July Progress Report

By David Marshall

July 2010

As promised last month, the following contracts have now been placed for work along the canal:

Replacing Upper Mills Bridge. A £400,000 contract has been awarded to Britannia Construction. Work should start in August. The existing level bridge will be replaced with a raised bridge. To accommodate the height difference, a 100m length of canal will be rerouted nearer the A419.

Archaeology. Cotswold Archaeology, based at Kemble, will be carrying out recording and monitoring work, initially

Ryeford Double Lock. A contract to repair this listed structure has been awarded to Griffiths Construction. Work will start this month.

Geotechnical Investigations. Structural Soils Ltd of Bristol will be carrying out geotechnical investigations along the 6.7 miles between Stonehouse and Brimscombe. This is necessary to ascertain ground conditions where new structures are to be built or where high banks above structures such as locks could pose a risk.

Following their good work on upgrading the towpath between Stonehouse Ocean and Nutshell Bridge, Reach will be bringing in a second team. This team will start work at Ryeford Bridge and work towards Stonehouse, eventually meeting the first team. Reach provides training for community payback offenders and the long-term unemployed.

Volunteers from across the country have descended on Gough’s Orchard Lock at Brimscombe. Different teams from the Waterway Recovery Group will spend four weeks completing brickwork repairs to the Lock. The good news is that a year of planning and preparation is starting to bear fruit – this month we will be placing five major contracts for work on the canal.