courses. Facework would be done later on by the building contractor doing the superstructure. 

Block and beam

The block and beam was installed, using 150mm beams throughout and 3.5N blocks, and finished with a cement slurry. This concluded this part of the project for us. 

A building contractor was instructed to take over soon after we left, but we expect to return to site at a later date when the new dwellings are built, to install services from the Highway, to each barn. With the services in, we will install a road from the Highway to the new barns, at the moment the road is a hardcore track, suitable for construction traffic throughout the build. 

It was great to have worked with James on this project, especially as we had worked for his Dad on a similar project many years before. And we look forward to returning at a later date to install the services and to put the final road in.