Blog: Recent posts

Following the two-week Christmas Break, work has now finally commenced on the main mart building.  The first steelwork is now up and beginning to give us a sense of how this fantastic building will look when finally complete.  Despite some pretty wet and grim weather, our developer has made fantastic time and where they lost some time on the main building due to ground conditions, they have made up time with the three external letting units which are now well on their way to completion.

Within the next week or so (weather permitting) the final rendering and then cedar cladding will be put on at least two of the external units, the scaffolding will come down and the car park and compound areas of the units will be completed.

Also, in the next month to 6 weeks, the glass fenestration of the main mart building (thats the full-length glass frontage of the main building) will be delivered on site, the main car parks and roads will be laid out and our site will begin to finally resemble the vision we have seen only on architects plans in 2-D for the last twelve months.

The pictures in the January 2012 Gallery were taken up to 13 January and the build has come on leaps and bounds since then, as soon as we received the latest pictures we will upload these immediately so you can see how your new mart is taking shape.

The last few weeks have seen a huge amount of concrete being poured, not only for the let units, but also the first foundations for the new mart.  The middle unit of the three external units is now to be split and we have two exceptionally good tenants lined up, so some minor alterations are taking place here.  The steelwork for the main mart building is due on site the week before Christmas.  There is still lots to do, penning designs and equipment detail are being finalised, heating systems designed for the rings (yes, heating!), tenants being lined up for the letting space inside the mart, and the new washdown system has been drawn up.  Weighbridge orders have been placed and finally this week we turn our attention to the hugely important topic of the cafe.  There are few more important aspects to a successful mart than the cafe and we hope our new cafe will be the envy of auction marts up and down the country.  We have spent some time looking at what we need and our customers give us lots of helpful advice, thank you, so we hope to do you proud.  I have put more photos on the November Gallery and I hope to get some for December off our photographer soon.

During November the steel portal frame buildings for Units 3 and 2 have been erected and roofed.  We hope to bring you up to date pictures very soon.  Foundations are now being laid for the largest of the three external letting units, Unit 1, and next week the steelwork for that building will be erected.  This week also saw the first foundations of the main mart building being poured, quite a milestone for us.  The steelwork for the main building arrives at the end of November and so by Christmas all buildings will be erected; what a great Christmas present.

This week we have seen the first concrete being poured on site.  The foundations for two of the external let units have begun and by next week we will see the steelwork for the first smallest unit erected, fllowed the following week by the mid-sized unit.  As usual we will be on hand with our trusty photographer Clive to capture it as it happens.  In the meantime I have uploaded a few photos in the October Gallery - see right - showing the first foundations.  I have also updated the September Gallery with a few more photos taken around mid-September.

As we approach the end of September and the good weather has thankfully returned the groundworks for the site are now almost complete.  Levels have been fine-tuned and by the end of this week foundations for the buildings will start to be formed.  We are still on schedule despite some bad weather recently.  The steel for the first of the external units will be on site early October, swiftly followed by the steel for a second unit.  By November the steelwork for the main mart building is due followed by the steelwork for the final and largest unit.  All three external business units and the main mart building will be erected by Christmas.  As much as we have loved seeing all the diggers on site for the last few months, it will be great to see the first of the structures going up and to appreciate the scale of our new auction site.

Meetings have taken place this week with telephone, computer and wi-fi suppliers and the electrical contractor as well as our property agent who is now in well-advanced negotiations with a large number of potential tenants for the site.  We also had a visit this week from the Country's Assistant Chief Veterinary Officer, Alick Simmons, who was shown our plans and was taken to view the new site.  Its all go with the new site negotiations and with both centres at Kendal and Lancaster going flat-out with our Autumn sales fixtures we are currently stretched to capacity but loving every minute.