Tiling

One of the various trades that were on site in the run up to Christmas were the tilers.

As with the rest of the building we've kept things simple with clean white tiles for the food prep' and washroom areas. The photo shows what progress had been made when we were last on site, and judging by the speed at which they were working, Mike and his team from DJBennett & Son should have completed their work before the holiday.

And with the kitchen fitters due to start installing equipment into this area immediately after New Year it should soon be transformed into a completed Cafe/Kitchen.

News

The Bristol Evening Post visited site and interviewed Tim Groves (Church Leader) and Cathy Knowles (Project Coordinator) a month ago. Cathy ended up on the cutting room floor (!) but here's what Tim said about the new building.

Wrapped up

With the Christmas holidays starting construction work is virtually complete for 2011.

Everything is still going to schedule so the New Year should see a busy January leading to handover of the completed building in February. Meanwhile all manner of finishes, fixtures and fittings are now starting to arrive and are being installed. This includes the servery, which will provide the focal point in the Cafe. Unfortunately we'll have to wait until well past Christmas before we can unwrap it, but we're sure it'll be well worth it.

Inside curve

With Christmas almost upon us, the builders want to make the most of the enforced break by pouring the remaining floor screeds so they can cure over the holiday. This not only means that the underfloor heating pipework has had to be laid, but it also means that the internal scaffold has been taken down. So, for the first time we've been able to get sight of what the main hall will look like, especially the curved rear wall which we think looks great.

Emerging

At long last the scaffold, which has obscured the building as it's been built over the last few months, is finally coming down. We've not yet had chance to see the building in daylight as it emerges butterfly-like from it's scaffold cocoon, but here's a glimpse of it that we caught yesteday evening as we passed.

Porcelain

It's getting extremely busy on site with various trades now working around each other as the finishes start to be installed.

Part of this is the second fix of the plumbing, with the installation of sinks, WCs and their associated taps etc. So far one of the basins has been installed but that's sure to change over the next few days with all these ready to be unpacked and fixed in place.

Heating

December has arrived along with the first frost of the winter and while the building isn't yet protected by a functioning heating system, the plumbers are making good progress.

Installation of the bulk of the underfloor heating pipework happened a few weeks ago when the floor screed was poured. The plumbers are now installing all the other pipework that connects the gas fired boilers to the heating system.

Once the pipework system is complete and pressure tested they will then be able to fire up the boilers, allowing the heating system to start the important process of drying out the building.

Cladding

The third and final main external finish is now being applied to the building. After the standing seam Aluzinc and the addition of the ivory render last month, we now have timber cladding being installed to complete the facade.

Sourced locally from South Wales, the Larch timber is not only a sustainable material but also a locally grown one. Western Red Cedar was considered early in the design but this was ruled out as it would have to have been shipped in from Canada, with a significantly larger carbon footprint than the Larch.

Busy busy...

We've managed to have several visits to site over the last couple of weeks and the rate of progress is impressive with various different trades working around each other. The Mechanical and Electrical installers are busy installing ductwork, pipework and cabling, and this includes the underfloor heating pipework and manifolds, which is then being covered by a concrete screed.

The other major 'wet' trade on site now are the plasterers, who are starting to cover up the blockwork and give the walls their final smooth finish. All in all it's a busy site and despite the extensive scaffolding it's getting easier to visualise what the building will be like when it's complete.

Skylight above the Cafe

Render

Despite still being wrapped in it's temporary exoskeleton of scaffolding, the building's external appearance is now changing dramatically with the application of the render. One of three main external finishes, the ivory render will sit alongside the kalzip roofing and timber cladding, covering up the blockwork construction and giving the new building it's distinctive contemporary look.

Barn Dance

The good news is that there are still tickets left...but get hold of some quick to avoid missing out on what is sure to be another great night and a fun way to raise funds for the building.

First Fix

First fix of the electrics has started, with the back boxes and conduit now being installed into the chased walls. Meanwhile the window installation continues, including a great full height corner window in one of the first floor offices, as you can see in the photo below which was taken a couple of days ago.

This space will be partitioned off into offices and a meeting room.

Chasing

Okay, so it's not the most exciting photo. But after mentioning in the previous blog that other trades would be starting soon we thought you might like to see that the electricians are now on site.

In order for the Electricians to do their 'first-fix', when they install the backboxes for the electrical sockets and the conduit through which they run the electrical cables, they have to 'chase' the walls. This involves the unenviable task of cutting channels in the blockwork to agreed socket locations - in this case it's for sockets within the Cafe area. Once they've done this they can install the backboxes and the conduit, before the plastering starts.

Glazing

If you've ever seen Channel 4's Grand Designs you'll have seen plenty of projects where they rush, but ultimately fail, to get the building weathertight before winter sets in. The two most crucial aspects to achieve this are getting the roof on and the windows in.

So with our unexpected late summer weather over, and autumn returning, it's great to be able to report that much of the final roof covering is now installed along with the first of the windows. The photo below shows the roof of the preschool, with the bulk of the external roof cladding inplace and the skylight opening formed ready for the glazing. If you look very closely at the righthand side of the photo you'll see that the windows for the offices have just been installed.


The rest of the glazing will be installed over the next few weeks, helping to make the building weathertight and allow other trades to start work inside.

Another dance

Yes, you guessed it; after the success of February's Barn Dance we thought it was about time we had another one. So keep your diary clear for the evening of Saturday 12th November when once again we'll be filling Hanham Community Centre with an evening of do-si-dos to help raise funds for the building. More details to follow.

Standing seam

One of the major architectural design features of the new building is the curved standing seam roof. Not only does this cover the roof in a conventional way, but it also wraps down the front of the building almost connecting the roof to the ground, cladding the dramatic curves at both ends of the structure.

While the mass of scaffolding on site obscures the view of some of this work the photo below shows that installation of the roof is well underway and judging by the rapid progress it won't be long before this is complete.

Standing seam roof being installed

Holiday?

Whilst it's height of the summer holidays good progress continues to be made onsite. Our photo's don't quite do it justice (after all it's not as dramatic as the steelwork being erected), but if you look closely at the images on Flickr you'll see that blockwork walls are being built and the stairs have now been installed. They're only the bare concrete stairs at this stage, but this will change once the building is made watertight and the finishes start to be applied later in the year.

More photos

Along with blog updates we're also taking photos of the build. These are all accessible via the bottom of the blog page but if you want to access them directly simply click here

Steelwork

The steelwork has arrived and is, quite literally, flying into place.

Rainwater

Only a week after the sunshine that greeted us for the ground breaking ceremony the great British Summer has returned with plentiful rainfall. In the years to come we're going to be able to make good use of this in the Resound building.

Rainwater harvesting tank

We have endeavoured to make the new building as sustainable as possible, with one particular area being the inclusion of a rainwater harvesting system. This system will collect rainwater off the roof the building and reuse it for use flushing WCs and irrigating the external landscaping. So it's good to see that the rainwater harvesting tank has arrived on site, ready to be installed below ground as part of the groundworks.

Time for a cuppa?

With the builders making swift progress on site, and the ground breaking 'champagne moment' a fading memory, there are nodoubt plenty of cups of tea being consumed. This is something we hope to see continuing once the building is complete:The centre of the building will be a Cafe space that will look something like this, although we've yet to choose the counter and furniture design. The aim is for it to be a relaxed space for use when events are happening in the building, rather than a commercial Cafe. We hope it will get plenty of use for various activities and be an area to showcase our creativity, with ample wall space for artwork.

Ground Breaking

This morning saw almost 30 members of Resound Church and local Councillors don Hi-Vis vests and hard hats to join the Cowlin site team for the Ground Breaking ceremony to celebrate that construction is finally underway.

Tim Groves, Ruth McConnell and Joyce Lewis did their bit with with the shiny spades before we raised a glass of celebratory bucks fizz and handed the site back to the Cowlin team to get on with the real work.

Progress Photo No.2

After a couple of weeks of work behind the scenes men and machines have started work on site!


Next week we'll have a ground breaking ceremony to celebrate the start of the work on site and will be raising the profile of the project via the local press - so look out for photos of Tim with a shiny spade!

Progress Photo No.1

This is the first of many photos that we'll be posting to show you the progress on site. Whilst not a lot has happened so far (After all Cowlin have only had three days), we are expecting to see some dramatic changes over the coming months.

The begining

With site work starting tomorrow it seems an appropriate time to do a quick recap of why the Resound project is going ahead:

BCF is a network of three churches in the Bristol area, all joined together by a shared history, common values, and a commitment to enriching the lives of local residents.

Over the past forty years BCF has developed strong links with the communities of Emerson’s Green and surrounding areas within Bristol.

Building on this, we are now redeveloping the site that used to house one of our old church building in Blackhorse Road, Mangotsfield. In desparate need of repair, the old building would have struggled to meet our current and future needs even if we had been able to adequately refurbish it. So we decided to develop the new building, Resound. With intelligent design and a commitment towards environmentally sustainable construction, the building will prove visually stimulating and resource efficient.

As a replacement building it will enable BCF to deliver on its many commitments and ambitions. Particularly the centre will be home to Resound Church, the established Crossways pre-school, and a new community centre for the locality. We hope that Resound will not only become a meeting ground for our church members, but also the familes who use Crossways pre-school, along with the residents of Mangotsfield and Emersons Green.

Construction starts tomorrow 6th June 2011, with the completed building due to be open in February 2012.

D Day

Finally, we're really pleased to be able to confirm that we've appointed Cowlin Construction to build the new Resound Centre. After extensive discussions, Value Engineering, and tweaks to the design which included the revised planning application, we've been able to agree on a final design and contract value.

Site work is due to start on 6th June with the new building completed and ready for us to use in February 2012!

We'll be posting images of the build once it starts along with more regular updates on progress on the blog, so watch this space.

The site - cleared and ready for the build

Planning Part 2

As a result of the Value Engineering exercise that we mentioned in January it has been necessary to submit a slightly revised planning application. This has been in order to make minor amendments to the numbers of external doors, the roof finish and even move the building so that it fits more accurately on the site!

Whilst these are all minor changes, and ones that most people won't notice, planning law dictates that we have to get them approved before we can be sure of the resultant financial savings. Today we received the good news that the amendments have been approved.

We also received the final Contract at the weekend and are now reviewing it prior to getting it signed. So expect us to be advising when the Contractor will start on site very soon.

Chairs

Okay, so this might seem a little premature, but we've been thinking about chairs. Understandably a vital thing to put into the completed building, but when it's still a muddy site? However, with storage space being fairly limited we're trying to source chairs that are both stylish, comfortable, stack, sustainable and at a reasonable price. Achieving some of these is fairly straightforward, but meeting all these requirements is less so. The search for the optimum seat will probably continue for a while yet, but at least we know have a good idea of a likely budget for them and that there are products out there than can stack a whopping 30 high!

However we've not just been thinking about seating, we've also been busy finalising the contract with the builder in parallel with arranging the necessary funding via our preferred ethical bank Triodos.

Dancing the night away

Friday night saw 170 people filling the dance floor at Hanham Folk Centre, dancing the night away and raising more than £1,000 for the Resound building.

We'd like to say a big thankyou to everybody who came along and supported the project, especially Sarah H and Nikki M who organised the Barn dance and the Raffle.

We're all looking forward to the next event!

One

We are down to a shortlist of one!

Although we're not quite ready to place a contract with our preferred Contractor we have given them a Letter of Commitment which will enable them to continue with Value Engineering. It's important that this is completed as thoroughly as possible to give us the best possible price before we move forward with developing the detail design and starting construction on site.

If this last statement makes you think site work is still some distance away, it's worth pointing out that the benefit of the 'Design and Build' approach that we have taken is that the Contractor will be progressing design of some elements of the building while constructing others. For example, it is normal to be casting foundations and erecting steelwork while the design of the electrical systems is still being completed as these don't impact one another.