I took an early trip down to the Menai Strait this morning following a request by Rob (our technical specialist) – “The tides at Plas Newydd are going to be at astronomical high, coupled with surges due to the weather. Can you pop down and measure where the high water mark is so that we can gain a visual viewpoint. Happy new year, and don’t fall in!”Sounds like a challenge to me. So off I “popped” with hat, gloves, wellies and camera to assess tide heights.
We are into the detailed specification work for the foreshore pumphouse, and most importantly we need to make sure that this is watertight to the height above Admiralty Ordanance Datum, plus 1.4m above this in order to mitigate against potential flooding events. The clever calculations have been done, but you cannot beat actually seeing how high the water gets in order to make sure you put the door in the right place!
In reality this meant counting steps and marking datum points so that I can return with a trusty tape measure when the tide has lowered. We can then make sure heights remain within our calculated tolerences. I am (for once) amply qualified for this task as even I can count to 12, and take photographs.
We have also considered the implications of the pumphouse flooding at some point, and “the kit” is being specified to cater for this – stainless steel and carbon pumps, strainers and the like. Rob was impressed by their design and flow ratio’s; Keith and I both said as one “Ooooo shiny!”
Back out tomorrow morning to take more pictures and measurements.
