I know that a large part of a construction projects costs is spent before anything much above ground can be seen. Which is why construction project managers measure progress by checking if the budget is being spent to plan, rather than what is visible. Clearly the training ground budget was never funded, and the necessary work has proceeded piecemeal on the back of transfer windfalls, but if and when the balance of money is released, the buildings will probably spring up quite quickly.
The sole problem I suggest is Roland's refusal to fund the project as promised, rather than lack of effort or management control.
I'm not gonna defend anybody in the regime but the role of contractors in construction projects and their duration is pivotal. I was involved, on the client side, a dozen or more years ago, in the rebuilding of a sports pavilion/changing rooms/function suite. Contract agreed, fees agreed, schedule agreed, etc etc. At each stage when the contractor could, under the standard terms, apply for more time, it applied for more time. At the latest possible date in the original contract, the builder submitted that it had finished and the site was fit to be handed back to the client. That was rejected by the PM, surveyors, architect and the local authority. The contractor then simply failed to respond to any correspondence, secure in the knowledge our only recourse would be through solicitors and the courts. In short ours was as small a job as they ever did and their main big earner contract had just gone very badly for them, they'd lowballed on some big development of flats and crippling cash flow problems had come home to roost. By the time we were able to engage replacements; an 18 month project ended up taking 30 and the last 15% of the works effectively cost 50% of the total. The original builder walked away from the 10% retention it might have been due, because it simply wasn't enough to worry about.
With charlton's training ground my money's still on incompetence, penny-pinching and prevarication by the client holding things up rather than contractors dragging their feet.
Two safety helmeted men with clip boards seen yesterday morning approx 10.30 looking in a hole adjacent to small trench. Third one talking at length on mobile phone....out of earshot of the two already mentioned. Two further men, also helmeted, seen eating bacon sarnies one with a can of Coke the other with a can of shandy. Mini digger seen parked up nearby with donkey jacketed man sitting inside rolling what looks like a fag......though could be a joint. Youth in camouflage jacket standing next to digger smoking and drinking can of Special Brew, second youth eating a pot noodle and sausage roll whilst leaning on a shovel. Two other men, one on mobile phone with fag wearing a Chelsea shirt who occasionally sniffs and gobs, second reading The Sun whilst leaning up against a wall eating bag of cheese and onion crisps. In other words, normal work in progress.
Thankfully none of the descriptions match those of our guys there yesterday who were working their arses off pullling and installing many hundreds of meters of HV cable. Power will be sorted soon
But start on site was supposed to be 12th October 2015.
The 'lead in' time of 14th September 2015 would be to arrange with the service providers to provide their costings for the works, whilst your builders and specialist carried out the excavations, trenches and first fixes, ready for those providers to come in and carry out their installations and connections where necessary.
Are you saying we are now starting from square one? Can none of the existing services be utilised? Surely there must have been a three phased supply already on site?
There is simply no excuses as to why this hasn't moved forward, despite your defence of the programme. Nothing but lies, obfuscation and atrocious management, which is typical of this regime. If this was the real world the Project Manager would have been sacked about a year ago, particularly as we were informed this was his primary focus until the academy was complete.
I'm not gonna defend anybody in the regime but the role of contractors in construction projects and their duration is pivotal. I was involved, on the client side, a dozen or more years ago, in the rebuilding of a sports pavilion/changing rooms/function suite. Contract agreed, fees agreed, schedule agreed, etc etc. At each stage when the contractor could, under the standard terms, apply for more time, it applied for more time. At the latest possible date in the original contract, the builder submitted that it had finished and the site was fit to be handed back to the client. That was rejected by the PM, surveyors, architect and the local authority. The contractor then simply failed to respond to any correspondence, secure in the knowledge our only recourse would be through solicitors and the courts. In short ours was as small a job as they ever did and their main big earner contract had just gone very badly for them, they'd lowballed on some big development of flats and crippling cash flow problems had come home to roost. By the time we were able to engage replacements; an 18 month project ended up taking 30 and the last 15% of the works effectively cost 50% of the total. The original builder walked away from the 10% retention it might have been due, because it simply wasn't enough to worry about.
With charlton's training ground my money's still on incompetence, penny-pinching and prevarication by the client holding things up rather than contractors dragging their feet.
Tony Keohane stated that work was delayed due to relegation. When pressed he wouldn't commit to an actual completion date.
Haven't read through the thread so apologies if this has been answered but does anyone know what's happening with the memorial garden? Daughter was at training ground a few weeks ago and said it's no longer where it was
Haven't read through the thread so apologies if this has been answered but does anyone know what's happening with the memorial garden? Daughter was at training ground a few weeks ago and said it's no longer where it was
The Pierre Bolangi memorial garden? I was there with Mrs FF and saw the hardwork she and her husband had put in that was some 3 years ago now. The reopening we were told ( please correct me if I get this wrong Mrs F) was being rescheduled for the following month. (November) I was talking about this a bit later with someone else I was surprised to hear. "If it happens at all under this lot" That was when the lying started and I stopped going.
I'm not gonna defend anybody in the regime but the role of contractors in construction projects and their duration is pivotal. I was involved, on the client side, a dozen or more years ago, in the rebuilding of a sports pavilion/changing rooms/function suite. Contract agreed, fees agreed, schedule agreed, etc etc. At each stage when the contractor could, under the standard terms, apply for more time, it applied for more time. At the latest possible date in the original contract, the builder submitted that it had finished and the site was fit to be handed back to the client. That was rejected by the PM, surveyors, architect and the local authority. The contractor then simply failed to respond to any correspondence, secure in the knowledge our only recourse would be through solicitors and the courts. In short ours was as small a job as they ever did and their main big earner contract had just gone very badly for them, they'd lowballed on some big development of flats and crippling cash flow problems had come home to roost. By the time we were able to engage replacements; an 18 month project ended up taking 30 and the last 15% of the works effectively cost 50% of the total. The original builder walked away from the 10% retention it might have been due, because it simply wasn't enough to worry about.
With charlton's training ground my money's still on incompetence, penny-pinching and prevarication by the client holding things up rather than contractors dragging their feet.
Tony Keohane stated that work was delayed due to relegation. When pressed he wouldn't commit to an actual completion date.
Haven't read through the thread so apologies if this has been answered but does anyone know what's happening with the memorial garden? Daughter was at training ground a few weeks ago and said it's no longer where it was
The Pierre Bolangi memorial garden? I was there with Mrs FF and saw the hardwork she and her husband had put in that was some 3 years ago now. The reopening we were told ( please correct me if I get this wrong Mrs F) was being rescheduled for the following month. (November) I was talking about this a bit later with someone else I was surprised to hear. "If it happens at all under this lot" That was when the lying started and I stopped going.
I've had to search my "records" before responding to this , guys but it's worth taking a look at what happened next....( thanks for your input to this , T.C.E.)
I've dredged up an email, dated March 2016 I received from Paul Geary, Head Groundsman at SL and one lovely guy. He always came over to have a chat with us when we were working on the Garden & nothing was ever too much for him and his assistant, Rob Box. He is totally committed to the Training Ground and used to work each day until he was satisfied a job had been completed well ...and I have no reason to doubt that he has changed his modus operandi. Tony Keohane was Paul's Line Manager at the time and at that time, neither of us had any reason to question his decisions. In fact, Tony invited myself, Richard & a couple of our "gang" to lunch in the Lounge which is now Crossbars before a home game earlier that season, to thank us for our assistance with the project....Needless to say, I took full advantage of the offer and I believe a table of 8 was requested and given !
Anyway, the email back in 2016 from PG stated that, as we had been informed some months earlier, the Memorial Garden would have to be moved due to the reconstruction of the main pitches in that vicinity and that now that Spring had sprung, a date had been set to dig up the plants etc. It had been agreed that the best course of action was to temporarily move the contents to Hadlow College & the date had now been set for 22nd March , 4 days later....Our visits to SL had dwindled since our move to E. Sussex the previous October although we did plan to step these up now that the winter was behind us and everything was "taking off " with the warmer weather. However, 4 days' notice was not enough for us to amend our plans and to take part in the digging up /removal of plants as we were invited to do with some students from the College. The plan was to pot up & hence retain as many shrubs as possible plus the Red Robin hedging we'd tenderly cajoled into providing a lovely border to the area , which would then be tended down in Kent until such time as the Garden could be replanted in a suitable spot once the new development allowed.....Paul also told us that Pierre's bust together with the wooden benches we had varnished & maintained would be moved to the Reception area until they were required on the new site.
So, that was that. Nothing further has been heard which doesn't surprise me of course although TK assured us that we would be consulted before the re-siting was carried out. That was before I became persona non grata.....
However, one of the Academy staff we used to talk to on our visits spoke to me after the last home match of the season in May as we were leaving the West Lower where we'd bought tickets for the protest. He said it was a shame that we couldn't continue our volunteer work at SL at the moment as he'd looked forward to our chats. I told him we'd been unable to assist in the removal of the plants and that we hoped to be involved again some time in the future....He then stated that the plants were still on site ! Unfortunately, we had to move on then so I was unable to seek more information.
Under normal circumstances, we would have investigated this further or indeed sought to be kept in the loop after last March but I knew that any questions posed about the future of the Garden would likely be considered unimportant under the current SMT/CEO. Maybe this is the time to seek some clarification of the situation.....
...but then again, maybe not.
Fingers crossed that the new owner/s will be more appreciative of our club's history and indeed of this apt memorial to the 17 year old youth player who tragically lost his life over 15 years ago.
This is a perfect example of how everything that is so important about 'being Charlton' means absolutely nothing to this mob who are pretending to run the Club.
If there is anything left in the fighting fund once these philistines have left us, I cannot think of a more fitting way for it to be used, than on the memorial garden.
This is a perfect example of how everything that is so important about 'being Charlton' means absolutely nothing to this mob who are pretending to run the Club.
If there is anything left in the fighting fund once these philistines have left us, I cannot think of a more fitting way for it to be used, than on the memorial garden.
This is a perfect example of how everything that is so important about 'being Charlton' means absolutely nothing to this mob who are pretending to run the Club.
If there is anything left in the fighting fund once these philistines have left us, I cannot think of a more fitting way for it to be used, than on the memorial garden.
Thanks for the update Fanny. Had seen that the bust had gone some time ago and assumed (hoped) it had been put away for safe keeping during the works, but plinth and surrounding garden was there at least until the summer break.
Thanks for the update Fanny. Had seen that the bust had gone some time ago and assumed (hoped) it had been put away for safe keeping during the works, but plinth and surrounding garden was there at least until the summer break.
Really ! Thanks, RRH.
That confirms what we were told then.
Wonder why the removal of plants wasn't carried out after all ....
Thanks for the update Fanny. Had seen that the bust had gone some time ago and assumed (hoped) it had been put away for safe keeping during the works, but plinth and surrounding garden was there at least until the summer break.
Really ! Thanks, RRH.
That confirms what we were told then.
Wonder why the removal of plants wasn't carried out after all ....
Presumably because you couldn’t turn up and do it for them.
Comments
The true definition of a mucking fuddle.
I was involved, on the client side, a dozen or more years ago, in the rebuilding of a sports pavilion/changing rooms/function suite. Contract agreed, fees agreed, schedule agreed, etc etc. At each stage when the contractor could, under the standard terms, apply for more time, it applied for more time. At the latest possible date in the original contract, the builder submitted that it had finished and the site was fit to be handed back to the client. That was rejected by the PM, surveyors, architect and the local authority. The contractor then simply failed to respond to any correspondence, secure in the knowledge our only recourse would be through solicitors and the courts. In short ours was as small a job as they ever did and their main big earner contract had just gone very badly for them, they'd lowballed on some big development of flats and crippling cash flow problems had come home to roost.
By the time we were able to engage replacements; an 18 month project ended up taking 30 and the last 15% of the works effectively cost 50% of the total. The original builder walked away from the 10% retention it might have been due, because it simply wasn't enough to worry about.
With charlton's training ground my money's still on incompetence, penny-pinching and prevarication by the client holding things up rather than contractors dragging their feet.
Contract negotiations would need to be finalised after this followed by mobilisation.
I've dredged up an email, dated March 2016 I received from Paul Geary, Head Groundsman at SL and one lovely guy. He always came over to have a chat with us when we were working on the Garden & nothing was ever too much for him and his assistant, Rob Box. He is totally committed to the Training Ground and used to work each day until he was satisfied a job had been completed well ...and I have no reason to doubt that he has changed his modus operandi. Tony Keohane was Paul's Line Manager at the time and at that time, neither of us had any reason to question his decisions. In fact, Tony invited myself, Richard & a couple of our "gang" to lunch in the Lounge which is now Crossbars before a home game earlier that season, to thank us for our assistance with the project....Needless to say, I took full advantage of the offer and I believe a table of 8 was requested and given !
Anyway, the email back in 2016 from PG stated that, as we had been informed some months earlier, the Memorial Garden would have to be moved due to the reconstruction of the main pitches in that vicinity and that now that Spring had sprung, a date had been set to dig up the plants etc. It had been agreed that the best course of action was to temporarily move the contents to Hadlow College & the date had now been set for 22nd March , 4 days later....Our visits to SL had dwindled since our move to E. Sussex the previous October although we did plan to step these up now that the winter was behind us and everything was "taking off " with the warmer weather. However, 4 days' notice was not enough for us to amend our plans and to take part in the digging up /removal of plants as we were invited to do with some students from the College. The plan was to pot up & hence retain as many shrubs as possible plus the Red Robin hedging we'd tenderly cajoled into providing a lovely border to the area , which would then be tended down in Kent until such time as the Garden could be replanted in a suitable spot once the new development allowed.....Paul also told us that Pierre's bust together with the wooden benches we had varnished & maintained would be moved to the Reception area until they were required on the new site.
So, that was that. Nothing further has been heard which doesn't surprise me of course although TK assured us that we would be consulted before the re-siting was carried out. That was before I became persona non grata.....
However, one of the Academy staff we used to talk to on our visits spoke to me after the last home match of the season in May as we were leaving the West Lower where we'd bought tickets for the protest. He said it was a shame that we couldn't continue our volunteer work at SL at the moment as he'd looked forward to our chats. I told him we'd been unable to assist in the removal of the plants and that we hoped to be involved again some time in the future....He then stated that the plants were still on site ! Unfortunately, we had to move on then so I was unable to seek more information.
Under normal circumstances, we would have investigated this further or indeed sought to be kept in the loop after last March but I knew that any questions posed about the future of the Garden would likely be considered unimportant under the current SMT/CEO. Maybe this is the time to seek some clarification of the situation.....
...but then again, maybe not.
Fingers crossed that the new owner/s will be more appreciative of our club's history and indeed of this apt memorial to the 17 year old youth player who tragically lost his life over 15 years ago.
This is a perfect example of how everything that is so important about 'being Charlton' means absolutely nothing to this mob who are pretending to run the Club.
If there is anything left in the fighting fund once these philistines have left us, I cannot think of a more fitting way for it to be used, than on the memorial garden.
Let's wait & see what happens with the rebuild under new owners.
That confirms what we were told then.
Wonder why the removal of plants wasn't carried out after all ....