construct August 2014
Starlings swoop on former landfill site
To coincide with the Grand Depart of the Tour de France and to highlight the beauty of the South Pennines, Fields of Vision have created 12 land art installations as part of the Yorkshire Festival. Swoop by Jane Revitt is situated on a former landfill site owned by Casey
The artist, Jane Revitt, created a flowing abstract representation of more than 500 starlings swooping across the hillside. The artwork links the dramatic patterns made by the birds in nature with the movement of the cyclists’ peloton where riders ‘flock’ together to save energy and protect the rest of the group. Appropriately using recycled plastics, the piece highlights the iconic nature of the starling flocks but also the worrying decline of the species, not just in Yorkshire but nationally. Starling numbers have fallen by 84% since 1979 when records began. The project was funded through the Landfill Communities Fund. You can see some more photos of Swoop on Jane’s blog which also gives links to a Radio 4 Front Row interview about the project, plus Jane’s website. Find the blog at swoopfieldsofvision.blogspot.co.uk
Swoop by Jane Revitt at the former landfill site in Elland, West Yorkshire
This site at Elland near Halifax in West Yorkshire had been mined and quarried since the mid 19th century. The clay and shale in the area was first used at a pottery in the western area of the site. By 1930 the pottery was gone and Woodman Pipe Works and a brick works were located in the north west of the site. Old Ordnance Survey maps show that the quarry and clay pit were still active up to 1987, but by 1990 the clay pit was disused.
There was also some coal mined from the south of the site. This mining activity probably predates the clay works, but it is believed that the coal was also extracted via drift mines and adits in the area, possibly as fuel for the pipe works and brick works.
If you would like a copy of the trail map giving details and locations of all 12 of the Fields of Vision artworks, contact debbie.hubbard@casey.co.uk and we will send one out to you, or visit the Fields of Vision website www.fieldsofvision.org.uk
Casey took on the site in 1991, continuing to quarry for some shale but majorly using the quarry as a landfill site taking non-hazardous waste. Filling was completed in 2006 and gas is now collected from the site and burnt in an electricity generating gas engine to provide energy to the national grid. The site has been restored to match the rolling hills typical of this area of the South Pennines. As part of the Yorkshire Festival 2014, and coinciding with the Grand Depart in Yorkshire of the Tour de France, the site was offered as a location for a 125m land artwork for Fields of Vision.
Aerial photo and bowling photo courtesy of Jane Revitt; Jane Revitt with starlings photo courtesy of Geoff Wood; Elland quarry photo from Casey archive
working well together
construct
Health, safety and welfare
war on waste
Whether it is from the packaging or from the building materials used in a project, waste in the construction industry is inevitable. It is also expensive, and very often underestimated. Waste can account for a massive 2-3% of construction cost, impacting significantly on profit margins. It therefore makes it hugely important that we keep waste to a minimum.
Attention to site waste plays an important part in improving environmental performance, and staying competitive.
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the labour cost of handling the waste on site
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the cost of waste storage, transport, treatment and disposal.
The cost of materials and of disposing of waste has increased dramatically over the last decade. This makes a strong case for using the waste hierarchy - for reducing waste and for the re-use or recycling of unavoidable waste, before taking the option of disposal.
The total annual material resource requirement for UK construction is estimated to be around 424 million tonnes, and around 94 million tonnes of waste is produced annually by construction and demolition. The true cost of waste is not just the cost of hiring a skip, it also includes: •
the cost of materials that end up as waste
Remember: REDUCE RE-USE RECYCLE At Casey, in the 12 months ending June 2014, we spent £1.25 million on timber, bricks and blocks, concrete and mortar, and consumables. How much of that is wasted? It’s potentially like filling a skip with £5 notes! Here are a few things to think about: 1. Tidy site - is site being kept tidy? A tidy site is a safe site and an efficient one. 2. Storage - are we storing materials effectively to prevent damage? Is there suitable racking in the storage containers?
7. Dust sheets - are they being cleaned and re-used? 8. Segregation - are we segregating waste effectively so that it can be recyled? The wrong items in a skip can lead to added costs or the skip load being rejected. 9. Skip rotation - are the skips full before being rotated? Are the contents being compacted? 10. Theft - are materials and plant being stored securely? Is usage being monitored?
3. Timber - where possible are we ordering the right lengths? Can we re-use the offcuts? Could they be used for making racking and pallets for storing other materials?
11. Over-ordering - are we ordering just what we need? Yes, surplus materials can often be transferred to the next project, but that involves transport, more labour and possible damage
4. Flooring material - is it being cut efficiently? Could offcuts be used?
12. Returns - can we arrange for suppliers to take unused materials back eg plasterboard?
5. Tiling - are we over-ordering? Are they being stored and transported carefully to prevent breakages? 6. Plaster - is the bag being discarded before being totally emptied?
13. Hires - is plant and equipment being offhired in a timely manner? 14. Care and attention - to avoid damage to materials, and plant and equipment.
15. Vehicles - plan where to re-fill your vehicle. If there isn’t an appropriate filling station near site, is there one nearer home? 16. Trades - are trades leaving the site in a tidy and safe condition for the next trade to start work? 17. Waste champion - why not appoint a site ‘waste champion’ on site?
Working well together Introducing our Airtightness Wizards
This month we’d like to introduce you to our Airtightness Team. Currently working on our Erneley Close project for Eastlands Homes, the team are experts in airtightness for retrofit projects. This particular project has presented its own challenges. Even though dwellings may be of the same type and layout, where airtightness is concerned each property may be different from the last. Measures that work effectively in nine properties may not work in the tenth. Finding solutions involves significant design time, experimentation, testing and re-testing in almost laboratory conditions. This project in particular has necessitated the use of some ground breaking, innovative solutions.
The Airtightness Team: (from left to right) Liam Schofield, Simon Moseley, Paddy Toner, Erol Tonguc, and Paul Jennings (ALDAS) with Site Manager, Tony Doran
Achieving airtightness standards in a retrofit property is inherently more difficult than in a newbuild. Voids and airleaks often cannot be seen and are difficult to find and the team use a number of tools ranging from thermal imaging cameras, to feeling with hands, and using smoke machines and wizard sticks. In our opinion, Harry Potter has nothing on these guys!
New apprenticeships for Helena Homes residents
Four Helena residents are starting apprenticeships with Casey on our project to build 27 new homes in Sutton. The apprentices will start as their trades are needed on the project. The first to start is Jordan Moneydavies who is an apprentice Joiner, and is seen here with Steve Redford our Site Manager. We wish Jordan, Ryan O’Neil (apprentice Bricklayer) and the other apprentices all the best of luck in their new roles.
Give and Gain Day with THT Give and Gain Day is a national day of employee volunteering, which connects skilled professionals with community organisations by matching them with a volunteering project.
Trafford Housing Trust has taken part for the past three years, and this year we helped them with a project for 4 Cheeky Monkeys in Sale. They wanted to create a child friendly play area at their Family Centre, and we donated equipment for their ‘mud kitchen’ where kids can get explore and get mucky.
Skeletons dug up in Leicester
Leicester has been in the news a lot over the past 12 months because of the discovery of the remains of King Richard III under a carpark in the city centre. However, that’s not the only archeaological activity that has been going on in Leicester and some of it has involved us! We have mentioned before that we are working on two projects in Leicester - public realm works and landscaping at both Jubilee Square and Cathedral Gardens.
Historic Site
While working in the grounds of the Cathedral, our workmen have come across the remains of five people. The precincts of the Cathedral were used as a burial ground until around 1850 so it was not unusual to find some bones. However, they did not expect to find intact skeletons.
The hospital was founded by William Wyggeston the Younger, a Leicester wool merchant, in 1513. Situated next door to the parish church of St Martin’s (now the Cathedral), this was an Almshouse to provide accommodation for 12 poor men and 12 poor women, with two chaplains to say masses for the souls of the dead.
We do not know who four of the bodies were, but the fifth had some identification. She was a 21 year old woman named Elizabeth Farmer who died on 26 October 1817. The four unidentified bodies were noted by archaeologists and replaced in their original graves. The body of Elizabeth Farmer had to be relocated because it was found in an area of the grounds needed for the foundations of the new gardens.
Some of the Cathedral works being carried out by Casey are on the site of the old Wyggeston Hospital.
The remains of all the bodies have been re-interred on consecrated ground with the appropriate ceremonies Not much is known about Elizabeth Farmer. The fact that she died so young indicates that her death may have been from illness. It is known that there were continual outbreaks of cholera and typhus in the houses near the Cathedral around the time that she died.
“The hospital’s first inmates, admitted in 1521, could well have included pensioners who were participants in the Battle of Bosworth Field only 36 years earlier,” said Pete Hobson, Acting Canon Missioner at Leicester Cathedral. The hospital was re-sited in 1869, but part of one of the original walls remains and has been incorporated into the gardens.
How did University of Leicester’s Archaeology Department find a king? In 1986, a University of Leicester Lecturer, David Baldwin, presented a paper arguing that King Richard III probably still lay in the Greyfriars area of the city The area was the site of banks, offices and carparks and it wasn’t until March 2011 that Philippa Langley of the Richard III Society approached the University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS) about exploring the site. The team studied centuries of maps to determine the exact site of the Greyfriars
Friary. Three areas were identified for excavation and a ground penetrating radar survey was carried out of all three. Documentary evidence provides that Richard was buried in the Greyfriars church, and that Henry VII paid for an alabaster tomb to be constructed over the site of Richard’s grave. This suggests that he was buried in a high status part of the church, probably within the choir. The expectation was that ULAS would find the remains of the Friary and within the Friary, locate the church. There was an outside chance that they might be able to locate the choir but they did not seriously think it would be possible to locate the remains of King Richard. The plan was to dig two trenches with the possibility of a third. In the first trench, a human left leg bone was discovered. Not surprising, perhaps, as it was the grounds of a church. Examination revealed a parallel right leg, indicating an undisturbed burial.
At this point, ULAS did not know where in the Friary they were located. Trenches 2 and 3 were dug over the next couple of weeks and the team ascertained that the human remains they found on day one lay in what was quite possibly the choir of the church. Wearing a special suit to prevent contamination, Archaeologist Jo Appleby carefully uncovered the remains. There was no coffin and it seemed the skeleton had been buried with its hands tied. Remarkably, the spine was in an unmistakable S-shape! To confirm that this was Richard, it was necessary to compare DNA with a relative down the female line of Richard’s family. Such a relative was found in Canada, with a son in London who was willing to provide DNA, and so a comparison could be made. The DNA, along with radiocarbon and scoliosis evidence, plus a combination of other lines of evidence all pointed in the same direction. Beyond reasonable doubt, this was King Richard III!
We would like to thank the following people for their contribution to this issue: Jane Revitt; Martin Lovelock (Arley Consulting Company Ltd); Alan Wallace; Pete Atkinson, Steve Redford, Simon Moseley, Paul Byrne, Paul Turner, Danny Lyle, Pete Burgess
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