Restoring The People's Pier

SAV I N G T H E P E O P L E ’ S P I E R THE RESTORATION OF HASTINGS PIER, MY STORY DAVID SPOONER

SAV I N G T H E P E O P L E ’ S P I E R THE RESTORATION OF HASTINGS PIER, MY STORY DAVID SPOONER

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“I have rarely come across a project which has had so many people determined to make it successful.

From the start almost everyone that had any involvement wanted things to go right and within their gift would do as much as they could to help.�

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CONTENTS 1: INTRODUCTION 2: BEFORE WE START 3: THE TEAM 4: THE FIRST PHASE 5: THE STORM 6: THE VISITOR CENTRE 7: PIER HEAD 8: OLD BANDSTAND PAVILION 9: PEOPLE 10: FINISHING TOUCHES 11: POST SCRIPT 4

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1: INTRODUCTION Hastings Pier was first opened in August 1872, since then, like most piers, it has had a chequered history being forced by circumstances to change and adapt many times during its 144 year life.

There are many books and articles in existence that record the events, both good and bad, that have led to the physical changes in the size and shape of the Pier. This book is my attempt to record the brief period in its history when the Pier went through its most major restoration following the fire which many thought would be the end of the much loved Victorian structure.

I decided to record my experience of this Project simply because I have felt more passionately involved in this than any other that I have worked on. I also wanted to make a public thank you to all of the many people that contributed in some way, however big or small, to the successful outcome of the endeavour.

This Project is by no means the most complicated nor is it by some standards the most successful with which I have been involved. What it is, I think, is the one project which has captured the intense desire to stand back at the end and say to myself: “I have played a small part in the history of this building, I have helped take it from one stage to the next. It is now up to others to take it and bring it to life for the community and its visitors, to use it for whatever is wanted; to look after it for the next generation and keep it alive until the next time that it needs to adapt.�

Someone once asked me if restoring the Pier had been a challenge; the simple answer is that all building projects are a challenge. Each and every one is unique. Invariably the team that is involved has never worked as the same team before. The location is different, the skills needed are different, and the constraints are different. The challenge is always the same, to produce the right product in the right time at the right cost with the overriding caveat to do it safely.

There are very few piers that have had the extent of work to them that we undertook at Hastings, so inevitably the team involved would not come with the ready-made experience of anything similar. Somehow restoring this Pier had one extra challenge which was to help Hastings with its strong desire to get back one of its much loved assets. This last challenge in reality became a unique strength.

I have rarely come across a project which has had so many people determined to make it successful. From the start almost everyone that had any involvement wanted things to go right and within their gift would do as much as they could to help. This attitude extended from the Authorities to the Public Utilities, to Highways as well as the local businesses, contractors and suppliers. In itself this was a great help in overcoming the challenges.

The restoration of Hastings Pier is now complete. It is my last Project which in a way it had to be; I don’t think that I could find another that was as challenging or as rewarding.

This book is entirely personal and hopefully I will be able to give you some idea of what we had to do, how we did it and who were the real unsung heroes.

LEFT: The Site Team: Peter Wheeler, Emma Palfrey-Rogers and David Spooner.

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The fire on 5 October 2010 Š John Hodgson

5 October 2010: Fire

2008: Pier closed

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

28 March 2013: HLF confirm award 14 August 2013: Pier ownership passed to Charity

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2: BEFORE WE START In May 2013 the Heritage Lottery Fund confirmed that £11.4 million (of the £14 million needed for the build and initial running costs) had been allocated to Hastings Pier & White Rock Trust (HP&WRT). This was subject to the completion of the Compulsory Purchase Order and the transfer of ownership. The balance of the funds were secured from other sources not least of which from 3,000 people who responded to the share offering contributing £600,000.

This was the culmination of seven years of effort by a small group of people initially led by Jess Steele, who were committed enough to be able to convince those that needed to be convinced that the Pier had to be saved for the benefit of the people of Hastings. It is the People’s Pier.

The Pier had suffered many years of neglect by its owners and progressively it was being closed; partly in 2006 and then from 2008 it had been fully closed to the public as it was considered to be unsafe. The campaign to save the Pier had been going for some time when on that fateful day, 5th October 2010 a fire started in the Ballroom at the Pier Head.

The wind, as nearly always, was a strong South Westerly so it didn’t take long for the fire to get established. The Fire Service were there and desperate to do their job but with an unsafe structure they couldn’t get on to the Pier. The rest is history. Every building on the Pier, with the sole exception of the West Bandstand Pavilion, was completely destroyed.

A lot of people thought that this was the end but not the HP&WRT, quite the opposite, it actually stiffened the resolve and increased the desire to save the Pier. In some ways the fire helped the job of restoration. Fortunately the Heritage Authorities accepted that although the Pier is a Grade 2 listed structure, it need not be reconstructed as it was before the fire. This meant that the cost of the Project could be kept to a level that the Heritage Lottery Fund were willing to support. So in May 2013 the button was pushed and the Project was alive.

By then Hastings Pier Charity had been formed out of HP&WRT, there were a number of keen and committed Trustees and a Chief Executive. The next step was to

19 January 2015: Visitor Centre piling 29 July 2015: Visitor Centre building starts

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2015

2016

15 January 2014: Restoration begins

15 February 2016: Main steelwork finished

4 February 2014: Storm damage

11 March 2016: Pavilion completed

6 March 2014: First board fixed

22 March 2016: Last deck board fixed 25 March 2016: Construction finished 27 April 2016: Pier opens to the public 7

“ Peter and I looked at the pictures and both exclaimed, ‘what have we let ourselves in for?’. Two things were apparent. Firstly how big the Pier was. We knew that it was 911 feet long but I don’t think that you really appreciate what that means when you are looking from the promenade. Secondly was the devastation and the scale of the task ahead of us. ”

Taken on 1 August 2013 © ArkDroneWorks@gmail.com

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appoint the construction staff; enter Peter Wheeler as Project Engineer and me as Construction Project Manager.

(We were later to appoint Emma Palfrey-Rogers to handle the administration and keep the two of us in check).

Neither Peter nor I had any experience of working on a Pier nor had our paths ever crossed before. Whether by luck or someone’s judgement neither of those factors was a problem.

My 46 years in the construction industry had been spent mainly in and around London, generally on commercial projects. I had had one recent experience of marine work at Newhaven but that was it. Probably the two most significant projects with which I had been involved were my first which was five years spent on the construction of the Barbican in the City of London and more recently the refurbishment and extension of a £170 million 40 storey office block in the City. I think that the two most important things I have learnt in my career are the value of people and the need to concentrate on ‘what really matters’.

Peter’s experience is far wider than mine, having spent a lot of time working for the army in all sorts of hostile environments constructing different engineering structures. His great strength is the ability to find a solution to any problem and make anything work. Very soon after we started, someone suggested that Peter and I were a great complementary team and likened us to Statler & Waldorf from the Muppets; I’m still not sure if that was a compliment or indeed where Emma fitted in to the analogy.

In July 2013 we both started with the Charity and initially were based in the office in the Town Hall as at that time the Pier was still owned by the Panama based company Ravenclaw. Hastings Borough Council were progressing the Compulsory Purchase of the Pier but it was a difficult process that took a long time to resolve, involving lawyers travelling to Panama to serve papers on various people.

Finally on 14th August 2013 the CPO was completed, ownership was passed to Hastings Pier Charity and we were able, for the first time (officially) to open the gates and set foot on to the Pier.

Whilst, until then, we had not had access, we had at least been able to organise a drone to fly over to take a video of the structure. That operation was quite eventful.

On its return to the beach, the pre-programmed drone

presumably didn’t appreciate the tidal differences and rather than landing safely on the beach it plunged in to the sea and sank. We feared the worst. However, the tide went out, the drone was recovered and we had our film.

That was the first frightening moment. Peter and I looked at the pictures and both exclaimed, “what have we let ourselves in for?”. Two things were apparent. Firstly how big the Pier was. We knew that it was 911 feet long but I don’t think that you really appreciate what that means when you are looking from the promenade. Secondly was the devastation and the scale of the task ahead of us.

At the Pier Head was the twisted steel structure of the Ballroom beyond which, almost bizarrely was a section of decking that was perfectly intact. At the land end, on the Parade Extension the West Bandstand Pavilion looked good and strangely, like a shadow, on the East side was an outline of the other Pavilion building somehow clearly defined by the charred deck. The big shock was the complete lack of anything in the middle of the Pier. It was just steelwork with a few pieces of concrete and some areas of burnt timber.

The assumed scope of the replacement of the steelwork was based upon a survey carried out by the Structural Engineers in 2007. This survey had been translated into a schedule of the number of steel members to be replaced.

These were categorised by the presumptions of Red – to be replaced; Amber – possibly replace; Green – to be kept The presumption for budgeting purposes was that 50% of the ‘Amber’ category would become ‘Red’. Our first impression from the drone pictures was that the 50% may well have been a little optimistic.

Once we had possession and could get on to the Pier, we needed to carry out some enabling works to get things ready for the work to start. The prime objective was to get ourselves set up with a proper site office and other facilities. The Bandstand Pavilion was the obvious choice 9

and so it was checked out and we agreed that with the rubbish and the pigeons cleared out, a few holes blocked up and a coat of paint it would be very suitable.

The ‘Gritti Palace’ pub (named after a posh hotel in Venice) was the largest space so we chose it to be the site office.

It was like the Marie Celeste; tables, chairs and glasses remained and there was even beer still in the barrels (we resisted the temptation). We cleared it all out and in October we moved in. From then until the end of that year, we made the Pier as safe as we could, we had a scaffold walkway constructed to give access right to the end and we jet washed the remaining areas of deck which were extremely slippery when wet.

Those early days with Peter, Emma and I in the site office were challenging. We often had sub-zero temperatures in the office when we arrived in the mornings. The temporary electrics were temperamental and you had to turn the heating off when you wanted to boil a kettle.

We spent the time doing further surveys and inspections and getting ready for the Project. One thing that we did have to do was to install columns in the car park under the promenade at the entrance to the Pier so that we could 10

strengthen the slab to increase the load capacity to take the deliveries that we would need.

The only element of actual construction that we carried out in that initial period was the replacement of column 258. There are 316 columns supporting the Pier, almost all of which are in good condition and not requiring much attention. However column 258 is at a critical location right in the centre of the Parade Extension and at some point in time it had disappeared. To replace it, we first had to find the top of the pile which involved digging a rather deep hole in the beach. We found it and fortunately it was in a good condition. We attached a new sectional hollow steel column, with a cage of reinforcement, filled it with concrete and completed the connections to the existing beams.

The first operation of the £12 million restoration of Hastings Pier was successfully completed.

TOP LEFT: The Site Office had been the former Gritti Palace bar ABOVE: Interior view of our Site Office when we arrived RIGHT: Column 258

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An early photograph of the Site Team TOP RIGHT: Sara Clark of TimberCraft Photos by John Cole

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3: THE TEAM The designers for the Project were already selected having been appointed as part of the bidding process to the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The Architects, deRijke Marsh Morgan, had a lot of experience of timber structures which would prove to be beneficial for the Visitor Centre.

The Engineers, Ramboll UK had recently acquired Giffords who, as structural engineers, had been involved with Hastings Borough Council for many years advising on the condition of the Pier. Indeed they had been party to the decision to close it for structural reasons.

The Quantity Surveyors, PT Projects were a very experienced commercial practice.

With that part of the team in place and the Hastings Pier Charity fully staffed and ready to go, all that remained was to appoint the contractors. It had previously been decided that there would not be a main contractor as such; the work would be let on the basis of packages with the specialist contractors being appointed direct by the Charity who would then co-ordinate as construction manager. The key packages were the structural steelwork and the carpentry.

Whilst it was always one of the objectives to employ locally based contractors and suppliers, this was just not possible for the major specialist steelwork. There are very few companies in the country that are capable of dealing with multi-million pound steelworks in a marine environment so the choice is limited. Following the tendering of the package by suitable companies, we eventually appointed FPE Global, from Stockport, to be the Steelwork Contractor.

The carpentry package was different in that we were able to consider local companies as the labour resources are available in the immediate area.

TimberCraft UK were successful in winning the tender which was very pleasing for us. Sara (above) and Wes Clark, who own and run the company spent a lot of time and effort in getting to understand the scope of work and the constraints. They have both stayed fully involved throughout the duration of the Project At that point we had our two key contractors on board. Next we had to get the facilities for the work force in place. In those early days at the beginning of 2014 it was all pretty basic. We only had the old Pavilion building – and parts of that we were still sharing with the pigeons.

We managed to get four or five rooms just about habitable without spending much at all. We persuaded various local people to donate coverings for the floors, some old furniture and some kitchen equipment.

Sara and Wes took one end of the building for TimberCraft and Brian and brother Steve Phillips took the other end for FPE. Slowly over the first two or three weeks more people arrived and plant and equipment was delivered. Telephones and computers were installed and we began to function properly.

The small group of us spent a lot of time in the cold and very basic offices working on the sequencing and programming of the work.

Designs were developed and materials ordered so that by the end of January we were ready to start.

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“ I walked out on this and then looked back on Hastings town. Instantly you realise why everyone loves a pier and why there was so much desire to get this one restored and back in use for the people of Hastings.�

That being true, there was still two further appointments.

As part of our commitment to the community we had undertaken to take on two apprentices. Peter led the selection process with Sussex Coast College and after some time dealing with interviews and selection we finally picked the two that we wanted to be part of the team. Dan Bailey and Andrew Holmes, both of whom are Hastings boys, joined us as our apprentices. They were to be with us four days a week with the other day at the College doing an engineering course.

During the time that we were doing this preparatory work, we also had a scaffold access gantry constructed along the Pier so that we could actually get to the very end. I remember well the first time that I walked to the end.

Beyond the Ballroom the decking was in good condition, there was a large area that had not been touched by the fire. I walked out on this and then looked back on Hastings town. Instantly you realise why everyone loves a pier and why there was so much desire to get this one restored and back in use for the people of Hastings.

LEFT: Looking down on the Pier RIGHT: Removing an old truss Photos by John Cole

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4: THE FIRST PHASE Politically and for most public effect it would have been ideal to have started at the Pier Head and demolish the old Ballroom. We considered this for a very brief moment and immediately concluded that because the only access was on water, the cost would have been significant and way beyond the allowance that had been budgeted.

The target for the First Phase consequently became very simple. Repair the steelwork structure and lay the new deck to the central ‘spine’ of the Pier from the Promenade to the end of the Central Section. This would then give us proper access to the Pier Head to carry out the demolition of the Ballroom at an affordable cost. FPE had geared themselves up and had a team of 10 to start the work. TimberCraft were first in to lift the old deck boards.

Another of our self-imposed objectives was that nothing should be wasted, no great numbers of skips full of rubbish, re-cycle as much as possible. So what to do with 4,000 sq. metres of old deck boards.

Enter Ogs (Mark Storr Hoggins) and Stewart Walton of Hastings and Bexhill Wood Recycling (H&BWR). ‘Why don’t we take all of the salvaged deck boards and in return we will make all of the furniture for the Pier’ said Ogs. ‘Perfect’ we said, ‘it’s a deal’, and so it was. All of the old boards were taken off to H&BWR in the middle of the town and were cleaned and cut and shaped and formed in to chairs, tables and benches for the Pier. When you have your snacks on the top of the Visitor Centre you will be eating at furniture made from wood that has probably been on the Pier for 100 years.

Removing the old structure Photo by John Cole

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Whilst we were able to re-use the deck boards, unfortunately we could not find a specific use for the old steelwork; this had to be taken away to be melted down and then re-used.

The procedure of lifting joists and beams and replacing trusses progressed relentlessly during that first year. Each time that an area was exposed, Peter would inspect the steel and a decision would be made on whether or not to replace. It would have been ideal to replace all of the trusses and beams but we simply did not have the funds. Hopefully those sections that have not been renewed will last many years and eventually will get dealt with as part of the on-going maintenance programme.

Those first few months made me realise how much we were controlled by the tides and the weather. We all have ‘apps’ on our phones giving tide times and detailed weather forecasts; some even have the short term radar reports. One simple consequence of the weather is that the West side of the Pier suffers more than the East because of the prevailing winds and sea. The wind was always a major factor to be considered.

There were days when it was so strong that we considered it too dangerous to venture too far out on the Pier. One day we recorded gusts approaching 90 mph.

The wind and rain was a real challenge for the steelworkers and carpenters; it wasn’t as if they could move inside to work if conditions were bad. Many times I was impressed by the way they would work on in the rain often for hours.

In the past, steel structures that I have been involved with had always been on land. Building was quite logical and simple in that you would erect a tower crane and start building from the ground upwards. I soon learnt that restoring a pier is completely different. No tower crane to lift the sections, no starting from the bottom and working up. Everything has to be delivered in small manageable sections at deck level and then lowered in to place.

“ When you have your snacks on the top of the Visitor Centre you will be eating at furniture made from wood that has probably been on the Pier for 100 years.”

This process required teams of steelworkers hanging on ropes often for hours at a time, man-handling sections of trusses in to place.

Of course you also had to be aware of the tides. Some work had to be programmed to be carried out at low tide. The tie rails 17

“The wind and rain was a real challenge for the steelworkers and carpenters; it wasn’t as if they could move inside to work if conditions were bad. Many times I was impressed by the way they would work on in the rain often for hours.”

Removing old timber Photo by John Cole TOP RIGHT: Peter Wheeler inspecting the seabed RIGHT: FPE steel workers’ team

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and low level bracings for instance could only be installed when the tide was right. This could mean starting at 4.30 in the morning or working until 9.30 at night. I soon realised that in many respects working on a pier is more complicated than building an office block in the middle of London.

Fortunately the team from FPE were all well experienced in working in this environment. Some of them had come to Hastings straight from the refurbishment of Cromer Pier; others had worked on Blackpool Tower.

The carpentry work by TimberCraft was more straightforward. During that first phase it consisted of lifting the old deck boards and replacing with new; not too technically challenging but nevertheless to get fifty miles of deck board fixed with half a million screws required precise planning and organising. Wes even had various attempts at inventing a stand which would take twin drills.

The other realisation that I soon had was great respect for the Victorian engineers and builders that had erected this pier 144 years ago. The difficulties that they had to overcome were far greater than ours and the technical and other resources they had available to them were so much less than available to us. Yet the accuracy of construction they achieved, particularly with the raking columns is quite remarkable. The quality of the cast iron is exceptional and has really stood the test of time. I somehow doubt if they will be making the same comments about us in 2160.

We spent quite some time selecting the deck material. The architect was keen to use a man-made material rather than wood. It had many advantages and we did seriously consider it however, we tried a simple flame test and unfortunately it burned; not something that we wanted on the Pier. So we reverted to timber. The requirements for strength, durability, sustainability and cost led us to select Ekki as the timber for the Pier. It is a West African hardwood mainly from Cameroon and Gabon and it was available in the quantities that we required. Because of its very high density it also satisfied the need for a slow rate of burn.

Steelwork

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Photo by John Cole

Work progressed along the Pier during that first year. When a sufficiently large area of deck adjacent to the Promenade had been completed it was time for a more permanent site office to be established. Because of limitations of loading and access for cranes, we had to look for sectional huts for our buildings. Fortunately Skinners Sheds had exactly what we needed.

Quickly erected, we moved in to our new fully insulated and heated ‘luxury’ site offices. In a way it was sad to move out of the Gritti Palace but we soon got over that sentimental feeling.

We were then set up for the rest of the Project with good facilities, canteen, drying room and enough offices to see us through.

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Steelworker Photo by John Cole

Photo by John Cole

“During that first phase it consisted of lifting the old deck boards and replacing with new; not too technically challenging but nevertheless to get fifty miles of deck board fixed with half a million screws required precise planning and organising.�

Page 20, TOP RIGHT: Carpenter fixing joists THIS PAGE: The TimberCraft team at work.

This photo by John Cole

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The old Ballroom showing the two antennae, top right

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5: THE STORM Following the fire of 2010, the Pier was generally cleared of the remains of the damaged buildings. This however was only to the Parade Extension and the Central areas as there was no safe access to the Pier Head at that time.

Consequently the Ballroom was still there as a reminder of what the Pier had been and what had happened. The main part of the Ballroom was a steel framed structure which was now a twisted mass of steel beams and columns, still with the two communication masts sticking up at the South end looking like antennae.

At the front of the building was a two storey concrete and masonry structure that had been the main entrance, bars, kitchen and toilets. The carcass of the building had survived the fire although inside the remains of the kitchen and toilets showed the intense heat that must have been generated. As explained, our master plan for the demolition of the building was to build the access road so that plant could safely get to the Pier Head. The demolition could then be carried out with the debris being brought back along the Pier and away.

The old Ballroom before the storm

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Once again, Mother Nature had different plans. The night of February 4th 2014 was memorable for many reasons. That was the night of the storm.

We awoke on the Wednesday morning to the news of the extensive damage all around the country but more particularly along the South Coast. Parts of Brighton West Pier had been washed away; the rail line at Dawlish had been undermined and had collapsed. The list of damage was wide spread. Peter and I arrived at the Pier not knowing what we would find.

At first glance it looked as though we had escaped any damage. By that stage of the Project we had constructed the scaffold access walkway so we were able to get to the

The old Ballroom after the storm

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end of the Pier. As we got out there, we could see that part of the West wall of the Ballroom was missing; this wasn’t good but it wasn’t until we got around to that side that we saw the extent of the damage.

The support for the two storey West wall had been destroyed causing the wall to collapse. In doing so, it had fallen inwards taking most of the masonry structure with it. This in itself wasn’t a real problem as it actually saved us part of the demolition. The real issue was that as well as the building we had lost seven of the columns and supports that we needed to retain. We had a major disaster that would need some serious re-design and planning to overcome.

Over the next few weeks many options were considered but eventually the conclusion was that we would have to deal with this from the sea and not from the safety of the Pier.

What we needed to do was to replace the columns and ties with a crane mounted on a ‘jack-up’ barge.

The next few months were spent putting the plan together, selecting our barge company and making all of the other arrangements.

Fugro Seacore were the chosen company and although they are based in Falmouth, their barges operate all over the world, moving from one assignment to the next, rarely returning to base. The barge that we had came to us after an exploratory project in the Wash, before that having been in the Netherlands. On September 15th 2014 being slowly tugged along, our barge arrived at the Pier. I doubt if anything like it had been seen in Hastings before and naturally it generated a lot of interest.

“ The real issue was that as well as the building we had lost seven of the columns and supports that we needed to retain. We had a major disaster that would need some serious re-design and planning to overcome.”

ABOVE: Archie Lauchlan filming the arrival of the jack-up barge RIGHT: The pier head with the barge on the west side Photo by John Cole

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The barge was self-contained with all facilities on board and a team of five. They were all used to spending all of their time on board although because we had access they chose the luxury of hotel rooms.

The operation of the barge was fascinating to watch, none of us having been involved with such a thing before. Each time that it moved, the four legs would be raised and then slowly lowered in the new position, walking like a crab, being careful not to get too close to the Pier. The legs would be driven about five metres in to the sea bed.

Timing had to be strictly controlled, we couldn’t afford to waste a moment. The cost of the barge with its crew and all of the equipment was around £15,000 per day. Mick Holmes and his team of steelworkers from FPE would work with the tides which at times meant working through the night.

Fortunately this time we were very lucky with the weather with little time being lost due to the wind.

THIS PAGE: The barge team Photos by John Cole OPPOSITE: The barge departing, four weeks after it arrived By John Cole

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This page, and opposite: the barge departing for Rye Photos by John Cole

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The one saving grace was that the storm damage was covered by our insurance so most of the ÂŁ1 million cost of the repairs was recovered, although we still had to deal with the effect on the programme and the disruption that had been caused to the progress of the other work.

In all, the repair work took four weeks and at 6.00 am on the morning of 15th October the barge was towed off into the sunrise on its way to Rye Harbour where it was to

be unloaded and prepared for its next assignment in the Channel Islands.

Throughout the time that it was at the Pier, we had been very impressed with the efficiency of the operation and the competence of the people involved; everything went to plan.

From what had been a disaster in February, we had now managed to overcome all of the issues and brought the Pier back to where it needed to be.

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Pile driving from the Pier deck

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6: THE VISITOR CENTRE This is the one new building on the Pier, located at the mid-point. On the face of it this is a relatively simple mainly single storey structure. The approved design was for a CLT construction: this stands for ‘cross laminated timber’ or, in other words, a pre-fabricated plywood box.

The problem wasn’t with the building itself, the problem was the location. The weight of the building is more than could be proven to be taken by the existing Pier columns and in particular those columns in the middle of the Pier that had been replaced after the Second World War. The only solution was for new columns sitting on new piles.

That in itself doesn’t sound too difficult until you realise that unlike when the Pier was originally built, we needed piling rigs and cranes to drive the piles, not just men and a capstan. The Pier will generally take vehicles up to three tonnes in weight; normal piling rigs can weigh twenty tonnes. There was also the problem that where the building was to go, all of the old steelwork had to be removed so that access for a piling rig was severely restricted to the area around the edge.

We first looked at piling from the beach but ruled that out because of the limited time between tides when there was access for the work. There were also logistical issues in getting the rig and equipment onto the beach. We then looked at adapting the jack-up barge which was still there at the time. This might have worked but the cost was horrendous and it relied upon good weather otherwise the costs would have increased even more.

We were then left with the only solution which was to find a small enough piling rig that we could somehow get on to the Pier. Eventually we found it; Foundation Piling were still operating a very basic tripod piling rig that must have been 50 years old and the owner Mark Keaveny convinced us that

Photo by John Cole

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it could do the job. So we had a solution although it was not one that any of us had encountered before.

First we had to get Steve and his team from Absolute Scaffolding to create platforms designed by Roger Bunney our engineer, out in to the open space, somehow supported by the columns so that we had a platform for the piling rig to stand on. Then it was up to Gerry and the piling boys to manoeuvre the rig into position and drive the six piles.

The principles of the operation are basic. Take a steel tube 610mm in diameter and drive it with a hammer in to the sea bed adding sections as you go. So it was that eventually the casings were driven about twelve metres in to the bed which is probably three or four times more than the depth of the original screwed piles. Once the casing was in place, the inside was dug out, a cage of reinforcement dropped in and the whole 25 metre pile filled with concrete up to the underside of the Pier deck.

There were some interesting times when the sea was high and it became difficult to hold the columns vertical; but the pilers were up to it. In three weeks they had cast the six piles and completed the foundations for the Visitor Centre.

It was then over to FPE and their steelworkers. The total weight of the building including an allowance for the people and everything inside is calculated as 600 tonnes. This has to be supported on the six columns which requires a very complicated steelwork structure to distribute this load.

Again this all had to be constructed ‘in the hole’. By this time we had mastered the temporary works necessary to take small cranes and so two spider cranes were brought in to help with the erection of the steelwork.

Constructing the steel support for the Visitor Centre

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Concreting the Visitor Centre slab Photos by John Cole

With the steel completed we then had the ‘simple’ task of forming the concrete slab for the building to stand on.

Konform had been selected for this part of the Project and we spent a lot of time with their MD Anthony O’Connor designing the slab and working out the method of construction. There were two main challenges; firstly to make the slab light enough and secondly to have a workable method of concreting that didn’t require lorries driving on to the Pier.

Getting the design right was eventually achieved by reducing the thickness, using stronger concrete and a troughed support formwork. We then had to sort out the concreting and the logistics of pumping concrete 160 metres along the Pier. We agreed a plan with Anthony and his suppliers and due to the commitment of everyone involved, on the day everything went perfectly.

“The gang were all Sikhs and John Cole, who was photographing them as they worked, kept them all amused with his ability to speak Punjabi.”

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The pump was parked on the promenade with the pump line trailing all the way up the Pier. The concrete lorries were timed to perfection, each one arrived just as the previous one finished discharging into the pump so that the pour was continuous. We had a team of the Charity’s Volunteers controlling traffic and pedestrians. 180 tonnes of concrete was pumped in six hours. The concrete gang worked continuously to ensure that it was properly spread and levelled.

Although this was only one day in the construction process, it was a significant milestone and somehow proved what could be achieved when everyone is committed to making it happen.

With the slab cast and cured the pre-fabricated building could be erected by KLH. The building is made up of 288 plywood panels manufactured in Austria. It was split into four deliveries scheduled at weekly intervals. Like clockwork each delivery arrived, was unloaded and transported up the Pier where over the following week they would be erected and bolted in place.

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There was one minor hiccough when the third delivery lorry unfortunately picked up seventeen unexpected passengers in Calais and was then impounded by the police when it arrived here. Fortunately it was sorted out within twenty four hours and progress wasn’t affected.

Like all flat pack buildings this one came with a set of instructions that only Mark Goldsmith the erection manager

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could understand; and of course at the end there were the obligatory pieces and bolts left over that didn’t appear to have been needed. In three and a half weeks the building had been constructed and was then handed to Strata to fit out the inside and TimberCraft to clad the outside with re-cycled old deck boarding. It was now a relatively straightforward process to complete with all the traditional building trades being involved.

“ I think that the two most important things I have learnt in my career are the value of people and the need to concentrate on ‘what really matters’.”

Constructing the flat pack building Photos by John Cole

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Early stages of the demolition of the Ballroom from the jack-up barge Photos by John Cole

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7: PIER HEAD The damage caused by the storm of 4th February 2014 forced us to change the planned method of demolishing the Ballroom. It was to have been a relatively standard operation with small cranes and access equipment; the building could have been taken down, broken up into small sections and transported back along the Pier and away.

Best Demolition were appointed as the contractor. It was fortunate that they had been successful in tendering as they had gained a lot of useful knowledge of the Pier whilst they were removing the debris following the fire.

The storm removed a part of the two storey concrete structure on the front of the Ballroom, however what remained was left in a precarious state. After many engineering investigations the conclusion reached was that the building could not safely be taken down by equipment actually located on the Pier as there was a strong possibility that the process would cause a further collapse of the structure. This then led to the conclusion that the demolition had to be carried out from the jackup barge. With a slight tweaking of the programme and the construction of a section of temporary access road everything was set for the demolition to be the first operation that would be carried out from the barge.

Safety boats from Cutts Marine were to be on standby throughout operations just in case something unforeseen happened. As planned, operations started the day after the barge arrived as soon as it was set up and ready.

In the afternoon of that first day a spectacular storm with thunder and lightning swept in from the West. Not wanting to take the risk of being surrounded by a metal structure in such conditions, the Pier was vacated and the lightning display was watched from the safety of dry land.

Fortunately this was one of the only forced stoppages.

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The ruins of the Ballroom, prior to demolition

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Working from the barge the building was slowly reduced in height until it reached the point when the critical section could be demolished. This was the action that was likely to damage the remaining structure. Slowly sections were cut away. Roger Bunney was on hand instructing which pieces to remove in which order until no more could be cut out. Still it didn’t move until a helpful nudge from the crane and over it went to great cheers from those watching. We needn’t have worried, only one small section was damaged.

It was then just a question of ‘grabbing’ the steel and concrete from the sea bed and that stage of the process was completed.

Over the next few weeks the tangled web of steelwork that was the remains of the famous Ballroom was cut up in to manageable pieces and brought off the Pier. The whole operation controlled by Kevin Fry and Mark Hodgson went efficiently and cleanly without incident. Because it was a rather unusual demolition project, the BBC had decided to film it from start to finish and record it as a documentary which was subsequently shown on BBC2 making film stars of Mark and his mum.

With the demolition complete, the Pier Head was handed over to FPE to replace the trusses and bracing. From the lessons learnt it was decided by FPE’s manager Darren Prowting that the most efficient method of replacing the steelwork was to use spider cranes and so four of these were set up in a line across the Pier and operations commenced.

The tricky bit of the demolition process

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Photo by John Cole

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The diving team prepare for inspection

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For many weeks, the two teams of steelworkers led by Mick Holmes and Steve Phillips competed on either side of the Pier. The set up was for one crane to carry the man in a cage whilst the other crane would lower the new steel in to position. The deck beams would be fixed on top and TimberCraft would follow close behind with the joists and deck boards.

On the West side we had found a column that had sheared at low level and need to be replaced. From our previous experience we knew exactly how to do it. A quick call to Mark Keaveny at Foundation Piling and we soon had a plan for Gerry and his pilers to come back for a repeat visit to drive another pile. This completed, the routine of progressing southwards replacing trusses and beams continued.

In the South east corner, some of the columns were damaged and we needed to know the condition at the sea bed. Whilst with a good Spring tide the water level is low enough to be able to walk around the end of the Pier, it is never less than one metre deep around the Pier Head. So we needed to engage the services of a specialist diving company. Regulations dictate that this involves two boats and a team of five.

A day with predicted fine weather was selected and Peter went out in the boat with them. The diver spent a few hours under the structure with a camera sending pictures back to the boat. We then had the information that we needed and so decided against replacing the columns and settled for additional bracing and supports.

The vertical cross bracing and horizontal rails are critical to the strength of the structure. They are essential to holding it all together and restricting movement caused by the action of the sea. FPE had a team of rope access trained specialists under the leadership of ‘level 3’ Mark Perrin. Working with the tides, this team hang on ropes from the deck removing the old damaged bracing, and fixing new clamps, braces and rails. They have to keep

Photo by John Cole

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pace with the other work so that the cranes could be safely supported.

All was going well with the steelwork until the end of October 2015 at which time, progress was well over half way. It was then that the weather changed and the wind and rain started. For safety reasons, cranes are limited to working up to a wind speed no greater than 23 mph.

For the next two months the storms were relentless.

Frustratingly time was lost, there was simply nothing to do at the Pier Head if the cranes could not operate. This unfortunately delayed the final completion but at the beginning of the New Year the weather changed and the race to completion continued.

It was all going too well; we were about 15 metres from the end when we discovered that two of the columns were unstable and in danger of collapse. The engineers were called, inspections were carried out from the man basket lowered down to the columns. The conclusion reached was that the columns were beyond repair and could not be used to support the steelwork. The difficulty and cost in replacing the columns, possibly with new piles, would be significant and the delay that this would cause to the completion of the work was unacceptable.

We had no choice but to stop the repairs to the Pier short of the end by five metres. Naturally this is disappointing but it does leave a small area where you can still see the condition of the old structure and an idea of what we had to do. At some time in the future, possibly in conjunction with the reinstatement of the landing stage, this final part of the Pier will no doubt be restored.

LEFT: Spyder cranes in operation Photo by John Cole PAGES 47–49: Rope Access workers in action

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48 Photo by John Cole

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New roof coverings for the Pavilion Photo by John Cole

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8: OLD BANDSTAND PAVILION The Old Bandstand Pavilion was the only building to have survived the fire in 2010. This was simply because the wind that fateful night was from the South West and the building being on the West side was not in the path of the fire. The matching building on the East side was completely destroyed. The buildings had been erected in the 1920s as simple shelters for the audience of the performances on the bandstand in the middle. Later on they had been fully enclosed and converted to small units with many different uses, the main space in the middle being the famous pub.

Our brief was to retain as much of the structure as possible, re-cover the roof and complete the building as an open plan bar / restaurant. The total area wasn’t large enough to give the space required for a reasonably sized restaurant and so it was accepted that we could build on two circular extensions to provide the toilet and back of kitchen areas.

When we moved in, the building was in a pretty poor state.

The North end had been occupied by pigeons for five years and was a ‘no go area’. The walls were in a poor condition, windows broken and the East side was mostly clad with asbestos. We patched it up, left the pigeons alone and used the rest of the building as temporary facilities for the first six months of the Project. It was then time to say good bye to the pigeons, who were very reluctant to leave, remove the asbestos, strip the building back to its basic frame and rebuild it in its new form.

The cast iron columns were removed and Peter took them away to carefully store and eventually clean them up and bring them back, complete with new fibreglass capitols.

The roof then had to be temporarily supported on props as first the walls and then the floor were removed. There wasn’t a great amount of the structure left. Scaffold was erected around the building and then the roof work started.

Fixing the zinc Photo by John Cole

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The roof had to be stripped of its old covering, insulated, a waterproof membrane, new boarding and finally the finish.

It would have been good to have a lead or copper roof but cost and weight issue prevented this. The next best solution was zinc, cheaper and lighter but looking very similar to lead. The domes had to have a similar treatment and the carpenters of TimberCraft slowly covered the existing boarding with two layers of timber strip in a very similar manner to the original roof construction.

We then needed a good quality roofing company for the zinc. Roles Broderick proved to be an excellent choice.

Their team led by Chris Morris spent many weeks cutting and fitting the zinc to the complicated shape of the curved roof and the domes to produce the roof that has been highly complimented by many. Two new flagpoles and the reinstatement of the original iron ridge capping completed the roof.

It had been decided previously that we should leave as much of the underside of the roof exposed without a ceiling.

This we have been able to do in the main restaurant and bar area, so that the original timber construction can be seen and appreciated, particularly the dome in the bar area.

Replacing the flooring and the sub-structure proved to be rather complicated. Fifty new steel deck beams had to be inserted under the building as replacements for the old ones. They each weighed over 200 kg and had to be slid in to position by the FPE steelworkers hanging on ropes beneath the building. There were then stools and packers inserted to get the right levels and complete the structure to take the new floor build up.

Whilst the floor and roof were being constructed, the new circular pods were built and clad using the old deck boards. Sunfold led by Mark Medlar had been appointed to install the windows and sliding doors that made up most of the perimeter of the building. These were successfully installed and the new restaurant shell was then completed to much acclaim.

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The selection of the right operator to run the restaurant was always going to be a difficult task. As it turned out this took far longer than expected and it wasn’t until January 2016 when the final selection of Centerplate was made.

As the interior of the space would depend upon the wishes of the operator we were not able to carry out the fit out of the Pavilion until they were appointed. The effect of this meant that when we finally received the instruction to proceed, Paul Dunn and the team from Strata only had nine weeks to get everything finished and ready in time for the final fittings by the operator. Quite a challenge, but with long days and most weekends, they responded well and completion was achieved.

LEFT & ABOVE: Raising the flag Photos by John Cole RIGHT: The completed Pavilion

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Jimmy Crangle Photo by John Cole

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9: PEOPLE It is an obvious statement but worth making, that the success of the construction depended upon the people involved, at all levels, being committed to making it a success. Like every construction project a set of contractors, suppliers and designers are brought together in a diverse mix to create a product in a unique situation.

On the Pier we had more than 30 different contractors with many more sub-contractors and suppliers. Many local companies gave us special discounts as they wanted to contribute to the success of the Project.

In all 535 people actually worked on the Pier; some for a few days others for most of the two year period. With a core of workers from FPE and TimberCraft the average labour strength on site was between 30 and 40 working a ten hour day including alternate weekends.

There was always a great camaraderie amongst the workforce. Working together in a dangerous environment you have to have total confidence in those around you: you rely upon everyone to be totally aware at all times. Many times we practiced the procedure for rescue if someone were to fall off the Pier. We all knew the routine, but fortunately it was never needed.

I have always had the opinion that most accidents happen in the less dangerous, more routine situations when perhaps people aren’t concentrating enough. In less dangerous situations, safety isn’t always foremost in your mind. This was partly borne out by the exceptional safety record of the Project. During the two and a quarter years with something like 125,000 man hours, we only had one reportable accident. As if to prove my theory, that accident was ‘big John’ Fox falling six feet from a simple scaffold on to the beach; a momentary lapse of concentration doing a simple task.

Mark Muggeridge Photo by John Cole

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The construction industry seems to breed characters and we certainly had our fair share.

There was ‘Grum’ (Graham Morley) I’m not sure where he got the nickname from but he was famous for talking non-stop and loudly; sometimes I’m sure that you could hear him from one end of the Pier to the other. Then there was Taggart, obviously a Scot with a broad Glasgow accent that no one could understand, sometimes not even the other Scots. The infamous electrician Matt ‘the mouth’ played a great part with his team getting all of the wires in the right place, even though he is a Millwall supporter, which explains a lot.

We had many different nationalities, Polish Pete, the Dutchman, Bruce from Australia, the gang of Sikhs as well as all of the home nations and many others. Somehow they all got on with each other.

We also had many relatives. We had the Fox brothers, John & Joe as alike as chalk and cheese The Philips brothers, both excellent steelworkers who knew their trade inside out. The Speakmans, father and son John senior and John junior; senior was the oldest person working on the Pier, a position that he passed on to me when he retired. Ashley Childs and his son working for TimberCraft and many others.

Sadly what we lacked, understandably, were women working for us.

I think that in total we had only six in the whole time. One of those being Emma, one of her tasks being to extract £1 a week from everyone to pay for the teas. You’d have thought she was controlling their life savings. We also had Sara running the team from TimberCraft and towards the end our new apprentice Francesca.

Grum Photo by John Cole

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The nature of the work with many different stages meant that teams would come to site for a brief period, we would get to know them and they would then move on. One of these was the piling gang. The leader Gerry Askew was the ultimate pessimist, everything was going to be a problem, he didn’t know how they were going to get the piles in, with the weather and the tides. Needless to say it all went well, I think that it was all a front, he knew exactly what he was doing.

In Gerry’s team was Wayne Tibbetts we nicknamed him ‘the deer hunter’ because when he had time off he would go off to Scotland as a licensed hunter and come back to site with a selection of venison joints.

There was always a lot of humour, particularly amongst the steelworkers. Double acts were famous. Mark (Muggeridge) and Grant (Oliver) from Lewes had worked together for many years. Mark became the star of FPE’s promotional video but he had to make sure that he removed his glasses when he was being interviewed, much to the ribbing of the rest of the team. Then there was Jimmy (Crangle) and Dave (Rumble) the Geordie boys who had also worked together for many years. They were the welders who spent all of their time for months making the braces, clamps and rails. Never short of a joke or two, they would often tease Daniel and Andrew, our apprentices, but they always found the time to teach them the tricks of their trade.

During his inspections of the steelwork, Peter found a ‘welded’ signature on a beam, dated 1998 presumably of the worker that had carried out a repair. Peter also noted that in a number of other places the new steel was being ‘signed’ Mark Oliver has left his mark so if those sections fail in the future, we will know who to get back for the repairs.

Grant Oliver Photo by John Cole

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The gang that operated the jack-up barge were a very close knit unit. Don Matthews the barge master looked after everything including the cooking and had quite a reputation for his culinary skills. They were also very adept at fishing with a good catch of mackerel often being displayed.

The widely diverse characters on the Project somehow gelled and whilst we had the occasional difference of opinion, a clash between trades or personalities, most of the time mine and Peter’s jobs were made a lot easier by the co-operation of everyone and the overwhelming desire for the success of the Project.

Inevitably the Pier had many visitors which we accommodated as far as we could within the constraints of a construction site. Hastings is the base for many artists and craftsmen and lots of these were interested in material salvaged from the Pier. Burnt timber joists were turned into attractive mirrors, old deck boards were used to line the ceiling of a bar, off cuts of the new wood were made into boxes, bowls and all sorts of other things.

We had one well known artist who wanted to create a piece of art from the charred remains of the Pier. She came and inspected our wood but declared that it wasn’t suitable as it wasn’t burnt enough; we couldn’t do much about that.

I’m sure that pieces of the old Pier will turn up in many different guises around Hastings in a way helping to preserve the memory of what it was.

As well as artists we had many local and national dignitaries visiting, particularly during the run up to the general election with the obvious photo opportunities.

Mark Muggeridge Photo by John Cole

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Jimmy Crangle welding Photo by John Cole

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Then there were the film makers, including the reenactment of Jimi Hendrix appearing complete with 1970s car and screaming fans chasing him. Our work appeared a number of times on national and local television as well as many reports on local radio; and of course there is the film of the Pier’s history by Archie Lauchlan and the photographic records by John Cole and others.

At the end we had Suggs (Graham McPherson) from Madness who had the honour of screwing in the last piece of deck. Sarah Owen, the Labour Parliamentary Candidate had fixed the first two years before.

It was indeed a high profile job that attracted a lot of attention from a lot of different people.

Jimmy Crangle unmasked Photo by John Cole

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Dave Rumble Photo by John Cole

10: FINISHING TOUCHES The main construction work was the steelwork replacement, nearly 3,000 tonnes in all, the new deck, and the two new buildings. There was other work being carried out elsewhere.

The cast iron balustrade around the Parade Extension was originally installed in 1915. Generally it was in a reasonable condition although there were a lot of repairs needed and a number of new panels to be made. Mather and Smith from Ashford were the selected company with a foundry that was able to produce the cast iron parts. They dismantled the balustrade and removed it to their works. There it went through a long complex process involving stripping the old paint off, blasting, desalinating, repairing, filling and finally six coats of marine grade paint in the chosen Fir Green colour. The panels were then returned and bolted in place, hopefully to last another hundred years.

The more recent, less attractive balustrade from the rest of the Pier was removed and given to Hastings Council to be used in the local park. The new balustrade, with modern design uprights capped with an Ekki timber rail was installed by Cole Ironcraft also from Ashford.

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At the front of the Pier, the railings, which had been installed in 1985 (I actually met the man who had erected them) were in a sorry state. They are not particularly impressive and given the funds we would have replaced them and given the Pier a new entrance; maybe another day. Instead we had LCR fabrications repair the damaged sections and replace the missing finials; FA Clover applied three coats of paint which should stay looking good for at least five years.

Like all buildings we had to provide the services, gas, water, electric and drainage. These have to come from the promenade and along the Pier to the buildings. The problem we had was how to hang these services under the deck and to have access to them for maintenance. With a few sketches and some engineering input we came up with a design for a crawlway which is suspended beneath the Pier.

It stretches from the Promenade out to the Visitor Centre and can be extended if necessary in the future. It is called a crawlway although you can almost stand up on it. Hooked on to the safety wire you can walk along and access all the pipes and wires that have been hung next to it. There are a number of access hatches in the deck so that you can get in and out at the right spot.

As well as the main services, we installed a sprinkler system in the Visitor Centre and a dry riser for the Fire Service to use if ever they need to fight a fire. With lightning protection to all of the structures and the fire prevention methods we have used, the risk of the fire happening or not being dealt with swiftly has been greatly reduced.

With the final stages approaching, the beach huts were erected in the Central section, hopefully providing retail opportunities for the people of Hastings to bring life and character to the Pier.

With the construction works coming to conclusion, all that was left was for us to clear the site. The site huts were sold to local people who came and painstakingly dismantled them and took them for a new use somewhere else. The 63

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hired cabins and stores were emptied and removed. The spare materials were sorted and stored, available for use

by Peter and the Maintenance team. The scrap timber was mostly collected by local people either for their own projects or for fuel.

By this time the fitting out teams had started. The kitchen equipment was arriving and being fitted. The Visitor Centre was being fitted with digital displays and all sorts of other pieces of kit to tell the story of the Pier. The opening date had been set and the celebrations planned. The transformation from construction site to completed Pier was happening.

The Pier is getting ready for the next stage in its 144 year life.

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11: POSTSCRIPT The restoration of Hastings Pier is now complete and it is ready to be opened to the People of Hastings and the many visitors to our town.

The Project has been by far the most rewarding of my career simply because, almost without exception, the people involved have all wanted to be there, all have wanted to play their part in re-creating a structure for the town.

Most of those who have contributed will come back and enjoy the Pier and its attractions, hopefully for many years to come. I have made a lot of friends in the two and a half years that we have been on the Pier, I hope that I will be able to keep in touch with some of them.

As planned, I retired at the end of the construction; Emma also moved on to another job. Peter remains as the Maintenance Engineer and with his team he will be responsible for ensuring that never again does neglect lead to deterioration of the structure. Peter will have his work cut out to keep the bracing and rails tight, the clamps in place and to closely monitor the condition of the steelwork; after all, we only renewed 70% – the remaining 30% will still need to be dealt with in time. Peter is the right man for the job with his ‘can do’ attitude. His extensive knowledge of every piece of steel, even to the extent of giving names to some of the columns, will prove invaluable. Hopefully his two assistants Daniel and Francesca will stay with him and help with the task.

Looking back, there were many challenges but they were all overcome, always by getting the key people together and agreeing the best way forward. We all learnt a lot although it is unlikely that many of the 535 people who worked on the Project will ever work on a pier again.

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“ The Project has been by far the most rewarding of my career simply because, almost without exception, the people involved have all wanted to be there, all have wanted to play their part in re-creating a structure for the town.�

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With the initial under estimation of the work involved and the major impact of the storm damage in February 2014, we were continually reviewing our progress. All the time we had the overarching constraint of the available funds. We could not go over the budget: I understand that at the start of negotiations with the Heritage Lottery Fund they were very concerned that this project had a high risk of exceeding the budget. To avoid this we continually monitored cost projections and Colin Hayward of PT Projects did a great job in balancing the books. We had to make some changes in the design to save costs. The mirrored cladding to the Visitor Centre and the copper roof to the Pavilion being major examples; but given that, I don’t think that the end result has suffered.

Walking on the completed Pier from one end to the other there are two things that impress me. Firstly the scale of the open space, nearly as much as two football pitches. The events and attractions that can be staged in this ‘’park’’ are limitless. Time will tell which are successful, inevitably some will be better than others.

The other experience that still impresses me are the views.

Looking back on Hastings from the end of the Pier is one of the main attractions and will never cease to inspire. Then there are the stunning views to be had from the roof of

the Visitor Centre, sunset over Eastbourne or, even better, sunrise over Dungeness are incredible, and I’m sure will be even better with a small drink as an accompaniment.

I feel privileged to have somehow landed the job of Construction Project Manager for the Restoration of Hastings Pier. I feel privileged to have been partnered with Peter Wheeler and with the help of everyone involved to have achieved the objectives.

No-one knows if the Pier will be successful, I guess that depends upon how you measure success. What we do know is that we have provided the foundations for the future. The buildings are there, they will now be given life and character by the catering team, the education and heritage teams and the individual enterprises that will trade from the kiosks.

Hopefully this small book has given you an insight in to the team behind the restoration, the unsung heroes who once again have played a most significant part in the life of this Pier.

My wife Rita and I intend to stay in Hastings and enjoy my retirement; somehow I think that the Pier is likely to feature quite often in our plans and certainly in our memories.

The People’s Pier is alive again, I’m sure that the People will look after it and keep it going for a long time.

This book is a personal record of my experience of working on the Hastings Pier project, and is not to be taken as representing the views of Hastings Pier Charity or the Heritage Lottery Fund.

David Spooner, May 2016

Book design by Erica Smith of wordsmithdesign.co.uk Printed by Hastings Printing Company

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C O V E R & T I T L E PA G E P H O T O G R A P H S B Y J O H N C O L E