Best laid plans of mice & men…….

….oft gang awry – but not, we hope, in this case!

The Jack up barge should now be arriving this Thursday evening, it was delayed as there was an electrical issue with the crane.

Jack- up barge operations

The anticipated programme of work is as follows

DEMOLITION

• · On the East side of the ballroom, demolition of high level structures by Best demolition. This will be from two man ‘cage’ suspended from the crane over the structure.
• · Further demolition of loose structures in the area.
• · After approximately 4 days, the barge will re-locate to the West side.
• · It will then continue removing the high level structures to make the whole area safe.
• · When the area is safe, the crane will  be used to pick up the steelwork that collapsed on to the sea bed in the February storm.  The steel will be lifted up on to the Pier where it will be cut to manageable lengths and taken back to the promenade and off the Pier.
• · This will take a further 4 days.

STORM DAMAGE REPAIRS

• · With safe access now possible, the reconstruction of the storm damaged section of the Pier Head can be carried out.
• · There are 7 columns which need to be replaced/ repaired .
• · There is then a lot of new bracing and tie rods to install to hold the new columns in place.
• · This whole operation should take 7 to 10 days

PILING

• · When the work at the Pier Head is completed, the barge will move to the centre of the Pier on the West side, in the area of the new Visitor Centre.
• · There are six piles to be installed.  These are steel tubes which are driven in to the bed by a hammer suspended from the crane.
• · The 3 piles on the west will be completed and the barge will then move around the Pier to the East
• · The further three piles will then be installed.
• · The whole piling operation should only take 3 days.
• During the demolition phase, there will be 24 hour working.  For the other phases it is planned to work a single 12 hour shift.
• The total duration for the barge to be here is  25 days, barring unforeseen circumstances.
  

Please Note - This is the plan but there are many things that could happen to change this.