There’s been work on the escape route into Banchory Court. This will be a one lane access road that cuts through the middle of the site. The asphalt and parked car in the background of the photo below are in fact in Banchory Court.
While Surbiton Court is mostly one level and floodable along most of its length, Banchory rises quite quickly to higher ground, even useful for workers on the site, given we’ve now had two flood events in the past month.
This machine was a surprise giant in the elbow of the little road where it exts the site at the base of Parkland building. Working in the distance, flattening once more the piles of ‘fill’ dug from the lower part of the site, it looks much more proportional.
And speaking of flattening piles of dirt, JW and I standing chatting, were seeing that in action. That was a couple of days ago. And here, on Saturday (20 December 2024) there’s more flattening happening …
Looks like overtime but could be the schedule is running behind … too many days lost to rain.
I see it’s been over a month since my previous post about the build. On the 28th of October there was a day of excitement as topsoil from the Banchory-Court-side of the site was piled onto the Carindale-Street-side of the site. One of the large old excavators in charge of the spreading and piling, while the two dump trucks took turns dumping their loads, while perhaps the other old excavator worked the loading.
In that time the majority of the work was done in the section nearest the gate into Surbiton Court. Pipes of several sizes put into the ground … huge concrete pipes in the pic below
And much smaller diameter, some kind of plastic. These often used as guttering drainpipes, in my experience, but here with the red coloring I assume are to house communication and electrical ducting.
Every time it rained work had to stop every second day unless there was a storm as well. The back lot–the parts that I can see from my balcony–filled with puddles and finally a pond-like sheet of water. The pic below is a couple of days later, with grass now growing well.
Birds are starting to congregate though I think it’s more likely that they are snacking on worms rising up and drowning, than fish miraculously appearing in the ankle-deep water and mud. I saw an ibis arrive this morning as well as a stone curlew. The plovers never went away. The approximately forty strong murder of Torresian crows that live in the trees alongside Carindale Street don’t seem to care who visits their grounds, I guess they get enough food across the road. (Carindale Shopping Mall)
And finally, a mystery object pulled out of the ground?
Well, I know what it is. It surprised me to see one so near to a city center … Cattle grid? I wonder whether when the first village was built back in the 1980s, cattle roamed along the creek?
The past two weeks were dedicated to ripping up concrete house pads and the asphalt drive-ways. An almighty storm about halfway through with a couple of days of rain.
And an ailing steel beast might’ve slowed progress a bit but today everyone is in fine form.
The orange plastic and metal parts are being loaded for taking away …
This photo from inside, through glass. I love that moment of ‘thought’ as the operator lines up its mouthful with the waiting truck.
Then the load needs patting down so the truck’s dust cover can be drawn over.
Never seen this kind of scoop before, have you? Then you know what’s coming!
Make sure you have the sound on so you can imagine how a rock is sieved out from the soil.
It’s a glum day. Raining, in fact. One of the steely workforce is languishing with his hatches open to the inclement weather while the repair crew are in attendance, trying to fix the problem.
See what I did there? It’s the fifth post about The Build, and the post covers 13th-26th September, 2024. Any other way of counting will drive me crazy and probably you too.
In case you’re not convinced? Day 13 is four days after the events on Days 11 and 12. It’s tricky to decide how to count the days for this project. 1) Count only the days stuff is visibly happening? That made it Day 13 on Tuesday 17 September 2024. Or 2) Count calendar days, the easier option. I had to start numbering the posts to be able to keep track of the images as they’re being used.
The day after the first excavator went to another job, I walked to the main gate in Surbiton Court to see what I could see, and discovered the architectural company’s name and details posted at the entry. Note that the that little wall backing the sign was still there that day.
And that afternoon, Tuesday 17 September, a representative of that business (logo on their vehicle) parked in the middle of the great big empty place.
But, let me tell you, just because we in Vista couldn’t see anything happening in the big empty place in front of us, that doesn’t mean nothing was happening.
Another day and another walk, I discovered there was plenty of action down at the front gate.
The new boundary corner peg … between the subdivision and Aveo, I assume …
NBN’s Comm cables have been gathered up into their own ‘banks’ and showing above ground to prevent them being massacred accidentally …
New sewage pipes and other fixtures …
I don’t know what these shade-cloth fences are actually called. I’ve heard them referred to as ‘sediment containment barriers’, a fancy way of saying they’re to stop mud going where it shouldn’t.
Within the green and teal fence, there’s this red and yellow safety fence outlining a deep trench. The trench presumably to house the new sewage plumbing.
One thing that amazed me about the site from this angle, is the amount of vegetation still going strong. There is a flowering azalea in the back corner, and various other shrubs, and even the Grevillea at the front entrance was still there … being outlined by pegs which made me wonder if it was being invited to stay …
Thursday 12 September, day 11 of the build, there were two excavators on site … one that began ripping out concrete in the northern corner to the side of Carinya.
Just visible behind the tree, filling up one of the trucks with chunks and slabs.
The second excavator squated desolate in the upper section apparently suffering a break-down.
The operators here seen washing the great steel animal down, as if thinking they might as well use the down-time for something useful.
A little later they had a repairs truck on site, the doctor coming to see the patient. There can’t have been any resolution because it sat there all through Friday ( day 12) and was left behind when the working machine was carried away at the end of the day by low loader.
Saturday morning it was also taken away.
Leaving just a spare scoop sitting by the side of the access road. And that was that for the week.
Rita de Heer 