Photos taken May 2011

Now we are into the month of May and work on site is progressing well, with all of the pipeline infill work completed. This month will see the deconstruction of the pipeline and the two bridges and preparation work across the site to get it ready for the Tesco store construction, which is due to start mid June.

The photos above were taken looking over the Tesco site, where you can see a better view of the area, where the store and the fuel station will sit on the site. You can also see that some of the surcharge material has already been removed.

In the photo above, which was taken from the Underfleet car park, the diggers on site were busy taking the surcharge material and loading it into waiting dumper trucks to be transported across to other parts of the site.

The seagulls here are just sitting on some of the infill material close to where the Tesco store will be. Due to the method of infill, they have taken to the site well.

Above is a panorama I took looking North across the Tesco store area which is currently being leveled to 2 metres, to prepare it for building work in June.

This photo was taken looking at the south western edge of the site, where the old youth centre building will be demolished in September time to make way for the pedestrian link from the Underfleet and town, to the Tesco store once it is finished.

This photo is taken looking at a leveled area of the site, where the infill lagoons used to be situated on the site.

The selection of photos above where taken of different parts of the site on a sunny day, where work is underway to remove the surcharge material and transport it to other areas of the site in order to raise the whole site to 2 metres in height.

This photo was taken from the south side of the site, where the foreground area has already been stripped of some of the surcharge material. The raised area on the left half in the background is basically the southern edge of the store footprint, though the level of that area will also be reduced by the 10th of june as it is surcharge material to compact the ground underneath down.

The photo above was taken from the east of the site, looking west towards the dumper trucks that were frantically driving backwards and forwards picking up and dropping off loads of sand in order to make the ground level across the site at 2 metres.

Above is a panorama of 4 individual photos that I took, which were then stitched together. It is looking at the area where the lagoons were, which is now being raised to two metres in height. I will be doing more panoramic photos in this project, but using a tripod, so that they blend together better!

Above is the first area where work has started on raising the level on the site to the two metres required. This is the east of the site, where the lagoons were. Once the whole site is at the same height, work can begin on construction of the Store, car park, road, and Petrol Station for Tesco.

This photo above was taken on the 23rd of May, the first day of the work to level out the site to two metres in height. Here are two of the excavators digging up infill, ready to load the waiting dumper trucks up, which will then transport it across to another part of the site.

This photo was taken on a friday evening after most of the work had finished for the day on the site. Here you can see part of the site compound to the left, with the machines, diggers and dumper trucks etc in the middle of the photo.

Taken looking into the western side of the site, roughly where the fuel station will be, this is of one of the mini bulldozer machines driving up one of the mounds of infill material that dumper trucks have just dropped of.

Above is two photos of the southern side of the site from Harbour road. It shows the area of the fence, where the new road junction will be located to provide access for cars and lorries to the Tesco development. It will be located in between the top and bottom photos which show the views from Bay court and Norcombe Court respectively.

The photo above was originally two images, that have been merged together so that the land and sky are both exposed. It was taken on the eastern side of the site looking at the area where the lagoons used to be, with the majority of the infill material being placed further west on the site, due to the fact that that will be the first area of the regeneration site to be fully developed.

This photo above was taken from the east of the site, looking west, when no one was actively working. The darker area of ground that you can see is where the third lagoon (northern) once stood, with one of the dumper trucks used to transport the infill material across the site parked up on the northern side in the distance.

This photo above was taken from the riverside workshops looking across the site from east to west using the HDR photo technique.

The photo above here shows some of the stationary vehicles and machines parked on the southern side of the site, just north of the compound, where all of the site offices etc are located.

The photo above was taken from the tramway side of the site looking towards Haven Cliff in the distance, over the top of the surcharge infill material on the area where the Tesco store will sit at the end of the year.

This photo was taken from the back of one of the lorry trailers outside the former Station/Racal site, which was waiting to carry away 5 sections of pipeline which was used to carry infill material from the sea to the regeneration site.

The two photos images above are comparisons taken from the same spot in Seaton, just a year apart from each other, with the top image in both being the site in it's untouched state and the bottom image of both being the site with the infill + surcharge on the site.

This photo was taken on my compact digital camera as I walked past the huge crane lowering the Harbour road bridge down. The other bridge, to the north of this was lowered overnight.

The photo above was taken standing underneath the Harbour road pipeline bridge on the day it was supposed to come down, but due to one of the cranes not turning up on time, this will not happen until tomorrow, May 5th.

This photo above was taken alongside the temporary fence, which protected the pipeline as it went from the bridge to the beach. That has now been removed, with the bridge in the top of the photo, coming down tomorrow.

The photograph above was taken looking onto the Tesco side of the site from by the skatepark. From this view, you really appreciate the height of the infill in this area of the site, although a lot of this infill is just used as surcharge to compact the ground underneath down, ready for building the Tesco store in the next few months.

This is a more abstract photo looking at the netting on the infill material, where the Tesco store will eventually be at the end of the year.

This photo was taken from the east of the site looking west. The area here is where the lagoons were and at the moment, it looks like a small sandy mountain range! To the right of the mounds in the middle are workmen and excavators busy dismantling the third (north) lagoon on site.

Here is one of the excavators playing its part in taking apart the north lagoon on the site. You can see in between the arm of the excavator that the black wall has been breached as it is no longer required.

This photo was taken on my iphone looking along the tramway towards the area where the petrol station and access road to the store/car park/service area will be. With the store being located to the right hand side of the tram track.

This is a photo I took on my phone, as my camera wasn't with me at the time, it is on the eastern side of the site close to the compound, showing a lorry loading some of the sections of pipe onto it ready to take away. I imagine that this process will take the next couple of days to take all remaining pipe sections off site.

Above is a view on sunday May 1st across the site from the viewing platform. It shows a row of dumper trucks parked on a raised area of infill, close to the site compound.

The above shot was taken with a fisheye lens inside the viewing platform looking in the direction of Harbour road.

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.