Coffer dams - (31/03)

To allow the construction works to take place a temporary dam has to be put in the river adjacent to the site - this is known as a coffer dam (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dam#Cofferdams) and is common in construction to exclude water from an area that is normally submerged. In the pictures below we have two views of our coffer dam which also has a temporary syphon in place (old technology is always better) to remove any water that does find its way through - the black pipe in the close-up picture is the United Utilties storm pipe that had to be re-sited.


View of the coffer dam from Church Road bridge.

Yvette (from WRE Ltd) trundles off carefully to move more soil

Preparation work - (31/03)

Ground height being reduced in line of the original United Utilies storm overflow pipe









Filling the dumper - the spoil is then either taken off site or some will be re-used to cover the re-routed United Utilities storm pipe






Wall removal, for ease of access later with the turbine - all stone is being stored for later re-use within the project.






Spoil storage area on the 'safe' side of the weak bridge - it is then collected from here for disposal

A view of the emerging (presumed) leat into the wheel pit area prior to the move of the United Utilities storm pipe.

High Peak Radio - (30/03)

Those of you fortunate enough to live in listening distance of High Peak Radio can look forward to listening to an interview later in the week with Richard Body (one of the THNM Ltd Directors) and Chris Elliot Managing Director of WRE Ltd who are installing the Hydro system - they will be updating listeners on progress so far..

To tune in to High Peak radion turn that dial to FM on 106.4 & 103.3 or if you live further afield you can also pick up the station on t'internet at http://www.highpeakradio.co.uk/listen.html

Happy listening !

In the beginning - (28/03)

At the beginning of March in came the portaloo and site buildings which will hopefully make life 'slightly' more bearable for the team over the coming months working in what is currently a cold and wet New Mills.

The site was then secured and marked out before the heavy machinery was rolled in to start the initial excavations to locate the United Utilities storm waste pipe that needs to be resited prior to the screw being installed.

Below we see the first sod being cut, followed by many more...

and soon afterwards the walls of the old Torr Mill start to appear much to the delight of the archealogist

Work has started - (27/03)

As with any project theres always lots of paper work to be completed before anything can start - well the paper work is now done - We have a lease from New Mills Town Council, planning permission has been granted and an abstraction license from the Environment Agency to use the water.

At the beginning of March the site was fenced off and site office, secure storage, CCTV and portaloo installed for the team who will be based there over the next few months. a temporaray footpath has been laid to allow access around the site when excavation equipment is blocking the usual path.

Initial shallow excavations to expose the old stone walls of the mill on site and removal of excess soil are now well under way as is the excavation of the site where the screw will be housed - we have also had our own version of the 'Time team' on site - the archeologist has been very interested, drawing everything, but hasnt found anything that will slow the build, so no burried treasure (yet) - the site was originally the home to Torr Mill which burned down in 1912.

Share holders letters - (27/03)

If you've been wondering if your application for shares has been succesful then you should have received a letter in the last week or if you are a joint shareholder you will receive it in the next few days.

To keep costs down and therefore maximise profit avaialble to the community the mailings are done manually - so thats a lot of letters to fold, envelopes to lick, labels to stick and in some cases hand deliveries to be made.

Funding the scheme - (27/03)

Artists impression of the finshed project with the screw visible in the middle of the picture

How much !?

The total cost of the project in the prospectus was £226,000.

We have received £60,000 more in grant help than we hoped for when writing the prospectus.

The prospectus had the £126,000 of shares needed. We got over £97,000 in share applications from over 200 applications.

Over 50% of these applications are from New Mills, which shows just how much the town has got behind the project.