December 2020

Significant progress has been made over the last month.

External Works:

The existing roof finishes have nearly all been stripped. The roof slates are being removed, inspected and reinstated alongside new roof slates made of Yorkshire stone to support the renewal of the roof. Structural engineer has inspected the roof and masonry structural elements, with no adverse discoveries. You may have noticed there was a broken lintel above one of the windows facing onto Thornton Road. (A wonky eyebrow – it was named) This has been successfully replaced. The external chimney repointing and flaunching works are nearly finished.

Gallery and Activity Spaces:

In the gallery there were cracks in some of the walls due to pressure from the roof and poorly built masonry. These structural issues have now been rectified. The plaster works to the perimeter of the rooms have been removed at high level and new timber wall braces have been installed. These work like straps to keep the roof on and support it’s weight.

The first layer of new insulation between the rafters has been installed and is ongoing.

The structural engineer has visited and identified is a crack in the truss (beam) in the main gallery which will be strengthened using metal plates.

Fire compartmentation continues. Fire compartmentation works including new partitions & joinery have commenced in lower ground floor studios. These amends will bring the centre up to today’s fire safety standard. Fire compartmentation in the café is works progressing well.  An inspection to the existing kitchen extraction unit has been carried out and will be upgraded in January. As well as a programme of upgrading or replacing electrics across the building is underway.

BMDC’s Building inspector has visited site and reviewed the current works to date, no adverse comments received. The Highways inspector has visited and inspected provisions put in place for the scaffold being present on the public highway.

Considerate Construction visited to do their first audit of the site. A substantial amount of community work was noted their report, they were particularly impressed with the Shaping Thornton banner partnership with Beckfoot Thornton. Dobsons will be creating a zoom talk to be screened into classrooms about the project.

In January 2021, work will commence on the east side of the building.

Click here to read Capital Update #1 – November