We're in the paper...
The Sheffield Telegraph has our BLOG address in the business pages!

If you're a new visitor then remember to tell your friends about us as well, we want as many people as possible to learn about the things the design and construction team for the school are trying to do. Over 5 000 visitors have been to our site already, we'd like 5 000 more!!!

Morta goes horse riding...

If you read our profile you'll see that one of Morta's hobbies is horse riding. Well, she was very lucky recently to be invited by Carol to meet her horses and have a ride. Can you see Morta in the picture below? Here is Morta sat on Drummer with Lynsey. Lynsey had never been on a horse before so Morta looked after her and gave her a few tips about how to hold the reins (the long straps that let you steer the horse) and how to stop and start. Morta got to sit on Drummer on her own, it was a long way up. Drummer is 18.2 'hands' high. Horses are measured in 'hands' each one is 4 inches, so Drummer is 18x4 plus .2 hands which is 2 more inches, so he is (18x4)+2=74inches and that is 6 feet and 2 inches (172cm) to his 'withers' that's the place just in front of the saddle where Morta is sitting. What a long way up!

We all went for a walk down the lane, Jackie on the left, Drummer, Lynsey and Morta and Carol on the right.

The guys on site...

This is Mark, the most important person on site.

Mark is the Site Project Manager for KIER Sheffield. It is his job to manage the construction of our new school (get it built). He has to make sure everyone else does their bit of the work on time. He also checks the progress of the work and makes sure that the construction team has the latest information from the architects.

Phil is the Site Quantity Surveyor for KIER Sheffield. It is his job is to manage the income (money coming in) and expenditure (money going out) of the project on behalf of the contractor. He keeps up with the progress of all the people that KIER have to help them (sub-contractors), making sure that they do what they are supposed to do. He also looks out for ways to spend our money more wisely so our school is even better value for money. That's a bit like being careful with your pocket money, only Phil has millions of pounds of pocket money!!!

Here's Neil, he is the Services co-ordinator for KIER Sheffield.

The services are all the electrical things, lights, sockets, computer cables, alarms, fire detection and lots of other things. There are miles and miles of cables in the building, we wonder just how many? He also looks after the 'ducts' (big metal rectangular tubes in the ceiling, and some other places). They move air around the building so there is always fresh air in all the rooms. No smelly toilets!

Roy is the Site Manager for KIER Sheffield. He is in charge of the management of sub-contractors and management of health and safety on site. He deals with day-to-day problems on site and resolves construction issues. He also works with the general public and the school authorities.

Roy is always very busy but we managed to pin him down for a minute to get his photograph.

Ever wondered...

what's inside a wall?

Well, here it is. There is some blockwork (the big grey blocks) on the inside (inner leaf) and then there is the insulation to keep the building warm (yellow coloured stuff) and on this part of the school there is some more blockwork on the outside (outer leaf). The outside blockwork will then be rendered (a kind of plaster for the outside) and it will be a creamy colour.

There is 15cm of insulation in the wall, that should keep the school nice and warm so that it doesn't take so much heat to make the building warm.

Coming soon...

pictures of what its going to look like in the atrium and reception area!!!

ECO HEAT PUMPS

The company that are doing our magic heat pump had an article in the STAR newspaper...it had a picture with our crane on. Apparently, we are the biggest heat pump installation in the country...unless you know better that is?

WILDLIFE ON THE ROOF!

We've seen our first visitors to the roof!
We're not sure what these big black birds are but the pair of them were hopping around looking for some lunch. Then they found the pond, they just wanted a drink. We wonder how they knew that the pond was there?