Water tower gets robo-clean

First Water Tower Robot Clean for Panton McLeod

29th June 2011

Water quality engineering firm Panton McLeod has completed another first in its work within the UK’s water sector after cleaning a storage tower with robotic technology.

The firm used its VR600 cleaning robot to clean the interior of a water tower in Wiltshire for Wessex Water while it was still active and in service, ensuring minimal disruption for customers in the region.

The project at Minety Tower near Wootton Basset represented the first time that Panton McLeod has ever used the innovative machine to clean an elevated water storage structure in the UK.

In order to access the facility, the firm had to hire a crane in order to lift the robot to the top of the 35 meters high tower before disinfecting the machine and lowering it into the structure.

A team of operators then manoeuvred the remotely-controlled machine throughout the interior of the structure – in order to remove any build up of natural materials on the floor of the facility. The routine work ensures that the drinking water stored in the tower remains at the highest quality levels.

Paul Henderson, operations director at Panton McLeod, said: “We regularly use the VR600 machine for cleaning service reservoirs and storage tanks across the UK. In recent years, the machine has been a vital part of our work for some of the biggest companies in the water sector, including Scottish Water and Severn Trent Water.

“However, before the project at Minety Tower, we had never used the robot to clean a water tower. It represented a big challenge for our underwater team, but we were able to use our expertise to ensure that the project was a success.

“The most challenging aspect was lifting the robot to the top of the 35 metres tall tower in the first place, so we could insert it into the facility and start the cleaning process. We had to hire a special 55 tonne crane to hoist it to the top, but once this was complete, the rest of the project was fairly straight forward.

“We’re delighted with how smoothly the whole cleaning process was carried out, and proud of our team who ensured that this challenging job was completed swiftly. We’re always happy when we identify new ways to deploy our technology, and we hope that this project will lead to more water tower cleans in the future.”

The VR600 is a special tracked robot that is manoeuvred along the floor of any water storage structure and removes any sediment build up on the floor of the structure. It can also be used to inspect the condition of the water tanks, including checking the walls and interior of the facilities for corrosion or damage.

Panton McLeod also uses a specialist ROV inspection robot which is manoeuvred like a submarine through the water in a service reservoir and is able to inspect the walls of the tank, joints, and the roof soffit for damage or leakage.

Both machines are remotely operated from the surface and fitted with cameras and lighting equipment, allowing staff controlling the sub to assess the interior of the tanks. They are also used solely within clean potable water environments and meticulously cleaned and disinfected prior to every use to ensure they can be safely used in the public water supply, and Panton McLeod conducts rigorous tests before and after each inspection.

More information about the machines and Panton McLeod’s other services for the UK water sector can be found at their website

--


You can see the VR600 in action on YouTube


Water tower tanks are traditionally cleaned and serviced by taking them offline, draining them and then sending workers into the tank via the access hatches to sweep and flush the built-up sediment down the overflow/waste line by hand. Sometimes a small rowboat was lowered inside for inspections. We suppose the health and safety regulations now make the cost of cranes to lift robot vacuums (basically high-tech pool cleaners) into the tank a cheaper option.

Calling water tower owners: photography student willing to trade images for access

Colin Baird is in his final year of a degree in professional photography at Gloucester University.


For his final year exhibition project he is concentrating on water towers in the UK. As a major part of this he would like to photograph the interiors as well as exteriors of towers that have been converted into living or office spaces. 


In return, he can offer his images which will taken on a large format film camera.


If you are able to assist him directly or give him any leads, please contact him on 07553 408253 or 01666 860703 or email colinbaird [at] btinternet.com 


This is a tower at Rodbourne, near Malmesbury, Wiltshire close to where Colin lives. Located at ST 93212 83368, it was built in 1957. If you have any additional info about the tower please leave a comment. 

e-book on Dorset water towers

Photographer Rich Meston has contacted BWTAS to tell us about his free e-Book 'Tower' a photographic study of what else, a local water tower. He writes:

This is a collection of sunrise shots from my office window, all of which feature the Water Tower at Tower Park in Poole, Dorset (in one way or another). There’s technical details for each of the shots, and a few hints and tips throughout. Let me know what you think.
Rich would like to enlist BWTAS brains trust for any information on one tower at Calluna Road, Poole.

Rich says: it's an interesting and very dominant structure on the horizon, and I lived in the area when it was built in the late 1980's. I had a bit of a search around, but couldn't find any information out and wondered if you knew of any other places to look. I'm primarily interested in the obvious details - when it was built, how tall, what capacity, what it's used for etc.

You can contact Rich Meston at rich@reikan.co.uk

Whose Horton's hearings?

The fate of an abandoned circa 1912-24 water tower at the former Horton Asylum in Epsom remains in doubt after a meeting of the local council's planning committee on 6th December 2009. The committee voted to recommend rejection of the London and Quadrant Housing Trust's proposal to redevelop the tower as the lift shaft for a new-build thirteen story block of flats.

download the plans

The housing trust's proposal also provided four two-bedroom apartments next to the existing tower, which would be repaired and refurbished.

According to the application: The water tower is constructed of yellow gault brick. It measures a maximum of 7.3m by 9.9m in plan and is 39m high.

The proposal is to insert floors into the main and largest shaft in the building and in a former flue shaft, to add a stair/lift core to one side of the tower and erect a four storey extension in order to provide four two-bed maisonettes.

The two lowest maisonettes would have two storeys each on the lower four floors and the two above would occupy four storeys each of the remaining eight storeys.

The existing spiral stair, which is to be blocked off between dwellings, would provide the internal link between the various floors of a dwelling. The new staircase is to be the fire escape and also leads to the dwelling entrances. The lift would be a ‘fire fighting’ type.

The applicants state the proposed lift and staircase is required because of the need for access and escape in the case of a fire.

The four storey extension at the base of the tower is shown with a flat roof a maximum of 11.8m high.

Externally, the existing tower windows are adjusted and enlarged and additional windows are provided to each new residential floor. The rotten pitched roof it removed to form a roof terrace and a small flat roofed conservatory directly accessed from the existing spiral staircase. The existing brick work will be cleared and the tower will receive a rendered plinth for two storeys to disguise previous workshop abatements.

The new lift and stair shaft would have a steel structure clad in a self coloured rendered finish.

Six parking spaces would be provided with vehicular access from a road in the adjoining open market housing under construction.

Top image lifted from Jason Rogers Flickr page.



The reasons given for refusal are the effect on adjacent dwellings and the effect on the appearance of the existing tower. Horton water tower is not listed but it is supposed to be retained because of its character and townscape importance.

The actual decision to refuse or to permit will be taken in public by the councillors on the Planning Committee later.

But the councils actions have angered local residents who are urging the council either to demolish or preserve the water tower, if the application is turned down by the Planning Committee.

According to the Epsom Guardian: Kate Battrick (a prominent stylist) who lives behind the tower, said: “They have to either demolish it or put on a proper preservation order and take responsibility for it. They can’t leave it like this. While we welcome the findings in the report, it does not address that Epsom Council has failed the residents in Livingstone Park, showing a lack of care and responsibility.”

More info on Horton Asylum can be found on websites detailing the history of the cluster of asylums in Epsom and Ewell: History of the Epsom Hospitals and history of County Asylums.

According to the Liberal Democrat held council website:

When Horton Chapel and Horton Water Tower were saved from demolition during the building of the Livingstone Park estate in Epsom, local residents were consulted about its future. That first meeting was held five years ago!

For a variety of reasons, there has been little progress since then and most recently regeneration of both buildings appears to have succumbed to the economic downturn.



Meanwhile the nearby Grade II listed St. Ebbas water tower (left) with its integral chimney is being converted to become a power station for a similar asylum redevelopment where its planning persmission requires 20% of the site's energy to be from renewable sources. In this instance that could be from a woodchip burner.

You can follow this all too familiar sounding planning saga from here: Public Meeting on Horton Chapel and Water Tower

BWTAS would be grateful for updates from anyone informed on the situation.

L'Auberge Hotel in Punta del Este, Uruguay

"More than five decades old, the famous water tower of L'Auberge rises, majestic, amidst the tall pines, and is a silent witness of the evolution of the hotel, the tea room and all the Parque del Golf neighborhood..." so says the website of this first class hotel in Punta del Este, Uruguay.

When BWTAS saw these photos, the inspiration from the great houses and estates of Britain was obvious. This place is reminiscent of Surrey but with better beaches and weather and fewer frightfully, awfully, awfully types.

You can view some panoramic images from the top of the tower which is open to the public. There are rooms in the tower as well as suites and chalets in the grounds. Many tourist guides say that the afternoon tea at the hotel is a national institution. 

Even more interesting perhaps is the architect behind the tower who is recognised in his own country but not in the English speaking world. The water tower was designed in 1947 to be the focus of a resort development for the wealthy by Arturo J. Dubourg [1912- 2003], who must have been a swell guy, notching up over 300 major projects to his credit as well as being a tennis champion and a successful racing driver for Grey Rock, the name of one of his houses and a Peugeot car dealership. There are copious references to his work on the web in Spanish covering condominums, houses, hotels, offices and stores.

South American friends tell BWTAS that Uruguay is a bargain holiday destination for Argentinians and Brazilians so a visit to this tower may be within the reach of visitors from Great Britain. Another popular destination in Punta del Este is the hotel-sculpture Casapueblo. If you go there, please let us know.

House in the Clouds treading the boards this summer

BWTAS hears that the iconic water tower, Suffolk's very own House in the Clouds is to feature in the 63rd Aldeburgh Festival  running from June 11 to June 27, 2010.

A recreation of the 'house' part of the water tower cum folly will be combined with film projections to become an installation in Thorpeness as part of The Way to the Sea, an homage to Benjamin Britten and WH Auden's On this Island. The sets are being designed by architect and theatre designer Pippa Nissen who earlier designed the festival opera: Elephant and Castle.

The tower is also set to make an appearence to American audiences soon. BWTAS member Nat Bocking has recently supplied the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art images of the House in the Clouds and the Freston tower for its forthcoming exhibition Folly: The View from Nowhere comprising of hundreds of architectural follies from around the world. The exhibition is being curated by Los Angeles architects Escher Gunewardena and will run at the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles from December 6, 2009 to February 29, 2010.

UPDATE 24/6/10

Here is the Guardian review of the work at the Aldeburgh Festival
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/jun/24/the-way-to-the-sea-review

Hyperboloid tower along the Silk Road

BWTAS member Clare Johnson has passed along her correspondence with her acquaintance Mark Stevenson of Crouch End.

Hearing of Clare's interest in water towers, Mark sent these images of a hyperboloid steel lattice water tower he encountered in the ancient city of Bukhara in Uzbekistan.

Mark was on a month long trip along the ancient Silk Road timed to  coincide with the solar eclipse in Shanghai in July earlier this year.  As far as he knows, the water tower was built by the Russians in 1927.

Leave it to the indomitable Ferrers, the Pie Master, to do some digging and he will locate it at 39.777891ºN 64.408638ºE and discover that you can climb it.

According to Lonely Planet, for a few pence given to whichever local is guarding the gate that day, you can climb the rickety and rusting stairs and gain fantastic views of the city, especially the ancient fortified palace of the The Ark.


Digging further, Ferrers found an image from 1963 taken by traveller Galen Fry Singer which show pretty conclusively that the original tank has been removed and this tower was converted into a viewing platform. The later Islamic detailing of the window arches in the conversion are a nod to the history and culture of this ancient city.

What is fascinating is that this hyperboloid structure is a Russian invention and the first was designed by engineer V.G. Shukhov in 1896.

The world's first hyperboloid tower was another water tower and this is now in desperate need of preservation today. There is a foundation dedicated to the many works of this remarkable engineer.

1896 tower for All-Russia Exhibition at
Nizhniy Novgorod, capacity 114,000 gallons

Later moved to Polibino and preserved

It isn't the first time that the challenges of water storage have inspired huge breakthroughs in engineering, reinforced concrete being another.

And wrapping these two things up together nicely, in Trent Park, Cockfosters, England, we have a reinforced concrete hyperboloid water tower designed by Edmund Percey and Chief Engineer J M Milne for Severn Trent water.

The hyperboloid structure is probably best known for creating the shape of cooling towers in power stations. The amazing illusion of this geometry is that the members of these structures remain straight and do not curve, but at Cockfosters, twist 120 degrees around their axis.

There are many water towers, bridges and other structures using this technique. Put the term into google and see what else you will find!

I wonder if Winchells or Krispy Kreme doughnuts know of this amazing tower in Ciechanow, Poland. A toroid tank on a hyperboloid lattice. Try saying that with a mouthful of crackers!

Balkerne Tower Trust publishes their appraisal of the options for 'Jumbo'.

Balkerne Tower Trust, a registered charity, has announced the completion of an options appraisal for public use of Colchester's 'Jumbo' water tower conducted by Purcell Miller Tritton.

This report was originally commissioned over a year ago. Entirely by coincidence, Jumbo's owner, George Braithwaite, has meantime applied for planning permission to convert Jumbo into flats, a restaurant and office space. Those plans have been criticised by Colchester MP Bob Russell.

Full details of the trust's public access plan to this historic building can now be found on their new website.

On the website you can also watch a video and read thier manifesto, the complete options appraisal (as well as a brief summary), the latest news about Jumbo as it unfolds and much more.

Brian Light, chairman of the Balkerne Tower Trust, also asks the public to object to the current planning application and support their public access plan for the sake of Colchester's heritage, residents, visitors and tourism.

Huddersfield L&YR Tower regeneration

BWTAS member David Blackburn tells us that this rather unlovely Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway water tower has managed to survive the many changes to the railways over the years and now looks set to become a community and heritage regeneration project.

It stands close to end of the platform at the busy Huddersfield Station and still has its 'plumbing' intact and visible. This large tank was needed to refill tenders before engines faced the steep climb over (and through) the Pennine hills to Manchester.

It is now earmarked to become the base for the Association of Community Rail Partnerships. EU funding has been awarded and details are being finalised with the aim of starting work before the end of 2009 to convert it to an energy efficient office building.

An unusual feature is that the rear wall of the tower is at least twice the height at the back compared to the front, with an entrance from one of the main streets in the town.

It's good to know that another tower appears to have a long term future. This also help ACoRP be more financially secure by lowering their property outgoings and it will make their offices more accessible by public transport.

A local estate agent's website tells us that "Huddersfield was once a mill town. It has a large amount of Victorian architecture having the highest number of listed buildings than any other city or town in the country.

Huddersfield Railway Station is a lovely old building with colonnades. It has been described as a stately home with trains in it. Outside the station is a statue of Huddersfield born former Prime Minister, Harold Wilson."

picture by David Blackburn

Cammo Tower

Thanks to Stuart Goudie for contacting BWTAS about the Cammo Estate water tower near Edinburgh. The abandoned estate and its ruined 17th Century buildings are popular with walkers and a source of inspiration for many photographers, including a lovely atmospheric image by Chris Brown.

Stuart tells us he has heard there are plans to develop the area around the estate. He doesn't know of anything about the later 19th Century tower and wondered if BWTAS can help.

There isn't any mention of this tower in Barry Barton's book (although its listings focus on the public supply) and the tower is often described as a folly although it was fully functional. It housed a lead lined wooden tank and there is photographic evidence that a windmill adorned the top that drove the pumps to supply Cammo House. One source puts the date of the tower at 1871 but this may be based on the stables nearby built by one of the estate's later owners James Watson.

Scotland's historic register doesn't give a build date but says:

Early 19th century. Circular water tower. 4 stages; string course demarcates each stage; crenallated crown. 4 blocked openings to each stage; ground floor opening to SW doorway.

The water tower supplied water to the main house. It was powered by wind and an early photo shows the tower with its sails (NMRS ED/5576/3). Along with its practical function it is likely that the Water Tower also served an aesthetic purpose: it closes the vista along the path past the stables. The water tower was part of an extensive building project undertaken by James Watson during the early 19th century. He also built the stables to the N of the tower and made alterations to the main house including the addition of a rear wing and a crenellated parapet.

References:

J Gifford, C McWilliam & D Walker THE BUILDINGS OF SCOTLAND. EDINBURGH (1984), p589-590; D Gray THE EVOLUTION OF POLICY AND PLEASURE GROUND WITH REFERENCE TO THE CAMMO ESTATE, 1993 Dissertation held at NMRS.

The anonymous blogger "Kaska" on Qype says:

I’ve met very few people that are aware of the odd tale of Edinburgh’s Cammo Estate. Cammo House existed for hundreds of years until its almost complete destruction in 1975.

Creative writers and filmmakers out there will be inspired by Cammo. It requires imagination, because fragments are all that remain of a formerly glamorous country mansion. Aside from all the history though, you can simply enjoy a walk in the fresh air. There are some lovely trees (including Edinburgh’s oldest Ash Tree) and everywhere you go you’ll discover intriguing features, such as the former horse stables, a walled garden and a water tower built in the style of a folly.

Getting to Cammo is fairly straightforward; Take a bus from the West End of Princess Street along Queensferry Road. Get off at Barnton Junction, carry along Queensferry Road and turn left into Cammo Road. The road leads to a path that takes you into the estate.

Cammo House was built by John Menzies in 1693. Each subsequent owner made additions, such as the re-designed grounds and the water canal outside the remains of the house (possibly designed by Robert Adams).

Cammo is now almost completely reclaimed by nature. An organisation called the Friends of Cammo would like to see the estate restored to its former glory, architects and city planners are still debating its future.

It would be good to know what plans there are for the area around the estate. Edinburgh's urban suburbs have slowly encroached the original park but it is a wonderful amenity for them. A planning application for a block of flats adjacent to the park was rejected in 2003 but developers tend to be persistent. Maybe there's a new one afoot?

Contact details

Countryside Ranger Service (Hermitage)

Hermitage of Braid
Edinburgh

EH10 6JF

Telephone: 0131 447 7145

Fax: 0131 447 9441

E-mail: countrysiderangers@edinburgh.gov.uk

Opening Hours: Monday to Friday: 9.00am - 5.00pm.

Stuart's travels recently took him to Mannhiem Germany where he also admired the water tower there.

Tower Brewery, Burton

Tower Brewery 1875

Once the water tower for Walsitch Maltings, who supplied malt to the Tomas Salt Brewery, once the second largest brewery in Burton. Abandoned for a number of years, the tower’s broken window in the uppermost floor became a refuge for pigeons. Thus, owner John Mills’ first job was removing several feet of droppings by shoveling it into bags and lowering them down three stories by crane. Happily, the brewery is now pigeon-free, and only the aroma of beer fills the air. Mills brews five regular beers, four rotating seasonals and a number of one-off beers whenever the mood hits him. Try Tower Pale Ale, a golden amber with a small, tight white head. A fruity, tangy nose with baked bread notes introduces a swallow that’s initially malty but fruity, balanced by a citrusy hop character and a short, dry finish. Text from Draftmag

The conversion was awarded a Civic Society Historical Industrial Building restoration plaque which is on the wall outside.

Tower Brewery
The Old Water Tower
Walsitch Maltings
Glensyl Way
Burton Upon Trent
DE14 1LX
Phone 01283 530695
Fax 01283 530695
e-mail towerbrewery@aol.com

Carshalton Water Tower joins BWTAS

The Carshalton water tower is one of the finest estate towers in existence and thankfully one of the most accessible. The water tower constructed 1719 is unique in that it contains a suite of rooms that serve a range of domestic functions. There is a deep plunge bath with exquisite tiling, a formal saloon and a beautifully proportioned orangery. The remains of a water wheel can be seen in the pump chamber that lifted water into the cistern crowning the tower. It could be considered the equal of Houghton Hall, a 1732 example in Norfolk that supplied the home of Sir Robert Walpole.

The Carshalton Water Tower, Hermitage and Historic Gardens in Surrey are managed by a voluntary charitable trust who would be very grateful to hear from anyone willing to volunteer some time. The tower and gardens can be hired for a wide range of purposes including filming.

BWTAS are pleased to announce that the Friends of Carshalton Water Tower have been granted associate membership of BWTAS.

In practical terms this mean BWTAS will notify the Friends of Carshalton Water Tower of our events and activities before they go public, along with the regular members of BWTAS.

For information about the tower, visit their website or contact the secretary

Julia Gertz
136 West Street,
Carshalton
Surrey SM5 2NR

Telephone: 0208 647 0984

Amersham Water Tower Visit

BWTAS have organised a visit to the converted water tower at Amersham, Buckinghamshire that was featured on Channel 4's Grand Designs

The tour takes place on Saturday, October 3rd 2009.

There are only 3 places left and numbers have to be strictly limited to a maximum of 12 people.

Places and further details will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis with priority for BWTAS members.

Please contact Wil Harvey on 01502 478248 or harveys at care4free.net (for spam prevention, please replace _at_ with @)

Southwold Old Water Tower Open Day

Southwold's historic old water tower is occupied by the holiday lettings agency Suffolk Secrets who have announced they are holding an open day on Sunday 30th August 2009 between 11 AM and 3 PM to show off their new extension to the tower. BWTAS members will be warmly welcomed. There will be some light refreshments and an opportunity to meet their staff and see how the new building preserves the beauty of the surrounding common and the 1890 tower. Opportunities to visit water towers are few and far between and so we expect a good turn out to this event. Local members of BWTAS will certainly be dropping by.

Glimpse of a Gilded Age

Washington Post - United States

Once home to a rebel of the du Pont family,
Nemours Mansion and Gardens in Wilmington,
Delaware has reopened after a three-year
renovation including this 8o foot water tower.

Click Here for Slide Show

Going for a Burton

A disused concrete water tower at Burton Green in Warwickshire is for sale as freehold by auction on July 1, 2009

If you fancy bidding on this one-of-a-kind property contact mat.harris@kingsturge.com or jason.birch@kingsturge.com.

Details from Coventry Telegraph

Water tower for sale

Severn Trent Water is disposing of 420 properties over the next 18 months including a water tower next to Manor Cottage in Pebworth, Worcestershire at an auction on July 1 in London.

Selling agent Jason Birch from Kings Sturge Savills (Nottingham), expects the land to go for around £20,000 to £25,000.

He said: “It is big enough for a detached house to go on, but that depends on planning permission.”

BWTAS are waiting for more details and will put them here when we have them.

Source: http://tinyurl.com/l3wcm8

Savills
9 Fletcher Gate
Nottingham
NG1 1QQ
Tel: +44 (0)115 934 8000
Fax: +44 (0)115 934 8001/002
Email: nottingham@savills.com

Foredown Tower Centenary Open Day

If you've been to the Sussex Downs, you may have seen the Foredown Tower Countryside Centre which is England's only water tower-based Camera Obscura. The water tower is 100 years old this year and on August 15th, 2009 it will be open free to the public to celebrate.

Camera Obscura are popular vistor attractions and redundant water towers are ideal for conversion into them. This is one idea BWTAS suggests to tower owners looking to repurpose theirs commercially. Many of our members consider Colchester's 'Jumbo' would be ideal for this but that's another story.

Hove Civic Society website informs us the tower was built in 1909 by J. Parsons & Sons with a 27,500 gallon tank made by Every’s of Lewes. The immense weight of the water and tank was supported by brick walls which are up to 33 inches thick in places. The original ballcock and water depth gauge have been preserved along with lots of the massive pipes that served the tower nearly one hundred years ago. After financial help from Brighton-based American Express and much deliberating, the tower opened in 1991 as the home of one of England’s few operational camera obscuras. Windows and a pitched roof were added above the tank to facilitate the camera which is built into a tower at the very top. It projects a television-like image onto a dish at floor level and can be pointed in any direction from the sea to Worthing to the Devil’s Dyke to Eastbourne.

Simon's Town mystery tanks

David Erickson lives in Simon’s Town, the former British Naval Port on the Cape Peninsula in South Africa.

He has written to BWTAS looking for information about some local water tanks (we'll overlook that these aren't actually water towers as they are quite relevant, Ed.):

"There is a huge amount of fascinating infrastructure here, much of it dating back to Victorian times and earlier. As a Committee Member of the Simon’s Town Historical Society I have a number of research projects on the go. One of these concerns two octagonal water tanks, which may be early versions of the Braithwaite design. However, these are not pressed steel; they are cast iron panels with no internal stiffening. The panels are held together by square headed bolts and nuts, with what appears to be hand cut threads, so I suspect that these tanks are quite old. The tanks lie on former Royal Naval properties where there is a history of Royal Engineers’ construction works. For this reason it is believed that they are undoubtedly British in origin, probably made to a standard design and shipped out in sections for assembly on site. There are only four of these tanks in existence in South Africa.

One of the tanks was, I believe, built to supply water to an officer’s barracks that was constructed in about 1815 (the tank could of course have been a much later addition).

The cast iron tank dimensions are 3.87 metres overall external width x 2.12 metres overall height. The operating water capacity has been calculated to be 24 tonnes (approximately 5,400 U.K. gallons).

The tank side construction consists of a total of 16 identical rectangular cast iron panels, each 158 centimetres long x 103.5 centimetres high. These panels have integral flanges on all four sides, the vertical flanges being angled such that an octagon is formed when the panels are bolted together. The side panels are arranged two high and sit on a cast iron base which is in turn supported on eight brickwork piers. The cast iron base is comprised of eight flanged cast iron panels which taper from 158 centimetres at the outer edge to 53 centimetres, and one octagonal flanged panel measuring 129 centimetres across extremities; this is located at the centre of the tank base. All flanges are 15 millimetres thick x 91.2 millimetres web. The tank has an open top which has a light corrugated iron roof mounted above on a timber frame. The panels are bolted together with ⅝” bolts 70 mm long, with square bolt heads 1¼” across flats.

Despite very careful inspection, we have been unable to find any trace of the manufacturer – all of the panels are completely plain with no foundry marks or other identification."

David is appealing to BWTAS if anyone has come come across anything like this? He would be most interested in any historical data. If you can help him in any way, please contact

David Erickson
6 Flagship Way
Simon's Town

7975
Republic of South Africa
Tel./Fax: +27-21-786-3384
Email: erickson_at_ilive.co.za

Another one bites the dust...

The historic Imperial Tobacco plant water tower in Greenville South Carolina USA has been pulled down after standing for 72 years. The tower had been destabilized by a fire that destroyed most of the empty complex on April 16, 2008.

After eight months of planning, project foreman Jimmy Davis of Biggs Brothers Construction spent several days choreographing the maneuver that toppled the tower.

More here:

Imperial Tobacco plant water tower pulled down - News Reflector.com