November construction schedule

The trees in the woods beside the museum have lost their leaves as the Thames Valley prepares to hunker down for the winter. But things are moving full-steam-ahead on the construction site of the new Sustainable Archaeology facility.

The building that is being erected here is pre-fabricated, so once the pieces start to arrive it won't take very long to put it all together. Tonda Construction Ltd. is the General Contractor working on preparing the site for the new building and its construction. Spriet Associates are the architectural and engineering firm we have been working with for months now to get us to this point. They have helped us select a building style, secured permits, and drafted both the site plans and the building blueprints. The architects at Spriet have been instrumental in securing permission from the Upper Thames Conservation Authority and the City of London to allow us to build on the property, and have ensured we are complying with environmental regulations that minimize the impact of the new construction on the local ecosystem.

The construction schedule for November has included a hydro relocation - which was completed on the 3rd of this month - and the installation of site services. What that has meant here is that a couple of hydro poles have had to come down and Tonda has had to coordinate with London Hydro to re-route the electricity feed to the museum and prepare the feed for the new facility.That meant a day without power here at the museum - but things were back up and running by the next business day. This week we'll see another service re-route, as the sewer and water mains are redirected onto the site to feed the new facility. The trench they dig for the new services will cut across the main entrance to the parking lot - so the museum will not be accessible for most of the day on NOVEMBER 11th. They are laying in the supports for the concrete foundations now - they should be poured and completed by the end of the month, when the pre-fab building is due to arrive.