Today we toured two jobsites with Balfour Beatty. Before we went out to the sites, we listened to a presentation on the company and the jobs that they are doing. They had previously asked for our shoe sizes to equip us with steel-toed boots, but when we all put on our shoes they were several sizes too large for each of us (conversion charts!). However, we did have the right PPE on at that point and could go further into jobsites than we have previously been allowed to go.
The first was a building in a posh part of town, opposite a theatre where Avenue Q is playing. They are still in the demolition part of the project. Interestingly, the façade is untouched for the most part. London’s laws require the preservation of the front of the building to keep the historic look of London streets, leaving a shell front and a huge gaping hole behind it on the project that we saw. The entire job was very compact. The demo crew worked on the half of the project near the street while another crew poured concrete at the back of the project. Their aim is to level out the “raft” so that the later concrete pour with reinforcing steel will be all on one level. The façade of the building limited the access to the concrete truck and complicated the pouring process. The truck, located on the street in front of the façade and scaffolding, poured concrete into a smaller concrete pouring apparatus (sadly, I can’t think of its name), which the tower crane then hoisted over the wall and down to the second basement level to pour. We could’ve watched the demolition and concrete pour for much longer, it was very interesting, but we needed to trade with the other half of the group and go see the second site.
The second site is a finished-out building, owned by the Crown. It is near the Thames River and next to the DeBeers diamond headquarters, where roughly one third of the world’s uncut diamonds go to be processed. From our perch on the 8th floor of the building, we had a good view of the helicopter on top of the DeBeers building, one of only two pads in the city, and this one for the DeBeers owner! The designer of the building which we toured likened the building to a pebble on the beach with its granite stone exterior and rounded edges. Nothing was cheaply done on the project. Throughout the building, black walnut finishing was used: on the reception desk, in elevators and for doors, as well as sandstone of various types. Each floor is just a shell of what it will eventually become when they are let out and finished. It is a beautiful building. There was a lot of contrast between the two projects. Back at Balfour Beatty’s office, we returned our lent shoes and they provided lunch for us. Our hosts at Balfour were very generous and entertaining and we really enjoyed our tour with this company all around.
That night a group of us went to see Lord of the Rings, the musical! Seeing as I love musicals more than most people, I was very excited. Swaroop helped us find good dishes at an Indian restaurant before the show, too. The show was excellent! If you ever get a chance to see it, I highly recommend it. The special effects built on what The Lion King has done, but in the years since that show began there have been many advancements in stage technology. The stage itself breaks to rise and fall as the scene demands. Gollum, or Sméagol, gave a great performance. I have never seen an actor do with his body or his voice the things that Golem did in character. In fact, he entered from the ceiling where he proceeded to scale the set down to the stage. In the second, shorter intermission (the show has three acts), the orcs actually came into the audience! What an excellent way to keep the audience in the mindset of Middle Earth. Their costumes were dark and leathery, giving the appearance of scales, I thought. Most of them carry poles in their hands as crutches and have a crouched, animal-like stature.
Three of us girls, Melia, Ashley, and me, were sitting together on the aisle, looking like a very easy target with our eyes as big as the programs. Several times an orc came to frighten us, which they succeeded at! Ashley was in my lap and Melia was in hers, we all leaned back as far as we could and the orc would lean in as close as he could and growl at us. Their proximity alone should scare people. The growl was just unnecessary. The feeling of happy fear in the audience was very funny, as long as you were not being accosted by an orc. They would jump several steps to land very close to an unsuspecting patron or go behind people to spook them. Short of writing a play review, I suppose I should not go on more about the musical. After the show, the group of us went to TGI Friday’s for desert in Covent Garden. We felt very American, even if the dirt cake was more like a pie than a pudding. Of course, “pudding” here is misleading as well.
It was a very nice day. Thanks and Gig’em!
Zara
Study Abroad -UK Law 