More photos from April 2011

Below are some of the photos and a video, I took on the site. Click on any of the images to bring up a larger version. You may notice rings in the sky due to the low resolution that they are uploaded at, to save loading times.



The above video was taken with my compact camera, therefore not the best quality, of the infill work in mid april in one of the settlement lagoons.

Above is another photo of one of the excavators carrying a section of pipeline to a neat pile of other sections. In the background you can see the middle lagoon, which has seen its last use as the infill work has finished. Though a lot of the infill material still has to be transported to different areas of the site, such as the surcharge areas where the store area of the site is.

Here is one of the Boskalis excavators taking sections of used pipeline on the regeneration site and placing them all into a pile, ready for them to be carried off site in the next few days/weeks, so that the rest of the work in this area can commence.

The photo above was taken on the beach where the pipeline is, on the last day of April. A digger is at the top of the place to help dismantle the pipe as all of the infill work has been completed on site.

The photo above was taken looking towards the north western side of the site where there is a raised surcharge area, visible in the middle. I imagine that this is the petrol station area, where the contractors are using the same compaction method as with the store area nearby.

This photo above was taken from the eastern side of the site, where a generator is being lifted by digger across the site, from one of the lagoons as the infill process is nearly at an end.

I noticed this drill type object on the end of the excavator the day before I took this but didn't capture it with the camera, so today I did, and it seemed to be heading for the centre of the site, its purpose exactly, im not sure.

Here is another sign that the infill process is coming to an end. There are parts of pipe and the drainage box objects placed next to each other, outside of the lagoon area, at the same time as workmen taking down a couple of the life rings that were dotted around one of the lagoons.

This photo above was taken from the viewing platform of one of the excavators in the middle of the site, flat like this area almost everywhere, apart from the lagoon area and the compound area.

The photo above was taken looking down on Seaton (with the Oranje dredger to the right) from the car park of the disused Seaton heights hotel complex. In this photo, you can see the area where the Tesco store will be, which is in the centre of the photo off to the left. (clicking on the photo to enlarge it may help!)

Another aerial type photograph above showing a wide view of the regeneration site, with its south facing side along Harbour road running along the left hand side. The area in the centre of the site where the two rollers are, is roughly where the new road will be, that will give road users and delivery lorries access to the Tesco development from the end of November 2011.

This photo above was taken from Axe Cliff Golf Club, looking down on the western edge of the site. The raised area of land is presumably where the Tesco store will sit (although the level of land will be lowered before construction begins) with the car park and petrol station alongside it. You can just about make out the edge of the southern lagoon below the dumper truck that is driving across the middle of the site.

This is a view down on the regeneration area from the Seaton Heights complex on Seaton down hill. Here you can see the whole site, from the lagoons to the Tesco store area. From this you also get a sense of the scale of the site compared to the surrounding area, something you cant quite make out on ground level.

The photo above was taken on the tramway side of the site (a little obvious!) where you can see the infill material on the other side of the fence is building up nicely.

The photo above was taken looking from the south western corner of the site as a dumper truck was reversing into place in order to drop some of the infill material onto the western side of the site, where the Tesco store will eventually stand.

Taken looking in a southerly direction from the western side of the site, as two dumper trucks are dropping their infill material onto the site.

Above is one of the mounds of infill material that has been dropped off by one of the dumper trucks on site.

The photo above was taken on the evening of the 25th april as the site was preparing for another delivery of infill material from the Oranje dredger. This photo was taken looking across to Seaton from the clifftop at Beer Head, close to the caravan park. You can clearly see where the site is, with the floodlights illuminating the area.

This photo was taken of the Oranje dredger as it arrived into the bay off of Seaton, loaded with another infill delivery to send through the pipeline. This is also one of the last few deliveries of infill to the site, which is amazing considering how it has only taken just over 1 month as opposed to 4 1/2 years if the infill material was delivered by road.


The three photos above were taken from the eastern side of the site at sunset, where I made the exposure for the sky which meant that the machines in the photos were left in darkness.

This photo above was taken looking at what will be the rear side of the Tesco store. It is clear to see here, how high the land level on site is, although some of this is only temporary and will be removed and spread around other parts of the site in the next few weeks/months. It just helps compact the ground down more before anything gets built on it.


The photo above was taken from the cliff at Beer head looking over towards Seaton. You can clearly see where the regeneration site is with the bright floodlights illuminating it all. If you look closely you can even see some of the excavators on site.

This photo was taken looking out to sea at night, where the Barge was waiting for the Dredger Oranje to arrive with another load of infill material. In the background you can also make out the lights of Portland.

Taken on my 12mp compact camera, the photo above is looking in a southerly direction on the site. In terms of the finished site, the area in front of me will be the petrol station, with the Tesco car park further in front of that. The Tesco store will be roughly in front and to the right of the tree behind the dumper truck.

The photograph above was taken beside the middle lagoon on the site, looking in the direction of the southern side. When finished, this area will be the car park area, with the Tesco store on the area to the right of the machine. The pedestrian entrance from town and the building opposite the south elevation of  the Tesco store, will be located in front of the blue building on the left hand side of this photo.

Here is a photo of one of the dumper trucks on site delivering infill material to the western side, ready to be spread out by other machines that are at work elsewhere on site.

This photo above demonstrates how efficient and smooth the operations on site are. This is the northern side of the site, where a queue of dumper trucks are waiting to be loaded up with infill material, that will then be transported elsewhere on the site. This process is constant with dumper trucks traveling back and forth, until this lagoon is cleared of the infill.

Above is some of the safety equipment on the edge of one of the lagoons, which is there in the event that someone on site falls in. There are posts like this along with alarms, scattered all over the site, to protect everyone working or visiting it.

This panoramic photo was taken using my Iphone, of the southern and middle lagoons as infill material was being pumped through the pipeline on the left hand side of the photo. It was made up of about 10 individual photos, that were then stitched together in the 'Autostitch' app.

Above is a slightly abstract photo looking from one of the edges of the lagoons into the water inside it. I liked the blue of the water, which was enhanced by the sunlight shining down on it from above.

This photo is of one of the Caterpillar machines working away inside the southern lagoon, shifting the sand around, while the infill is still busy flowing through the pipeline into the lagoon.

As the level of sand was rising on the pipeline side of the lagoon, another section of pipeline had to be maneuvered into place, to stretch the pipeline further into the lagoon. Here the Boskalis excavator has a chain attached to the end of the pipeline, with the caterpillar machine, using it's scoop to push the other end of the pipeline into the lagoon in order to get it into the correct position.

This photo was taken of two of the machines in the lagoon as they were almost posing for the camera, by sitting next to each other at the same angles!

This photo above really demonstrates the force at which the infill material and water is traveling through the pipeline from the Oranje out at sea. The excavator has to put a scoop in front of the flow to diffuse it, so that the plates lining the bottom of the lagoon dont get damaged by the force of the infill coming out of the pipe.

Here you can see the infill coming out of the pipeline and into the southern lagoon. I used a slightly higher aperture setting on the camera in order to reduce the shutter speeds, which meant that I was able to slightly blur the infill and water splash as it came out of the pipeline.

Above is a photo of the northern edge of the southern lagoon, where there are people watching the infill being pumped in alongside some of the many seagulls on site, which were watching too!

This photograph was taken from inside the viewing platform on the southern side of the site, looking through the windows out onto the site itself.

Couple more older photos of the site

 The photo above was taken in 2008 looking at the eastern entrance of the Holiday camp where the restaurant stood. (Now the main site entrance)

This photo was taken early in 2009 after the holiday camp closed, looking at the area that will be occupied by the Tesco store and Car park at the end of November 2011.

Photos from mid April 2011

The panoramic photo above was taken looking at the south side of the site opposite Harbour road. This area will be where the new road junction will be, that will link Harbour road to the Tesco Development and the rest of the Regeneration area, when it is all completed. This junction will be located in between Bay court and Norcombe court which are on the opposite side of Harbour Road 

This is a photo taken on my Iphone looking over to the Tesco side of the site, from the car park next to the Co-Op supermarket.


The photo above is of one of the workmen on the western (Tesco) side of the regeneration area, keeping an eye on one of the rollers off to the left of the frame that was going backwards and forwards. With more loads of infill material being brought to this area in the background.

Dont know whether this is directly related to the site, but I assume it is considering I have never seen it before on the tramway. There must be run off water from the slopes at the side of the infill material, as I noticed the other day that a specialist machine was spraying water over the whole area, presumably to help compact the ground in the area.

The photograph above is looking in a south easterly direction from the tramway car park towards where the front of the Tesco store will be, as well as the pedestrian area and the 'Kiosk' building that will be opposite the store entrance.

This photo is of one of the dumper trucks arriving onto the site with a new load of infill to drop, in the area where the goods yard/delivery area of the Tesco store will be located on the site. The second of the pipeline bridges which runs between the regeneration site and the former Racal site can be seen on the left hand side two thirds of the way down.

The photo above was taken looking in a direction that will be facing the front of the Tesco store when it is completed later on this year. The perimeter fence (what you can still see of it) is along the left hand side, with a dumper unloading infill material onto the raised land and a scoop spreading it out ready to be rolled flat.

The photo above was taken looking towards the Tesco side of the site, with the area in view being occupied eventually by the store, the petrol station and the Car Park, the rest of the site will be grassed over until developers come forward to build houses etc on the land.

This image was taken from outside the viewing platform, looking towards the Harbour road side of the site. With machines and some debris on the ground. This area will be roughly where the access road to the Supermarket will be, presumably running on a gentle slope upwards with grass banks either side from Harbour road due to the height of the infill that the site will be on.

This photo above was also taken from the viewing platform looking towards the town centre. In the distance you can see the grey building (old youth centre) and a triangular roofed building on the left of it (toilets) which will be demolished to make way for the pedestrian entrance from the town centre to the Tesco site, which occupies the foreground area. The store being furthest away, then the car park closest with the petrol station off to the right of the frame.

This photo was taken outside the main site office. It shows details of the main operations on the site over a period of time and what risks they entail, followed by restrictions on movements that are put in place during those operations.

This whole area in November will basically be filled by the Tesco store, which is on the western part of the site as mentioned before in the blog.

On site there are various areas of water, and in some of them, like this one here, there are even ducks on the water, which I though added a nice touch. Its a shame that they will only be there temporarily.

This is one of the machines that was found on the Harbour road side of the site. At first glance, I though the writing said something else, which most people will also quite easily work out!

The photo above was taken looking over the perimeter fence at the area where the rear of the Tesco store will stand. As you can see there is already a lot of infill material on site, with more to be put onto it over the coming few weeks.

The photo above was taken looking over the fence close to the tramway station, over in the direction of the Harbor road side of the site. This area will be where the Tesco and its car park will be and also the access road to the car park, petrol station, store and housing when all of that is eventually built.

This photo is taken of the south eastern (main) entrance to the site. Its nice to see that ISG Pearce have added flowers etc to the entrance area, to make it more welcoming to people entering the site to visit the viewing platform etc. It would also be interesting to take a photo from this same point at the end of the year when the Tesco store, its access road etc, is built, to see how much it has changed.

This is a close up shot using my telephoto lens of some of the pipes that have been/will be used on site alongside a digger scoop/bucket.

This view is looking into the rear of where the Tesco store will be (from the skatepark side.) You can see, by looking at the fence, how much infill has already been put on site. The highest point of the infill in this photo is the estimated height of where the site will be when all of the work is completed. The youth centre in the background is still awaiting demolition in order to make way for the entrance/ pedestrian plaza area to the Tesco store.

This photo is a view looking over the fence basically right in the middle of where the tesco store will be. Here, you can clearly see the different levels of the infill material with the dumper trucks in the distance safely sitting on the highest point.

The photo above was taken on a saturday afternoon when there were no workmen working on site. It was taken on the eastern side of the site (by riverside workshops) looking at a simple composition of two Boskalis units.

The view above is looking over the fence from harbor road looking towards the Tesco area of the site. I was standing roughly where the new road leading onto the site will be. With the closest part of the photo to me being the car park, with the store being in the area in the background (taken over by seagulls in this image!) The petrol station will be situated off to the right a couple of hundred metres from where I was standing when taking this photo. It would be good to try and get onto the site especially when rollers dumper trucks etc arent working, so I can take some photos from the site's new ground level. 

The photo above was taken from a point that I have taken about 10 photos over the months/years. This is where the access road was to the nursery that was on site until the beginning of this year (hard to imagine it was even there now!) This area is mainly used for fuel deliveries to diggers etc. Again you can clearly see that there is about a metre of infill material already placed on this area of the site.