The Friends Of Drakelow Tunnels

April 2005 - Goodbye to Adit D

Adit D had been a security problem from the beginning. It was the scene of a break-in 1996, which resulted in most of the worst vandalism and theft from the complex over a period of several weeks before the owners were made aware of the problem. This was before our time and was rectified by the owners with
substantial reinforcements to the steel door. This proved sufficient and was problem free until late 2004 when it was breached again. This damage was rectified
with 1/4" steel plate, but unfortunately early in 2005 it was breached again. Several schemes were discussed to rectify the problem, including completely
backfilling adit D and its approach. We needed a permanent but affordable solution. It was eventually decided that the best option was to board up and fill the space from the door to the front face of the wall with a hard mix of concrete an reinforce it too. We could not afford to hire contractors to do it, so Roger became Project
Manager. Adit D now sits behind approximately 2 metres of solid reinforced concrete- about 12 and a half tons of it! It will never be used again.
Here's how we did it.

	Pete backs his trusty Landrover loaded with the tools and materials down the very narrow and slippery approach to Adit D.
Roger fixes the boarding in place whilst Pete starts to weld up the frame.
	I drilled out some holes for the verticals to sit into. Now Roger and Pete start assembling the frame.
Pete welds the top beam into place.
	I drilled out some more holes for the bracing. The bracing poles were welded into place and the top rail fixed to the walls. This structure may appear a bit 'over the top' but it will have to hold back over 12tons of wet concrete. On the inside the steel door also had to have additional bracing applied. We're now ready for concrete.
The concrete pumping truck arrives. In order to get the concrete to the Adit it had to be pumped from the road. There is no way the concrete truck can get down there and it's too far and totally impractical to try to manhandle it down the approach and up to the top of the entranceway.
	The pipeline is laid over the muddy approach to the Adit. Here you can get some idea of the distance and conditions involved.
The concrete arrives. Mixed to our requirements on site.
	The concrete is delivered directly into the hopper of the pump truck.
The concrete starts to flow.
	Job done. Adit D is no more. No point in removing the shuttering, it might as well stay where it is. Surplus concrete is piled up infront of the structure and onto the base of the bracing poles by hand and left to set.

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