No, not the legendary Saxon brothers Hengist and Horsa. We have just said goodbye to the Frith Centre, the last remaining HORSA hut on our site, as it has been demolished to make way for our new entrance and training suite.
The Frith Centre, most recently used as our temporary searchroom
So, what’s been happening this week? Well, our builders have removed the giant slab that formed the base of the Horsa Hut they demolished last week. The excavator swapped its careful claw for a pummelling pecker and broke it into tiny pieces. Result! You can see, but not hear (unlike those of us working onsite!), this for yourself from the images below – also by clicking on this video link: https://youtu.be/Y6hKgdm3s90
These works are all part of the groundworks needed to prepare the way for the three new specialist storage rooms (‘strongrooms’ in archives-speak) that are going to be built onto the back of our main building. They also involved an unexpected rescue operation: saving and re-homing a displaced hedgehog, now safe in our Archives Support Officer, Jenny’s garden and enjoying the company of other prickly friends.
Recently rescued hedgehog happily snoozing
Back inside, the inner entrance door to the old Archives reception has been removed and the builders are ready to knock down some walls to create the new Heritage Hub spaces. They’ll be able to get on with this as soon as they have the necessary propping design (another new term for my construction vocabulary). I’m discovering there’s a lot more to this building malarkey than meets the eye!
Jill Shonk
Access & Learning Leader
When she was very little, my eldest daughter used to say she was “making a baking” when we cooked together. Nowadays she’s a fabulous baker who makes artisan cakes for a living. But her funny little turn of phrase got me thinking – I could keep you posted about our own creation, the new Gloucestershire Heritage Hub, by “blogging a building”! So here’s the first entry in my virtual diary…
Over the past week or so, we’ve discovered what it’s like to be working next to a building site. Some of us, like me, are quite literally next to it! Here’s the view from my office door:
To be honest, we’re finding it all quite exciting. Sure, there’s been a bit of noise and the odd power outage that’s inevitable when deconstructing old buildings but there have been visible changes every day. Take last Friday, for example: that was the day when the parquet flooring was lifted – it was scooped out of the building by a giant digger!
More recently, the builders turned their hands to one of the sheds at the rear of the site, as part of the preparations for building the new strong rooms. As you can see, Heather got stuck in with her sledge hammer, under Paul’s supervision (kidding!).
‘Next instalment to follow shortly…
Jill Shonk
Access & Learning Leader
Gloucestershire Archives 