Heron Corn Mill - Site Development Blog

Hydro Installation Video
10-04-2010

With the installation of the new Kaplan Hydro Turbine now complete, we have a time-lapse video of the construction period availble to watch.

Click to watch the video

Nick Crowe - Geothermal Love
08-06-2009

'Geothermal Love', a public art installation by Nick Crowe'. A geothermal heated bench on the intersection between two public walkers footpaths.

Digging the trench for the piping.

Piping to hold the liquid.

The electrical duct to supply power to the pump.

Building the pump house.

The wheel is turning and you can't slow down
31-03-2009

For the first time in who knows how long, the waterwheel is now visible.

Grass shack nailed to a pine wood floor
23-01-2009

Toilet block upgrade underway.

I think we've found something toxic.....

No, it's just a bit of wood.

Stripping out.

Plastic gubbins.

I never found out what this switch actually did.

Rusty electrics.

At least in the 70s, they left the original beams.

We're going unisex.

Like something off The Young Ones.

In another times forgotten space
06-01-2009

Millwright Martin Watts is currently restoring the working machinery of the mill, it's first major overhaul in almost 35 years.

Stepping off sharply from the rank and file
26-09-2008

Preparing to launch the new barn re-development

Ground-floor of the barn facing the kitchen, wood-pellet boiler and a-v balcony.

New sheeps-whool insulated ceiling and pendant lighting, such a change from the bare roof and fluorescent strip lights.

Lecturn set up for the opening day. Floor still not quite dry but getting there. Note the surround seating over the old concete support structure and the inner floor electrical socket ducting.

Our new office, upstairs. Dubbed, "the beach hut".

Alternate angle of "the beach hut" with doors to a/v balcony.

Outside of the barn, with re-opened arrow slit windows and new double doors/shutters. Left side shutter nicely opens up-hill at a perfect angle.

If I told you all that went down It would burn off both of your ears
31-07-2008

Eco-heating for an eco-building

A maze of underfloor water pipes.

Sort of looks like contour lines on a map.

Extensive plumbing feed.

The wood-pellet boiler to power the underfloor heating.

Highly compressed sawdust pellets.

Flume straight up through our office.

We have a chimney now!

Ring that bell for whatever it's worth
16-06-2008

Our office is almost up, the electricals are coming down.

The new mezzanine office level, oh the longing for the warm space in winter.

Stumpy remians, being left of course, gotta have a bit of character.

Some temporary lighting, although not much worse than we're used to!

I do like these window openers.

The new AV balcony, soon to full of sound and light equipment.

Stairs, who would have thunk it.

A non too wide shot of downstairs.

Another non too wide shot from the other end.

A big wooly jumper for the building.

An ad-hoc marker for where the wood-pellet boiler will be.

The builder's main tool?

One of the re-opened windows, from the outside.

Their walls are built of cannonballs, their motto is "Don't tread on me"
19-05-2008

Barn re-development is going swimmingly, all very solid and sound.

An army of scoffolding.

Sheeps wool insulation being build into the roof.

Cannonballs and girders.

Reinstating the original windows.

Looks a lot bigger since the interior dividing wall came down.

If you ain't got a hinge, you can't close the door
27-04-2008

Duckett Building Services have now started to rip out the old interior of the barn ready for installation of the new facilities. What will be unearthed? Who knows......

Who put a fuse box 4/5 of the way up a wall?

The old barn doors have been dug out the concrete and opened up once more.

What was underneath those chillingly awful concrete flag stones? More concrete.

Only a few more cobbles to come up. They will of course be saved and used elsewhere on site.

The wiring in there was always rather dodgy....

And so was the plumbing.

No comment of this tap...... zap.

Poignant, rather poignant.

The old and the really old.

Barn re-development gets under way
23-04-2008

Today Simpson & Brown Architects and Duckett Building Services met along with Nick Crowe and the Heron Corn Mill team to thrash out final details of the barn re-development and get work under way.

John, Stuart and Rob from Simpson & Brown Architects.

Nick Crowe's plan for the floor (update: since revised after the meeting).

Nick Crowe (artist) and Derek from Duckett Building Services.

Audrey, Derek and Stuart Allen coming to a consensus.

Stuart Allen makes some last minutes changes.

Audrey and John Sanders talk cobbles.

Heron Mill almost gets a phoneline - updated (Jan 08)
04-12-2007

We now have three quarters of a phoneline into the mill! Two sections of underground cabling and four phone poles. Trouble is, they still don't connect up to anything at either end....

update
We now have a fully functioning phoneline. Our new number, direct to the mill is 015395 64271.