Arghhhh

Todays meeting between the Structural Engineer, Groundworks Contractor and ourselves was cancelled.

I had not heard from the Structural Engineer so I called him to find out the time of the meeting. For me, today was a work-at-home day, but with a dental appointment in the middle so I wanted to make sure I was available at the appropriate time. However, he told me that he had had second thoughts about the raft idea over the weekend after studying the photos he took last week. His doubts were confirmed yesterday at the meeting he had to review the design with his business partner. They have decided that the risk of differential settlement is too high and it is not an approach they can guarantee. We are now back to square one. They didn't think to phone and tell me though !

I am speechless. As regular readers will know, I expressed similar concerns last week, but was reassured that it would work. This was with the Structural Engineer looking at the actual site, not some grainy digital photos !

I can scarcely believe it, but we are now waiting for design number 4, which will undoubtedly involve piles of some sort. I am not sure we can carry on like this..........