been on site today, really enjoyed myself – been a week since i was last on site – loads of new things to look at.
from a bus ride over the derwent i could see how the italian mill’s front roof has come together. knowing this, my mission today was to go back to the mill and film in the areas where the recent work has been most focussed. i was focussed myself as i needed to get back home for this afternoon – the central heating boiler was being serviced.
the first port of call today was the roof. partly tiled the wooden lathes sat proudly under the cloud packed sky. one question i’m yet to ask of the site is about working externally in the rain. is there a point at which the work stops ?
back on the ground i took in the latest edition of the space for the soon to emerge civic hall. each time i visit this space its components are arranged differently. later we will see how the foundations are taking shape. from this distant vantage the work so far isn’t visible.
in the creation of this work i am tracking the transition of the clearly visible work taking place on site. in the workshops this is has been the case today. in a few days several walls have popped up giving a new sense of how the workshops spaces will be partitioned. they follow the lines of what was there before.
when on site i walk from area to area and this sets up a flow and rhythm. from the workshops its a quick step through the door to visit the south wall of the sowter mill – today scene of another run of scaffold being put up.
i met the scaffolders very early on in my visits to the site. i stood and watched them for a while.
on site there is so much focus that the odd bit of chat really becomes important to keep everything in perspective. i find myself being part of these little discussions now too.
my tight time slot today meant that for most of filming the main morning break was happening.
ahead of the wave – the site engineer. i watched as he measured and wrote something down. his role on site is to mark out where the work needs to take place in. we often share a quick chat. on this occasion we didn’t. after making notes he headed up to the next floor.
trying to get another another angle of the sowter scaffold led me to see the civic hall foundations. i was on an upper floor and i found the large elongated excavations quite haunting. something i shared when i was back in the site office.
as i worked my way up the floors i got closer to something i really wanted to do today – film in the newly opened up tower space.
all the images in this post are frame grabs from what was shot today. i get so engrossed in filming that i often forget to take photos.
the walk along the third floor area now ends in a developing space under the new roof and to the right are three new openings leading into the tower. a scaffolding floor makes it safe to enter. i filmed in the tower and have two frame grabs to share of the view.
looking at the view towards the cathedral has reminded me that as i walked into the site this morning, one of the peregrines from the cathedral was circling and calling really loud. i’m not a peregrine behavioural expert so have no idea about what was going on. in reality it felt quite special to be walking to work hearing the sound of a soaring peregrine. when i go through the audio files later i’ll check to see if i caught any of the auditory display.
as i made my way back down, the work to open up the second floor entrance into the accessible storage area was beginning. i’m not to sure when i’ll next be on site. i’ll make sure it’s not too long.
