construction – Latest News

A landscape scarred forever: Drone footage of HS2 construction work tearing across

admin — Mon, 25 Sep 2023 09:33:57 +0000

Drone footage taken from points on Britain’s faltering High Speed Rail 2 project has revealed the enormous scars ripped into the countryside across the route with as ministers due to make a decision on the northern leg this week.

If all had gone to plan, Britain would be just two and a half years away from high-speed trains whizzing between London and Birmingham, cutting travel times by around 30 minutes.

Construction workers should now be putting the finishing touches to the network but instead, completion has been pushed from 2026 to 2029-33 and the budget has risen from £37.5billion to £98billion.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is reportedly so spooked by an £8billion jump in costs to complete the line to Birmingham that he is set to axe the Manchester leg which has been labelled a ‘gross act of vandalism’ and an ‘act of economic self-harm’ by former chancellor George Osborne.

In an article for the Times newspaper with Tory grandee Lord Heseltine, the former Chancellor warned the Prime Minister about damaging Britain’s reputation and protecting his own legacy.

Infrastucture at Denham which will feature a ten mile tunnel has been described as a ‘mess’

The north tunnel portal (top of image) takes shape at the Chiltern Hills near Great Missenden which has been raised by the building work

Line construction at Huddlesford in Staffordshire which is considered a ‘mission critical’ spot

He wrote: ‘Governments are remembered for what they build and create. Make this mistake, and yours may only be known for what it cancelled and curtailed.’

Citing Boris Johnson‘s winning message in the 2019 election, they added: ‘How could ever again claim to be levelling up when you cancel the biggest levelling-up project in the country?’

Last week, the Mail sent a drone along the entire length of HS2. Photographs show many major points are still construction sites in their early stages.

Phil Marsh, who has worked in railway administration for 50 years, said: ‘These pictures show what a massive infrastructure project HS2 is and how dreadful it looks at the moment. There are earthworks, concrete mixers and haul roads on a vast magnitude, which creates a huge environmental and societal impact on our densely compacted country.’

Costs have spiralled, Mr Marsh said, due to the number of changes made. ‘Every time specifications are slightly altered, insiders tell me that contractors are basically sticking another million pounds in their back pockets.

‘If all this is for 30 minutes off the journey from London to Birmingham, it would be a complete waste of money.’

About one mile east of Lichfield and 15 miles north of Birmingham Curzon Street Station, HS2 veers northward.

HS2 cuts through the countryside between Long Itchington Wood and South Cubbington Wood in Warwickshire

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt are expected to decide in the coming days whether to axe the second phase of the high-speed line. A graphic of the line and each phase is pictured

Construction work is being carried out beneath the West Coast Main Line and amid Staffordshire farmland.

‘This is what is considered a ‘mission critical’ spot as any disruption to the West Coast Main Line might have cost millions,’ said Phil Marsh.

‘It looks fine, but the tracks still need to be laid.’

The Chiltern Tunnel ends to the west of Chesham and north of High Wycombe.

This is where the high-speed trains are due to travel above ground for a short distance before plunging into the 0.9-mile Wendover Tunnel.

‘This end of the tunnel through the Chilterns hasn’t been cut through yet so it’s just a wall of earth,’ said Christian Wolmar, who hosts the railway podcast Calling All Stations.

‘The twin tunnel-boring machines, Florence and Cecilia, still have about two miles to go.’

This one-mile tunnel travels beneath an ancient woodland and was completed in November last year – but at the cost of felling four ancient woods in nearby South Cubbington.

Work is still being carried out to handle 500,000 tons of mudstone at an on-site slurry treatment plant.

‘The hard work has been done with the major construction complete,’ said rail administrator Phil Marsh. ‘But there are the railway communications, drainage and signalling systems still to do.’

Covering ten miles, this will be the longest of the 500 tunnels dug for the HS2 line.

The underpass begins in the south near the M25 and then head north-west between the towns of Beaconsfield and Amersham. Railway podcast host Christian Wolmar said: ‘The tunnel is only about three-quarters finished.

‘Denham is a mess – an enormous building site with a car park for 1,000 cars and a concrete factory works for mixing concrete and making tunnel supports.’

Health and safety NOT gone mad! Shocking snaps reveal terrible construction fails

admin — Tue, 22 Aug 2023 10:41:12 +0000

By Gina Kalsi For Mailonline

Published: 02:35 EDT, 22 August 2023 | Updated: 04:13 EDT, 22 August 2023

There’s no frustration quite like it than the disappointment of finding the final result of building work isn’t to your liking after months of construction.

And these photographs prove you should always check references before hiring a professional workmen.

This gallery of images from around the world by Bored Panda showcases disastrous building and renovation projects.

There is a picture of a woman on a street in Colombia trying to reach a telephone which is at an unobtainable height.

In the US, a gate which says ‘sidewalk closed’ can easily be bypassed by walking on the grass beside it.

An escalator to… nowhere! These people had a nasty surprise when the escalator they took led them to nothing other than a brick wall

A restaurant has a disabled toilet, however, you have to walk up a couple of steps to access it, which makes it useless for those who are physically disabled.

Someone has built a bridge over a pool, but there was no need to have one as there was a path there to begin with.

Elsewhere, a picture of a sinister slide shows a cement pit at the bottom of it, with no indication as to where it leads to.

Here, FEMAIL have put together a list of the most baffling construction fails that may leave your head spinning.

You can’t park there! It is baffling how this space in a car park was built, as the curb and barrier either side means you cannot access it

This picture, thought to be taken in Colombia, shows a woman struggling to reach a telephone which is placed at an unobtainable height

Hidden camera! This person invested in a CCTV camera, only to install it in front of something which blocks all vision

The most pointless bridge: Imagine forking out money to build a bridge when you didn’t need one in the first place?

Tick Tock: Whoever put this clock up clearly did not think it through, as half of it is covered by a metal pole. Not to worry, they wrote the numbers over it

The sole purpose of a sink is to capture the water so it has somewhere to drain – clearly this plumber did not get the memo

This sinister slide leads to a cement pit, which begs the question – how did this pass regulations?

This sidewalk in the U.S does not have a very strict security measure, as you can easily bypass the gate by walking across the grass

This restaurant has a disabled toilet, however, you have to travel up some stairs to access it, defeating the purpose for those who are physically disabled

If this fan turned on it could cause chaos, as the projector blocks the blade. Talk about a botched job!

If a car was to park in this disabled spot in the car park, it would singlehandedly block three cars in

Furious Brits arrive at Cyprus resort only to find it unrecognisable amid construction

admin — Mon, 21 Aug 2023 16:28:35 +0000

Furious Brits arrive at Cyprus resort only to find it unrecognisable amid construction works with huge holes and bare cables… ‘and the holiday rep even wore a hard hat and hi-vis vest’

Helen Milner, 56, had jetted off to Paphos, Cyprus with her partner Anthony
The supposedly luxury hotel was surrounding by fencing and construction works

By Zac Campbell

Published: 06:41 EDT, 21 August 2023 | Updated: 12:03 EDT, 21 August 2023

A couple were left stunned after arriving at their Cyprus hotel to find it looked unrecognisable amid major construction works outside the resort.

Helen Milner, 56, had jetted off to Paphos, Cyprus, with her partner Anthony for a week in the sun this summer. But as the couple approached what they thought would be a luxury resort, they were instead met with builders and heavy machinery.

She had used an independent travel agent for the getaway, who had booked the holiday for the couple with Jet2.

Jet2 say they contacted Ms Milner’s travel agent prior to departure to advise of the works and offered to move her free of charge and provide her with a full refund.

A Jet2 spokesperson said: ‘In line with our award-winning customer service, our teams proactively contacted Ms Milner’s independent travel agent prior to departure to advise of the works and to offer the option to move to an alternative accommodation free of charge or cancel with a full refund.

A video filmed by Helen shows extensive construction works near the luxury hotel

She claims that she and her partner struggled to even get to and from the main entrance of the Basilica holiday resort, with the construction site dominating the local area

Helen and Anthony had booked to stay at the Basilica holiday resort (pictured) in Paphos, Cyprus

‘Both of these options were declined. We were not contacted by Ms Milner at all during the holiday, so we were unaware of any dissatisfaction. We encourage customers to contact us directly if they wish to discuss anything to do with their holiday.’

Bank clerk Helen claims that she and her partner struggled to even get to and from the main entrance of the Basilica holiday resort, with the busy construction site dominating the surrounding local area.

A video filmed by Ms Milner shows the maze of fencing, huge holes, and bare cables that hotel guests had to navigate to leave the luxury hotel.

In the footage, Ms Milner is seen leaving the hotel as she begins to wander down the gravel path.

The walkway should have served as the main road in and out of the resort, but instead builders were spotted in vests working all over the street. Bare cables can also be seen lying out in the open alongside deeply dug holes.

Exposed cables sit under a fence which would be easily accessible to members of the public providing a less than idyllic view for the getaway.

As the video continues, a blue truck removes large swathes of rubble from the resort which is then plagued with a forklift stopping Ms Milner from leaving the resort until it has passed.

She took to social media last week to share her frustration after complaining about being greeted with major building work outside the resort.

She said: ‘Our hotel is on this street, the Jet2 rep used to arrive in a hard hat and Hi-Vis.’

Her post received over 100 likes with hundreds of comments from people who shared Ms Milner’s frustration.

Helen took to social media last week to share her frustration with the holiday

Speaking today, Ms Milner said: ‘My partner and I went to Cyprus in June of this year, but we were so shocked as we had been told about work outside the hotel and it had taken a bit longer than expected.

‘It was put to us more like it was a burst water main or general road maintenance – the hotel itself was okay, we had a two-bed apartment and it was okay but a bit dated.

‘We were told there was work being carried out but not to that extent or we wouldn’t have even gone to Paphos.’

Over one million British tourists visit Cyprus each year which is by far the biggest demographic of the country’s four million holidaymakers.

construction – Latest News

A landscape scarred forever: Drone footage of HS2 construction work tearing across

Health and safety NOT gone mad! Shocking snaps reveal terrible construction fails

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Furious Brits arrive at Cyprus resort only to find it unrecognisable amid construction

Furious Brits arrive at Cyprus resort only to find it unrecognisable amid construction works with huge holes and bare cables… ‘and the holiday rep even wore a hard hat and hi-vis vest’

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Health and safety NOT gone mad! Shocking snaps reveal terrible construction fails