Dukes Mound, Brighton is underway

Soil nailing commenced this week at Duke’s Mound, where we are working on a £100,000 scheme to stabilise one of the oldest and longest “green walls” in the country. This is the second phase of repair work undertaken by Thorne in the last two years and will include concrete encasement works to protect this 200-year-old wall.

 

Christmas Tree of Goodwill

Founder of the Company Charles James Thorne first donated a Christmas Tree to the Rotary Club of Uckfield in 1951, and current Chairman Richard Thorne has continued this tradition of supplying the tree that has become the centre of Uckfield’s Christmas celebrations. It was installed this week ahead of Uckfield’s Late Night Shopping event tomorrow.

The Night Shift

Work is progressing well at Woodmansterne WTW where the 248m³ base of the Chlorine Contact Tank was poured this week – Sean Taylor and the team on site had to work through the night to ensure the power-floated finish met the required tolerances. A great effort by all concerned!

Young Employee of the Year

Congratulations to Jake Holmes on winning the Young Employee of the Year Award – the judges recognised his outstanding attitude to his work along with his infectious enthusiasm, and Jake impressed a gathering of over 300 local business people with the best acceptance speech of the evening!

Palace Pier Protection!

Work has recently been completed on the installation of a new security fence to protect the area under the root of The Palace Pier in Brighton – a tricky job given the variable weather and tides, so congratulations to Guy Davidson and his team on the successful completion of this job.

Winston would be pleased…

Work is underway on the £150,000 project to upgrade the waste water treatment at Chartwell with the installation of a new 2000 litre Sewage Treatment Plant and some complex pipework to take the treated water safely to a local water course, with minimal disruption to the local environment.

Bentley Solar Farm Complete

Work is now complete on the £200,000 solar farm infrastructure project on the Bentley Estate just outside Uckfield – works included earthworks, 350m of access road construction and a reinforced concrete river crossing to allow access to the site of the solar farm, the second such project undertaken for solar development specialists Lightsource.

Congratulations Chris!

Congratulations to Chris Watson on completing his MSC in Quantity Surveying at Portsmouth University – this has been achieved with a lot of blood sweat and tears over a two-year programme of day release from work, fully funded by Thorne as part of its investment in Staff Training & Development.

Hero Dave Saves Life!

Beacon Security’s Dave King, gateman at our site for the £20m redevelopment of Sutton & East Surrey Water’s Woodmansterne WTW, last month saved the life of a woman who collapsed at a nearby bus stop as his shift was ending. He administered CPR and revived her until an ambulance arrived. The lady’s husband wrote to Thorne to express his gratitude for Dave’s actions and he is pictured here receiving the congratulations of Chris Thorne, as well as a £50 reward for his outstanding actions.

 

Shelter Hall – Lower Promenade Wall

As part of the regeneration of Shelter Hall along Brighton beach, C J Thorne & Co have successfully completed the first stage of the contract by renewing the ornate sea wall to protect the new structure from the harsh winters and driving waves.

The £10 million construction of the historic Shelter Hall consists of rebuilding the Victorian Shelter Hall building, constructing the new sea wall and walkway on the lower promenade, but also enlarging the upper prom area on the seafront.