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Saturday 5 February 2011

Gordon the Gondola

This is Gordon the gondola under construction. It is being purpose built to be secured to the ledge below the tank to enable access for preparing and painting the outside of the tank. It is made from standard components of a Quickfit heavy duty scaffolding tower with bespoke pieces welded to it. The idea is to hoist it up on a davit secured to the inside of the tank. The front legs - to the right of the picture will sit on the ledge. The whole thing will be secured to the tank by chains, clamps and tensioners. People inside the gondola will wear body harnesses fastened to separate mounting points. Should Gordon the Gondola fail, the people will at least be safe with a coalition of other ropes. That at least is the theory.

We are experiencing delays with the local planning authority who have required greater detail from us to allay concerns on the heritage aspects. Whilst frustrating, this is enabling us to work out in much greater detail how we can do such things as accessing the tower in safety.

Why Gordon? You decide but I was thinking that the gondola will, hopefully, hang about longer than it is actually needed
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