New Views

New view from rear bedroom of 66 Upper Perry Hill now that rear workshop walls have been removed

SIte Photos

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Sunshine!

I have been dreading this stage of the project when the concrete slabs that cover the entire site for so many years have been removed revealing the substructure of clay which is OK when dry but hugely problematic when wet. Messy to dig and cart away, unstable, prone to expansion and contraction etc. On completion, all the external areas must again be sealed with concrete to prevent water reaching the substructure and weakening foundations and gardens with planting are not permitted!

So I hope I am not tempting fate, but we seem to have hit a sweet spot weatherwise on the very day the site is clear!!  I wish predicting VAT on the project was this simple.

Clean Sheet

Great to see the site cleared, the demolition contractors did a very efficient job in carefully taking the buildings apart, sorting the debris and carting away.

Fingers crossed for fine weather while the foundations are constructed.

Maybe I should save some money and turn the site into a carpark with double decker storage.

The rear walls have been carefully removed by hand down to their final level.
The wall to Edgeware Road garden will be capped with coping stones and the neighbours gable wall re-rendered in the darker area previously concealed by the workshop.  The neighbours wall is damp so the 'airing' will do it good.

Virgin Media cabinet to extreme left awaiting removal to allow access to the top of the site.

The party wall to neighbours garden in Upper Perry Hill reduced to just above the ground floor bathroom extension.
Notice the rear projection of neighbouring houses down the hill. 
The gardens to these houses will receive sunshine for the first time in about 120 years during mid afternoon.  Hopefully a good weekend to experience the new sunny effect.

The site looks big and the outline of the old building now seems smaller with the neat Christo bondage look.

From the back of the site the end of Upper Perry Hill looks fragmented with the gap between houses more prominent

Breaking up the Slab

Party wall protection in place, garden walls reduced in height and breaking up slab (thanks for photo Ed)

Party wall protection & Birds eye views

Using the cherry-picker to overlap the polythene protection to the party wall with No 66 (photo:Elise)

Great aerial views from Maria taken last week, surprised she didn't ask him to clean her windows while he was up there

A day or two later

Spot the Difference Competition

It has been necessary over the past months to make small changes to the scheme that received planning permission, mainly for practical and constructional reasons.

Unfortunately the Planners were unable to deal with this under delegated powers so I had to make another new formal planning application with additional fee and for which new drawings were produced. 

I would much rather have spent the money on something useful, like concrete & bricks!