Nick was up early on Saturday and over to Girton to see it happen. Ian, our main contractor, was on site and guys from DJE construction whom have been building our foundations. The site has been cleared and top soil removed, then the 10m piles put in place. Next a layer of clay board (wrapped so it stays dry) was laid on the levelled ground covering the whole footprint. The clay board is pallets/blocks of cardboard structure - very light, about 6/7 inches deep and structurally strong as long as it's dry. A layer of this forms a base for the concrete slab to be poured onto. Pipes are run from each pallet of clayboard through the slab. When the slab is set water will be poured into each pipe causing the pallet to break down and decompose leaving a gap under the slab. Clay is notorious for expanding and contracting - with this gap it has plenty of room to move without effecting our slab. Very cunning!
Laying the clayboard:
Pouring the slab. This crazy contraption is called an elephant arm - the lorry full of cement is out on the road.
Nick's favorite shot of the day!
The finished product - each blue pipe goes to one of the clayboard blocks.
