£2million bus shelter has leaky roof (From Gazette)

Barton's Folly. Welcome to Colchester.

That's what you get for using contractors with street lamps for heads

Oh come on, you´re being harsh. How could they possibly have foreseen that there might be some rain? In Britain. In December. Who are the cowboys who actually built this? I hope the contract signed with them is sufficiently good that we´re not paying them for this repair work. No point asking the council, transparency is an unknown word in this town.

THE BUS shelter, in Osborne Street, is being repaired after rain caused the roof to leak.

Like it!!!

Suppose it doesn't leak when it's not raining!

Some people have moaning down to a fine art. It works like this - you build something, when it rains you find out if it leaks or not, then if it does you repair it. No doubt it needs a few holes in the roof to let the hot air out of the minority moaners.

There is a mistake in the headline.

It should read -

'£3.4 million bus shelter has leaky roof'.

These are not the only repairs that have been carried out since the micro terminal opened, and they won't be the last.

You might think there is virtually nothing to repair as there is **** all there, but contactors are on site every week fixing this and mending that.

Another ******* fiasco!

Reginald47 wrote:
Some people have moaning down to a fine art. It works like this - you build something, when it rains you find out if it leaks or not, then if it does you repair it. No doubt it needs a few holes in the roof to let the hot air out of the minority moaners.

So if I came and built your house and on the first rainy night, rain was dripping onto your head, you´d say "That´s OK, how were you to know"?. If I had spent 2 million quid on something, I´m not sure I would be quite as phlegmatic about it!

Reginald47 wrote:
Some people have moaning down to a fine art. It works like this - you build something, when it rains you find out if it leaks or not, then if it does you repair it. No doubt it needs a few holes in the roof to let the hot air out of the minority moaners.

Wow, great logic!

Shall we now apply the same logic to say ... a boat? ... a plane?

Shoddy building, plain and simple.

Who was the clerk of works who passed this?

Oh yes ... ever since Thatcher, we no longer have these in local authorities.

Where does Colchester keep finding these poor quality contractors?

As for minority moaners, on what basis do you call them a minority? I don't hear many (outside the Council fold) lavishing praise on this project.

Where is this 'silent majority?'

The contractors were still working on site ONE HOUR before the 'Bus Shelter Facility' was due to open.

Short cuts were being taken and work was being rushed ( contractors said as much ) to get the thing finished.

It was like a scene from reality TV.

CBC put out the word ( from a portacabin in the old bus park ) that everything was going well and to schedule.

This was not so.

There could not have been checks made on the standard of the work as everything had over-run and there was no time left on the clock.

This is why we are learning of leaky roofs and there are more issues that will come to light in the next few weeks.

What a carry on !

Same old colchester. The locals love to have a moan.

So the roof leaked??? Big deal. I am sure it will get repaired as part of the remedial snagging.

I am a plumber, and one of the jobs that every firm has is a quality control engineer, and their job is to find any faults, report them and get them repaired.

Welcome to the real world to all of the moaners.

super waluigi wrote:
Same old colchester. The locals love to have a moan.

So the roof leaked??? Big deal. I am sure it will get repaired as part of the remedial snagging.

I am a plumber, and one of the jobs that every firm has is a quality control engineer, and their job is to find any faults, report them and get them repaired.

Welcome to the real world to all of the moaners.

Typical modern contractor mentality.

Do a sh*t job, expect to get paid a premium for timely completion and then say stop moaning when it goes wrong.

A pity the engineer didn't supervise work in progress more thoroughly.

By the way, around 25 years ago I worked (as a foreman for a private contractor) under a number of the 'old' clerks of works, which many councils still employed as part of their client services after CCT. This was across North London and the Home Counties.

They all had their own ways but shared one thing in common. They let nothing go; it all had to be done to a standard and work was still completed on time.

Self regulation (as widely practised by contractors today) is too lax and commonly results in snagging lists a mile long.

Of course what you describe whilst it is perhaps the modern 'reality,' still stinks.

Big deal? at over 3 million quid I would want a F**king roof that didn't leak! The council should be going ballistic about this.

If people don't moan then nothing changes ... except for the worse!

sandgronun64 wrote:

super waluigi wrote:
Same old colchester. The locals love to have a moan.

So the roof leaked??? Big deal. I am sure it will get repaired as part of the remedial snagging.

I am a plumber, and one of the jobs that every firm has is a quality control engineer, and their job is to find any faults, report them and get them repaired.

Welcome to the real world to all of the moaners.

Typical modern contractor mentality.

Do a sh*t job, expect to get paid a premium for timely completion and then say stop moaning when it goes wrong.

A pity the engineer didn't supervise work in progress more thoroughly.

By the way, around 25 years ago I worked (as a foreman for a private contractor) under a number of the 'old' clerks of works, which many councils still employed as part of their client services after CCT. This was across North London and the Home Counties.

They all had their own ways but shared one thing in common. They let nothing go; it all had to be done to a standard and work was still completed on time.

Self regulation (as widely practised by contractors today) is too lax and commonly results in snagging lists a mile long.

Of course what you describe whilst it is perhaps the modern 'reality,' still stinks.

Big deal? at over 3 million quid I would want a F**king roof that didn't leak! The council should be going ballistic about this.

If people don't moan then nothing changes ... except for the worse!

Of course nobody at the council is going ballistic, because none of them use the buses. And they rely on the 6% minority such as Reginald to dismiss us the 94% as being "moaners".
As sandgronun says, there are for practical purposes no standards any more, and that is why out-of-touch people like Reginald witter away accusing the rest of us of being mere moaners.

Lets have a challenge that ALL councillors (except those in wheelchairs) MUST TRAVEL ON THE BUSES FOR 1 MONTH and forgo their cars. That way they will find out how difficult and time-consuming it is to get round and into Colchester on public transport. And they can wait at the 'bus station' bus stops in winter! Make it January 2013. How safe will you feel in the dark? If it is good enough for the public it is good enough for the Councillors.

The silent majority, folks, is the 150,000 or so residents of Colchester who never or rarely get on a bus and couldn't care less where the bus station is or even whether there's one at all. Bus users are jolly fine people - and I use them myself probably not as often as I should - but they are a minority and their tail shouldn't wag the dog.

£3.4m bodge job.

Feisty CBC wrote:
£3.4m bodge job.

Less than £200,000 to complete that type of project where has the rest of the money gone

They Should have bought the bingo hall and used that as a shelter and still had change from £2m

A rather purile article..and, I think, a bit of mischief making by James Cox and the gang at the 'Gazette's editorial office.

The're probibly laughing their heads off, knowing they are pulling the chains of the usual hysterical element on here who, 'so predictably' swallow the bait every time.

Colchester's new bus station has had repairs to it's roof, Well Golly Gee,
Hells Bells, Big Deal....Lets all hate CBC.....

sandgronun64 wrote:

super waluigi wrote:
Same old colchester. The locals love to have a moan.

So the roof leaked??? Big deal. I am sure it will get repaired as part of the remedial snagging.

I am a plumber, and one of the jobs that every firm has is a quality control engineer, and their job is to find any faults, report them and get them repaired.

Welcome to the real world to all of the moaners.

Typical modern contractor mentality.

Do a sh*t job, expect to get paid a premium for timely completion and then say stop moaning when it goes wrong.

A pity the engineer didn't supervise work in progress more thoroughly.

By the way, around 25 years ago I worked (as a foreman for a private contractor) under a number of the 'old' clerks of works, which many councils still employed as part of their client services after CCT. This was across North London and the Home Counties.

They all had their own ways but shared one thing in common. They let nothing go; it all had to be done to a standard and work was still completed on time.

Self regulation (as widely practised by contractors today) is too lax and commonly results in snagging lists a mile long.

Of course what you describe whilst it is perhaps the modern 'reality,' still stinks.

Big deal? at over 3 million quid I would want a F**king roof that didn't leak! The council should be going ballistic about this.

If people don't moan then nothing changes ... except for the worse!

So lets get this straight.

Firstly, you say 'typical contractor mentality' which is offensive to all of the other contractors who work hard, not only on this project, but others around the town, county, country, world. Nothing like generalisation is there?

Secondly, could this leak not be a simple case of human error?

Thirdly, I am not sure of your point regarding the Forman work that you have done, but I can reassure you that the modern method of snagging works, hence a leaky roof has been found.

Fourth up, big deal? We don't know to what extent the roof is leaking do we? What if it us a simple fix? What if it costs nothing to repair as part of the install?

Seems like another case of small minded people, in a small town, with nothing real to moan about other than a leak!!!!! Get a real problem!!!! I have.

Urgh! another boring story!!

Feisty CBC wrote:
£3.4m bodge job.

Where does the 3.4m figure come from?

I have seen the future.
£2 Million pound bus shelter is vandalised by drunk yobs.
Story to come.

No relations to the builders that did VAF then?
Was there not a leak problem there too?
This site post should have 2300 letters not 23:
No one cares anyway they flomp money away like it grows on trees, no one cares anymore.
Every £ wasted in our society is a £ that could go to the starving, those that dont have water to drink, those that have no life.
All this waste gets on my nerves and is immoral totally repugnant.
Why are we not protesting because no one cares?
Council grey suits just carry on lapping it up day after day in the worst recession in history since the 30's no one cares.
You read crap like this in the local chip paper, no one cares.
If you care then collectively do something about it.
Those who can do, those who cant talk
Do er or Talker what are we?
No One Cares anymore?

jut1972 wrote:

Feisty CBC wrote:
£3.4m bodge job.

Where does the 3.4m figure come from?

The council refused to reveal the details of the expenditue on the glorified bus stop and £3.4m is thought to be nearer the true cost. Anyway it's been fixed now. Well at least the crime scene tape has been removed.
The burger bar opposite was doing a roaring trade there yesterday.

super waluigi wrote:
Same old colchester. The locals love to have a moan.

So the roof leaked??? Big deal. I am sure it will get repaired as part of the remedial snagging.

I am a plumber, and one of the jobs that every firm has is a quality control engineer, and their job is to find any faults, report them and get them repaired.

Welcome to the real world to all of the moaners.

So you´re OK with the fact that 2 million (and perhaps more, we don´t really know) is spent on something which then leaks within a month of completion? If you, as a plumber, came to my house to do some work and it leaked that quickly, I would not be happy about it!

As others have said, the problem is simply that the job was rushed at the end. The council had set a deadline when it had to be finished, and rather than allowing an extra few days for the job to be done properly, signed it off as being done. People should be not just moaning about this, they should be up in arms about it!

Your attitude of blithe acceptance is astonishing to me. Please do let us know the name of your plumbing company so I can avoid it like the plague!

Never the less romantic, what super waluigi has written is essentially true. It would be absolutely astonishing if any building project was completed without the need for snagging. This is not a modern phenomena either, it has been true of building and engineering projects for centuries.

romantic wrote:

super waluigi wrote:
Same old colchester. The locals love to have a moan.

So the roof leaked??? Big deal. I am sure it will get repaired as part of the remedial snagging.

I am a plumber, and one of the jobs that every firm has is a quality control engineer, and their job is to find any faults, report them and get them repaired.

Welcome to the real world to all of the moaners.

So you´re OK with the fact that 2 million (and perhaps more, we don´t really know) is spent on something which then leaks within a month of completion? If you, as a plumber, came to my house to do some work and it leaked that quickly, I would not be happy about it!

As others have said, the problem is simply that the job was rushed at the end. The council had set a deadline when it had to be finished, and rather than allowing an extra few days for the job to be done properly, signed it off as being done. People should be not just moaning about this, they should be up in arms about it!

Your attitude of blithe acceptance is astonishing to me. Please do let us know the name of your plumbing company so I can avoid it like the plague!

Oddly enough, you are the exact type of moaner that I speak of. So do you know for sure that it cost more than £2 million???? Or are you speculating??? Do you know for sure that it was rushed to finish??? Or are you speculating???? All you are doing is adding more fuel to a fire that should not be burning.

As I have said before, we don't know how big or small this leak is/was or if it has any price/costs attached, so rather than getting upset about something so small that has no relevance to anything, get a life instead.

Oh, and yes, my plumbing firm has leaks too. Not always, but yes, we are human. Well done to you for living a life where you are perfect and don't make mistakes rushed or otherwise.

Feisty CBC wrote:

jut1972 wrote:

Feisty CBC wrote:
£3.4m bodge job.

Where does the 3.4m figure come from?

The council refused to reveal the details of the expenditue on the glorified bus stop and £3.4m is thought to be nearer the true cost. Anyway it's been fixed now. Well at least the crime scene tape has been removed.
The burger bar opposite was doing a roaring trade there yesterday.

Just plucked out of thin air by the moaners

I do hope any Council overspend on Barton's Folly doesn't impact its ability to carry on bankrolling the arts elite at Firsts*ite and 15 Queen Street. Crayons don't come for free and that red bus costs a bit to upkeep.

I think I have found the connection it's water leaks, plumbers and being over charged for bad workmanship.

£2m for that - someone saw us coming....

TheCaptain wrote:

Feisty CBC wrote:

jut1972 wrote:

Feisty CBC wrote:
£3.4m bodge job.

Where does the 3.4m figure come from?

The council refused to reveal the details of the expenditue on the glorified bus stop and £3.4m is thought to be nearer the true cost. Anyway it's been fixed now. Well at least the crime scene tape has been removed.
The burger bar opposite was doing a roaring trade there yesterday.

Just plucked out of thin air by the moaners

Just goes to show 28m on the VAF was a bargain.

Feisty you write some of the best stuff on here but inventing figures or just repeating some unnamed source spouting rubbish just feeds the trolls who like to bash everything in Colchester.

jut1972 wrote:

TheCaptain wrote:

Feisty CBC wrote:

jut1972 wrote:

Feisty CBC wrote:
£3.4m bodge job.

Where does the 3.4m figure come from?

The council refused to reveal the details of the expenditue on the glorified bus stop and £3.4m is thought to be nearer the true cost. Anyway it's been fixed now. Well at least the crime scene tape has been removed.
The burger bar opposite was doing a roaring trade there yesterday.

Just plucked out of thin air by the moaners

Just goes to show 28m on the VAF was a bargain.

Feisty you write some of the best stuff on here but inventing figures or just repeating some unnamed source spouting rubbish just feeds the trolls who like to bash everything in Colchester.

I think the £3.4m was first mentioned in the Gazette. Certainly more than £2m being banded about.
Feed the trolls, it's Christmas!