100 Hundred Years Ago

 

Pier Planks Recycled

H&BWR - http://www.recyclingwood.org.uk/

Originally founded by Mark Storr-Hoggins and a fellow roadie in search of a more settled lifestyle; H&BWR started as a social enterprise, with the remit of keeping waste wood out of landfill. The company evolved after designer Stewart Walton joined and saw the potential for using the reclaimed timber to create a range of furniture and products.

H&BWR are more than just manufacturers and enjoy working with clients quite early on in the design process. H&BWR has years of experience with using recycled timber and understand both its potential and limitations.

…………………………….. Working on Chicago Rib Shack, H&BWR were responsible for the restaurant’s back bar panels, bar tops, tables and floor panels.

H&BWR has an adaptable rather than prescriptive approach to the materials they use, as much depends on what they have in stock and in sufficient quantity when a project comes up. The range is wide and could be sea defence timber, 200 year old roofing joists, floorboards from a demolition site, old scaffold boards or hardwood pallets.

They recently collected all the salvageable decking boards from Hastings Pier, which burned down in 2010. In exchange for the timber H&BWR are now contracted to make all the furniture to be used on the newly refurbished pier out of this original reclaimed timber.
http://premierconstructionnews.com/2015/01/05/chicago-comes-to-clapham/

And the work goes on……

Upcoming Events at the Hub

Science and Engineering

It was a great first show in the Hub’s Science On Sea series.  If you want to be part of the next one -

Time: Sat January 10^th,11am – 12noon (1 - 2pm FULL)

FREE If you would like to book a place please email us.

Glass and Tile painting workshop
Over the last term students from Sussex Coast College have been busy creating glass and ceramic works inspired by the Piers history, an exhibition of their work will be put on display in the hub from Wednesday 15th January. 

Come to the Hub and have a look at the what they've made and get creative as well, with your own glass and tiles. 
Time: Sat 24^th January, 11 -3 pm.
FREE drop in no need to book

This workshop is suitable for children and we especially welcome families to come and work together. Under 10s should be supervised by a non-participating adult for this activity.

Construction Update from the January Newsletter

Work continues with the replacement of the steelwork to the Central and Access sections of the Pier; the old trusses and beams are cut out and replaced with new galvanised steel sections, with the Ekki joists and deck timbers following on.

At the same time we are repairing columns where necessary, particularly those that were replaced in the 1940’s. which are of a poor quality steel. .These all need to be reinforced with a lot of additional bracing installed.. We have now completed a central ‘spine’ up to the Pier Head which gives us access for light vehicles to distribute the materials.

Following the demolition of the old Ballroom, we have extensively surveyed the Pier Head steelwork and established how much of the structure needs to be replaced and which can be retained.  Overall the condition is slightly worse than we had hoped but it is within the contingency that we had allowed.  We will shortly be starting the replacement works which will take at least six months.

The refurbishment of the Bandstand Pavilion continues, the zinc covering to the roof is being finished.  The two ‘pods’ on the West side have been constructed: these will provide the toilets and kitchen support areas.  The steel supports to the main walls will shortly be constructed, with the windows and sliding doors being installed.  This will then allow the works inside the building to be carried out.

The next major stage of the programme is the construction of the new Visitor Centre in the middle of the Pier.  In January we will be boring the six piles to form the foundations for the building and this will be followed by the steel support structure and then the cross laminated timber building.

From the January Newsletter

Looking forward into 2015  - See Newsletter

We hope you had a great Christmas and wish you a very Happy New Year. We will be keeping our fingers crossed that the stormy weather prevalent at this time last year does not make a seasonal return. The damage the Pier sustained in the storm of February 5th 2014 has now been repaired but the costs of this work have topped £1million - which of course is a huge sum and a great deal of additional, unplanned construction activity. We hope that such a major disruption will not be repeated.
The first quarter of 2015 is a critical time for the development of the new Pier. This phase of the construction work is technically demanding, since it involves the construction of a new support structure for the visitor centre building, and therefore crucial to the timing of when the pier can reopen. We will of course keep you up to date on how these works are progressing and what that means for the all-important question of what will be the opening date for the Pier.
In the meantime we continue to work on the Heritage Interpretation that will form an important attraction for visitors once the pier is up and running. Our digital archive is coming on well and we have a great number of really interesting and unusual 'objects' that will enable us to bring the Pier's incredible story to life. We thank everyone who has so far been kind enough to bring in their treasured memorabilia for us to digitise. Going forwards, we will be looking to capture important memories too and will soon be setting up a recording booth in the Hub to record oral histories for the enjoyment of future generations.
Finally we thank you for your interest in the work of restoring the Pier and we look forward to updating you regularly over the coming months.
Simon Opie.

The Hub will be opening again from Wednesday 14th January.

Happy New Year, happy new pier!

"Once Hastings, the ancient Cinque Port, was one of the country’s most important resorts, and its 910ft‑long pier – thought to be the first of the 99 in Britain that were built for entertainment, rather than as landing stages – was at the heart of its fortunes."

And now, once again, come Summer this year, 2015, Hastings will once again have a living pleasure pier, and people will flock to our town, that already has so much to offer those who love history, architecture, parklands, countryside, woods galore, cliffs, sea, miles of beach and scenery that inspired the Pre-Raphaelites, all in one place.