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DELIBERATIONS OF 19-05-2010
Date: 24th May, 2010
STATES OF ALDERNEY
DELIBERATIONS FOR WEDNESDAY 19TH MAY 2010
Vice President: Mr C Williams
Mr R Willmott
Mr B Walden
Mr I Tugby
Mrs E Bennett
Mr T Llewellyn
Mr P Allen
Mr B Kelly
Mr G Sargent
Mr J Beaman
Mr G W Baron O.B.E. represented His Excellency The Lieutenant-Governor of the Bailiwick of Guernsey.
Item l The Clerk’s House
The States resolved:
1. To agree to the sale of the property known as The Clerk’s House, and
2. That the Policy and Finance Committee be delegated to agree terms and appoint an agent or agents to market this property at the best realisable price.
(Proposed by Mr Willmott and seconded by Mr Sargent.)
(Approved by a majority. All in favour except Mr Allen who voted against.)
Item ll The States of Alderney Election Procedure (Amendment) Ordinance, 2010
The States resolved to approve “The States of Alderney Election Procedure (Amendment) Ordinance, 2010.”
(Proposed by Mr Willmott and seconded by Mr Tugby.)
(Approved unanimously.)
Item lll Control of Dogs and Horses on Beaches
The States resolved to approve “The Control of Dogs (Amendment) Ordinance, 2010” and “The Horses (Controlled Places) (Alderney) (Amendment) Ordinance, 2010”.
(Proposed by Mr Walden and seconded by Mr Kelly.)
(Approved by a majority. For Messrs Willmott, Walden, Llewellyn, Allen, Kelly and Mrs Bennett. Against Messrs Tugby, Sargent and Beaman. Mr Williams Abstained.)
Item lV The Prohibition of Exportation of Ormers (Alderney) Ordinance, 2010
The States resolved to approve “The Prohibition of Exportation of Ormers (Alderney) Ordinance, 2010”.
(Proposed by Mr Willmott and seconded by Mr Beaman.)
(Approved unanimously.)
Item V Questions and Reports
Mr Williams gave a report on the Upper Berth, Commercial Quay Phase 3:-
“As Chairman of the CQPB, this is my first report on the Upper Berth. This was not part of the original Lower Berth project. Thus a separate budget for the Upper Berth was passed in the States in December 2009.
How did it arise.
Members will recall the hole in the wall at the junction of the Upper and Lower Berths. As silt was removed to reach bedrock for the foundations of the new concrete block walls, the extent of the hole was revealed and material from within the quay sucked out by the silt removal process. This operation was stopped and a steel shutter used to construct a concrete skin wall. Concrete was then pumped into the cavity.
At that time the contractor also pointed out a depression in the Upper Berth deck, and a crack behind the main wall, and suggested that the Quay might not safely take the weight of the heavy crane being used. The decision was therefore taken to have an undersea survey of the wall; but no certain conclusion was reached on whether the Upper Berth was sound or not.
However, with the Lower Berth near completion, it was considered reckless not to carry out remedial work on the Upper Berth. Thus a 3m high skin wall was constructed below the water line to seal all the cracks, holes and other defects in the main wall. As with the cavity referred to earlier, it was not possible to remove the silt to reach bedrock because of the risk of sucking out the fill from within the quay. The skin wall was founded on rock, where possible, but the sea bed where not. Having done that, an anti scour device was fitted. This is a 4.5m wide polypropylene mattress with internal spacers. This was attached to the bottom of the skin wall and laid out to rest on top of either the sea bed or bedrock. The outer edge of the mattress rests on a concrete toe formed on bedrock all the way along. The mattress was then filled with concrete.
There have been problems. The first anti scour device provider went into administration and wanted payment up front. This was rejected. The second was more expensive and required a higher specification solution to enable them to issue a satisfactory warranty. The impact on the final cost has yet to be established.
However, all the undersea work has been finished. Following completion of the skin wall and installation of the anti scour mattress, it was possible to drill down though the deck, seeking cavities and filling them with concrete without the risk of it running out into the sea through holes in the wall.
The good news, or bad news depending on your viewpoint, is that several large cavities were found. At the main position where the harbour crane operates, a 68 cubic metre cavity was found. Close by, two cavities of 30 cubic metres and 25 cubic metres, ran right across the main load bearing area of the quay deck.
To put this in context, in the 150 square metres of the Upper Berth crane working area, there were 190 cubic metres of cavity. Over a cubic metre for every square metre of deck space. In total 250 cubic metres of concrete were used, double that allowed for in the budget.
For interest, 250 cubic metres is a volume of roughly 3m x 3m x 28m, or in imperial units about 10ft x 10ft x 90ft. A lot of cavity.
As if that was not enough, whilst digging trenches in the existing deck for the new Fire Fighting System and Oil Pipeline, a concrete thickness of as little as 75mm was revealed with cavities up to 1m deep underneath, all in the same working area as the major cavities reported earlier.
The good news is that we were lucky, it needed doing. The bad news is that I estimate the extras, arising from the anti scour mattress and cavity concrete, will add about £100K or 8% to the cost. The final figure will be known on completion of the Upper Berth in July”.
Meeting closed: 18:10
Issued: 24th May 2010
