Ooops

A new housing development close to the office has been proceeding at pace since late last year. Rumours began circulating that a structural element was not right and that some of the houses may have to be demolished and rebuilt.........

 The local newspaper reported; 'The homes are being constructed by developer Croudace, whose building director Gary Rapson explained they have had to demolish ‘about 15’ new builds due to substandard concrete being used.“We have had a look at all the options available and concluded that for long term durability and to maintain high standards, the only action is to rebuild the affected units,” 

The report went on: 'Mr Rapson confirmed that ‘it isn’t ground conditions that have caused the problems, but it is to do with an issue with the foundations’.“Something did not go according to plan,” he said, adding that in their own quality control inspection ‘something came up awry - a genuine mistake by a party’.

An expensive mistake no doubt and no option for the developer once the problem was discovered - I wonder how much (if any) of the demolished material can be reused...... 

Storm Casualties

Always sad when mature trees go over although interestingly the casualties around us seem to have been confined to trees which were already structurally defective. Given the rain that had fallen prior to the winds it is perhaps surprising that not more trees were completely uprooted.

Interesting image below which came via The Big Tree Society which gives an indication of the size of root system a mature tree can develop:

East Lothian Landscape Interventions

Second World War Tank defences which zig zag their way through mixed deciduous and conifer woodland off the A198 south of the Firth of Forth in East Lothian. 

Interesting landscape interventions...........