The Glass Works Project, written by Jamie Whitney during his work experience placement with us

The Project

The Glass Works is a 3.8-hectare, £130m development project that will regenerate the heart of Barnsley’s town centre. According to the Glass Works website, it will provide a modern, contemporary retail and leisure destination whilst complimenting the traditions of Barnsley’s historic markets and reflecting the famous Barnsley spirit.

The Barnsley Metropolitan Council plan to include a host of shops and restaurants in The Glass Works as well as a Cineworld and a Superbowl UK.

Development of a new, £5.3m, state-of-the-art library is also underway which will provide contemporary and interesting community facilities. Furthermore, the council is refurbishing the markets, opening up a new public realm and providing 500 car parking spaces within Barnsley’s town centre.

Hickton’s involvement

Ian, a Clerk of Works, took me around the construction site of The Glass Works while he was doing his inspection to see first-hand what the role of a Clerk of Works includes. As he was doing his inspection he was describing the two most important aspects of being a Clerk of Works:

1) Being friendly with the construction workers
2) Having the relevant experience.

As if to demonstrate this, while he was explaining this a construction worker came up to him and asked him for help about where to place a wall and even showed him wonky struts on a wall that weren’t fitted properly (shown below).

Because Ian had successfully built up a good relationship with this construction worker previously, the construction worker was inclined to ask Ian for help and show him some errors with the construction.

Additionally, Ian recommended to the contractor to place lights on a poorly lit staircase to decrease the risk of injury, pointed out to a construction worker that they were not wearing the correct uniform (no hard hat or gloves), and showed the contractor some wall duct tiles that had been placed incorrectly and needed to be moved. He also noted several electrical instruments had been incorrectly wired or misused and in doing so verified the importance of having someone with experience on a construction site.

Despite some defects on the site, progress has been made and currently the Glass Works is expected to be finished in 2020.

Written by Jamie Whitney on a Work Experience placement at Hickton Consultants.

To see The Glass Works website, click here
To watch the Fly Through Video of The Glass Works, click here

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