When
a vast hole appeared in the gardens of three houses
in Stratford, east London, a year ago obviously
the householders were distraught. One lady even
lost her entire garden shed down the gaping chasm,
but fortunately no one was injured.
The problem had been caused by subsidence of
the earth due to underground tunnel workings for
the high speed rail network linking London and
the north of England via the Channel Tunnel with
the rest of Europe.
After some urgent remedial work to prevent further
collapse the contractor, CTRL, set about reassuring
the local neighbourhood, comprising some 24 houses,
that the area would be made completely safe and
that owners/tenants would be compensated for the
damage and inconvenience.
A solicitor was selected to get the ball rolling
and after interviewing several engineers James
Torr, a Chalfont St Peter Chartered Civil Engineer
and Mediator, who acts as an expert witness, was
chosen by the Stratford residents to represent
them.
James said: "I was selected for two reasons.
Because I was born and brought up in that part
of London just a mile from where the accident
occurred, and also they liked my 'touchy, feely'
approach. Which was quite an interesting way to
select an engineer."
Indeed, the 'hands on' approach was a very important
ingredient of the successful outcome because of
the multi-ethnic nature of the area. But there
were few problems.
Only once did James nearly come unstuck when,
on a particularly cold day, he turned up in a
long black coat and hat on an 'enormous' Ukrainian
man's doorstep and found him very reluctant to
open the door.
Apparently this 'great bear of a man', who turned
out to be very friendly indeed, explained: "Where
I come from you don't open your door to men in
black coats!"
With his work now drawing to a close, for the
past 12 months James has been monitoring the contractor's
remediation work and consulting with local residents
to ensure that their houses are restored to the
condition they enjoyed before the subsidence occurred.
Now that he has drawn together all the lose ends
and negotiated amicable arrangements between all
the parties, he suggests: "The repairs and
redecoration work will start in February and probably
go on for about three months. So my involvement
will probably come to an end in late Spring."
One of the worst affected houses will need partial
demolition and two others require extensive repairs.
Otherwise it is mainly a case of reinstating people's
gardens where the contractor has been working,
plus some modest cosmetic treatment.
You could say that the successful sorting out
the Stratford hole's many complexities was a unique
project. But for James Torr, a Member of the Academy
of Experts, it was run-of-the-mill!
ENDS
Date: 20th January 2004
NB: James Torr is also Chairman of Cross Reference
the Gerrards Cross based Business Network Group.
For further information, please contact: Andrew
Leech 01753 884216
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