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Bear away in heavy breeze causes problems, now where have I seen that before.... ... See MoreSee Less

Work has continued and the contractors have maintained the quality and thoroughness of their work. The cause of the main leak which meant we were losing 400,000 litres of water in 48 hours has been established. Behind each expansion joint in the walls is a block of concrete some 2-3 feet square and about 12-18 inches thick. These have moved backwards leaving a gap between the block and the pool wall. The backfill to the wall is ash rather than clay and so this has been washed away leaving room for water to escape. These areas have been excavated and will be filled with concrete. The concrete blocks may be re-positioned. Areas of the coping stones have been replaced with a superior grade of concrete to those in place. A problem was discovered in that work done in the 1990s meant coping stones were not attached to the walls leading to ingress of water once the mastic deteriorated and tilting of the stones until they simply fell into the pool.. The new work has included strengthening with horizontal and vertical bars plus the insertion of wire mesh prior to pouring the cement. This method not only results in a stronger and more stable construction but it means that the coping stones are now attached to the wall and therefore there should be no ingress of water as mastic is not needed in the parts of the wall that have been renovated.



Before Christmas it became apparent that we were faced with short term solutions to long term problems. The coping stones not due for replacement may only have a life span of 2-3 years and any new mastic applied to the joints may only have a life span of 5 years. Additionally, the contractors had made the point that it was taking more time to cut and join old sections rather than renew all stonework. On 29 December, the business case for a complete replacement of all coping stones was put to John O’Shea, cabinet member for Parks, Fred Grindrod our local councillor, the Parks Services Manager and the Project Manager, Iqbal Sangha. This included a request for an extra £30,000 being added to the budget to complete such work. A cautiously optimistic informal response was received earlier this week, but today, formal notification was received that the further works have been authorised. This should ensure that the structure of the pool will be safe for at least 20 years. This is in addition to the greater facility afforded for routine maintenance by installation of the new grid at the inlet, the new penstock and the renewal of the pipework from the penstock to the stream.



The Club has received an enormous degree of co-operation, support and consultation that has not always been present in the past. Our thanks must go to John O’Shea and Fred Grindrod for their continued support of our project at a political level. Iqbal Sangha has worked tirelessly to achieve an excellent result within a limited budget and Joe Hayden has brought a very welcome change of attitude from the Parks Department. Should you wish to thank these people for their efforts, then they can be contacted as follows:

John.O'Shea@birmingham.gov.uk, fred.grindrod@birmingham.gov.uk, joe.hayden@birmingham.gov.uk, iqbal.s.sangha@birmingham.gov.uk



These additional works will add time to the duration of the works which may not be so important given the constraints with COVID-19. It would seem reasonable not to expect the pool to be in use before March. ... See MoreSee Less