Construction Stupidity!

We have been living with the construction site next to us for three years, and having been in the construction game for 44 years, as a product research & development engineer, temporary works engineer, structural engineer and land and building surveyor I've seen some really stupid things in my time, but this takes the biscuit. 

This is the view from our drop off and pick up area that was formed for us by Redrow, for which we are very grateful, even if they didn't complete the job and take the hard standing right up to the edges and left a margin that the weeds can and have grown back in.

Notice that there are two concrete deep gravel boards to the left of the tree, the yellow dotted line is the line of the backfill and grass on the other side of the fence.

  

There is point A and the top of the concrete gravel boards, so you can see that the contractor is using the timber fence as a retaining structure to hold up the back fill to the margin on the road that I assume they will want the council to adopt.

There are rules under Section 38 of the Highways Act 1980 provides that when planning consent has been granted for a new development, developers may ask the highways authority to "adopt" new roads that have been constructed as part of the development, along with the associated infrastructure such as drains lighting and supporting structures.

I brought this to the Senior Site Managers attention way back at  the end of January this year, and he was supposed to be taking it up the chain of command to get something done about it. The photo above is what I marked up and was what the Senior Site Manager said he thought was likely to be constructed. I did point out at the time that no one is likely to actually build a sloping margin and that Highways would not accept it, plus it would become a rubbish trap etc. 

I also warned the local authority in January of the above that the fence was not of adequate height for security to the allotment site, as it was their fence along the boundary but they are allowing the contractor to install a new one but they take on the responsibility for it's maintenance and up keep. 

I find it incredible that a Senior Construction Professional can state that he is "only building what's on the drawings" and appears to have no common sense at all with regards using a timber fence as a retaining wall. It has to make one wonder what other things that don't make sense that were on the drawings or go against basic construction knowledge have been built on this development ?

I've brought it once again to Redrows and the Councils attention, let's hope the Council actually do something about it this time.

I also brought to Senior Site Managers attention again that the composting WC they have provided has never been completed, it's facing the wrong way and need to be turned a 180 degrees, as the waste material will have the sun on it all day, so once it starts to be used it's going to smell lovely, the solar panel is fixed in the wrong location and it appears the roof was damaged when the sparks fitted the panel.

Parts are still missing and the job is not complete. Each time I bring it to his attention he tells me he will look into it...…   did you see that tumble weed roll by ?