News of the development of and repairs to Tristan's infrastructure - buildings, services, roads, etc during 2016

New roof installed on Island Store Warehouse in six hours

Report and photos from Director of Public Works Mike Wolfenden
Photo of the completed warehouse roof.

The large warehouse section of the Island Store is critical for keeping all the food stocks and life support supplies for the islanders in a good condition. The alarms and fire extinguishers were upgraded before the Christmas break but the warehouse roof leaked like a sieve. Roofing sheets installed many years ago were made of painted steel but due to the environment they deteriorated rapidly. Creeping rust was eating its way from the four bottom edges of the two roofs and degrading each holding bolt so that both roofs leaked and had to be dealt with. The Aluminium sheet was provided over a year ago but due to other priorities and changes of staff, it was never installed and the ‘warehouse makeover’ remained an outstanding critical task. PWD under Jonathan Repetto led an ‘All Hands” day on Wednesday 24th February 2016 with 41 volunteers from all departments. We even had Heads of Departments, leading from the front, working on the roof and preparing roofing sheets etc. The teams started removing old sheeting at 07.00 and by 13.00 the task was complete, just in time as rain began to fall as the last bolts were screwed home.

Above: Cutting the corrugated roofing sheets.

Right: Working on the roof

In total, 168 roofing sheets were used. They were 73cm x 3.9 cm and without overlap would cover 478 m3, which is equivalent to four small houses. The teams were split into seven units: Preparation, which involved cutting roofing sheets to the correct length. Two teams of old roof removal, one on each roof removing the old sheets. Two new roof teams, one on each roof, installed the new panels with two teams carting away the old sheets with tractors and trailers. End barge boards were added and the roofing ridge sheets applied with seals to prevent rain being blown under them by the extreme winds experienced in the winter. The teams are now equipped with good quality electric hand drills and with good planning, it went like clockwork. The island has no scissor jacks but careful use of JCB buckets allowed the operation to flow evenly with each team observing safety at all stages.

Mike Wolfenden, the Director of PWD, was able to join the teams for well-deserved refreshment at 2pm
after they had cleared the site and congratulate them on behalf of everyone on the island on a job well done!

The islander’ skills at roof maintenance and repair have developed to a fine art
and they have produced excellent results on this latest project.

Successful rebuilding of a section of Top Road in two days

Report and photos from PWD Director Mike Wolfenden

PWD are pleased to report that one of the worst stretches of the “Top Road” in the Tristan Settlement has been dug up, filled, compacted and concreted with wire mesh reinforcement. The Island uses reinforcement in all the roads now. One of the reasons for the some of the poor stretches of road is the thickness of the concrete and no reinforcement. PWD General under Jonathan Repetto has managed to complete this stretch of road in the fast time of two days, on 18th and 19th January 2016. The task included digging out the old road, building all shuttering, putting on a sub layer of grit which is compacted and tamped smooth. The concrete was then laid over the wire mesh and ‘floated’ to produce a smooth surface. It will have to cure for minimum of 7 to 10 days before it can be driven on, but should last over 50 years without any problems. This island never has snow and frost, and lots of rain during curing makes the concrete harder and prevents cracking. On Tristan rain is as reliable as the sun coming up!

Statistics: The repaired stretch is 50 metres long and 3.3 m wide with a depth of 6 inches. That sits on the compacted subsoil which was laid also at 6 inches over the sub soil. This equates to 25m 3 of concrete weighing 45 tonnes. The sand is island rain washed, black rock sand and the fill is from the nearby Hottentot Gulch.

The team used a mix of: 1 cement, 2 Sand and 3 chippings, which is a good guide to making long lasting concrete and is recommended by Barry Davies our Clerk of Works.

The digging out was by Duncan Lavarello, who has been involved in a lot of track maintenance especially on emergency gulch work when the road to the Patches is swept away This road is crucial for access to farming activities at the Patches, eg care of the sheep, cows and potatoes. The Team has to open up the roads after big storms and even has emergency cover with JCB’s over the holidays in order to keep the island mobile.

Mike Wolfenden, was able to release materials left over as surplus from former projects, which enabled the team to use sufficient cement and good quality chippings to make long lasting concrete.

The islanders’ skills at road maintenance and repair have developed to a fine art and they have produced excellent results job on this latest project.