September 2010 – February 2011
Work started on the construction of the garden in the middle of September 2010, including the removal of the tarmac, construction of gates and railings and hard landscaping. This phase of the work continued into early February 2011, after being delayed by snowy weather.
We were awarded a £50,000 in lottery funding to pay for building the garden. The work was carried out by local construction firm N D Willan Building Contractors to plans developed by Andrew Morton QS from the Initial Sketch of the garden design. The railings were made and installed by K Rackham and Son Engineering Ltd.
Monday 13th September 2010
The site is fenced off, ready for work to start.
Wednesday 15th September 2010
The tarmac is removed, leaving a layer of sand and shingle.
Thursday 16th September 2010
Site clearance continues. And yards away, on Grapes Hill, Stage 6 of The Tour of Britain passes by, from Kings Lynn to Great Yarmouth.
Friday 17th September 2010
At the end of the first week, the tarmac and Cotoneaster have gone and the site is level.
Monday 4th October 2010
Today detailed measuring up began.
Wednesday 6th and Thursday 7th October 2010
The stone edging for the paved areas has been put in place.
Monday 11th October 2010
The paved areas have been filled with rubble and the granite setts and sleepers have now arrived.
Thursday 14th October 2010
The foundations of the raised beds have been put in place, along with their granite sett surrounds.
Below left: The edges of the circular lawn area. Below right: A path (left of photo) will lead to the sitting out and lawn areas.
Tuesday 19th October 2010
The block paving is being laid and the uprights for the pergola are being built.
Thursday 21st October 2010
The garden now has topsoil, more block paving has been laid and one of the bike racks is in place.
Tuesday 26th October 2010
The garden is taking shape! More block paving has been laid and the planting holes for the pergola are in position (bottom left).
Wednesday 27th October 2010
One of our regular site meetings.
Thursday 28th October 2010
The pergola has been extended and the bike racks are complete. We will use the pallets to build our compost bins!
Monday 8th November 2010
Work resumes on the garden on a cold and wet November day. Work continues on the block paving, including a decorative paving circle.
Saturday 13th November 2010
The Yorkstone paving slabs have been laid. They will be surrounded with a sealed gravel surface to provide a sitting out area.
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Monday 15th November 2010
The railings are being installed this week by K Rackham and Son Engineering Ltd, starting at the top end of the garden. The Yorkstone paving slabs have also been cemented in.
We received £9,400 of RESPECT funding to pay for the railings. The funding was provided to Norwich City Council by the Department of Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) in recognition of Norwich’s work to tackle Antisocial Behaviour as a RESPECT Action Area.
Tuesday 16th November – Wednesday 17th November 2010
The garden gates have arrived and will soon be put in place. Construction of the deep beds continues.
Friday 19th November 2010
The railings are mostly in place, paving has been extended towards the garden entrance and four larger deep beds have been completed.
Thursday 25th November 2010
The garden gates are now in place and the block paving is finished.
Monday 29th November 2010
The garden is silent, covered in a coating of snow, but work will resume when the weather improves.
Wednesday 15th December 2010
Work has resumed after nearly three weeks of snow.
Left: The trellis has been constructed and is ready to be fixed to the wall at the back of Valentine Street. The metal brackets will be used to fix the trellis to the wall. We await a delivery of the final sleepers for the raised beds.
Centre and right: The top section of railings has been fitted.
Thursday 6th January 2011
Nearly there…
Left: Site Meeting at 8a.m. Right: The trellis is mostly in place and the deep beds are complete.
Wednesday 12th January 2011
Ready for planting – once we’ve removed bindweed roots. Right: The base of one of the water tanks.
Just a few more construction tasks remain: adding the last sections of trellis, the water tanks, the sealed gravel sitting out area and a bit more soil.
Friday 21st January 2011
The trellis is complete, one of the water tanks is in place and the railing fan is fitted.
Friday 4th February 2011
Left to right: The sealed gravel surface was laid yesterday, the water tanks are in place at the back of 12 Valentine Street and Patrick has started to install his log seating area.
Apart from connecting up the rainwater tanks, the hard landscaping work is complete.
Words and photographs by Jeremy Bartlett.