BAM Nuttall have manged to over run badly on the hugely inconvenient work at the junction of Copenhagen Street and York Way. The original works closing the road were due to finish on about 23 september then over spilled to 'early October' (see photo) but major parts of the work are still dragging on today 26 October.
Now Argent have told Stuart Cottis that the works 'should have completed this week but…the programme is likely to overrun by at least three weeks.' So that sounds like an overall finish date of 19th November.
Elsewhere on Goods Way Argent utility subcontractors have created an awful cycling and pedestrian environment with roads dug up for the long term and intermittently closed pavements as Stuart documents below – see also Argents explanation.
The BAM Nuttall cock-up at the York Way junction is particularly poor – it isn't rocket science building a traffic island, putting in some lights and fiddling with the pavements but they have over run by weeks. I wouldn't want them building an extension for me on this showing, it makes you wonder what they must be up to with the more complicated stuff on the main site.
Michael who lives on York Way tells me that the temporary traffic lights at York Way/Copenhagen Street broke at the weekend and were stuck on red for ages causing traffic chaos. This follows on from BAM Nuttall and Camden's shambolic traffic management when the road was first closed.
Once Section 106 is out of the way, the community has little recompense for this sort of disruption – perhaps Argent could persuade BAM Nuttall to make a substantial donation to one of the nurseries on Copenhagen Street or a local children's charity such as SparkPlug or CYP in lieu of any contract penalty payments in the spirit of the 'polluter pays' principle. I know that Cllr Convery has been active in the background trying to sort all this out, perhaps he and Camden could wangle something?
Stuart Cottis walks daily down York Way and along Goods Way, he recently sent me this about the works:
'The contractors, BAM Nuttall, are still on site and the signs that stated that the works were to finish in 'early October' have now been altered to say the works are 'near completion'! The road junction has been re-connected, but the situation for pedestrians is really quite unsatisfactory as the zebra crossing has not been reinstated and it is quite hard to cross the road at the busy junction especially with the hoardings blocking one's line of vision.
'This is all an example of a wider issue, though, which is BAM Nuttall's and Argent's lack of thought given to pedestrians during the construction phase and woeful lack of information for local residents.
'I walk daily from Rufford Street to St Pancras via Goodsway. This is becoming a daily challenge. I've already mentioned the difficulty at the Copenhagen Street junction but, in addition, the pavement on the western side of the bridge over the Regents Canal has been blocked off for weeks and there is no indication of when it might re-open. Then, because Goodsway now has only one pavement (on the northern side), this requires one to cross York Way outside Kings Place and then to double back and cross Goodsway. When the bridge pavement opens again this will become a bit easier.
'The temporary northern pavement on Goodsway is inadequate for the pedestrian flows – including commuters who work in Kings Place. Indeed, cyclists have also taken to using it as a cycle route no doubt because they are frsutrated that they cannot use Goodsway itself in an eastbound direction. Just the other day, I saw somebody bearing a strong resemblance to a senior member of the Argent management team transgressing in this way and riding his bike along the narrow pavement. This is unacceptable. The pavement desperately needs to be widened – quite often people need to stray onto the road surface to pass other people and the errant cyclists. How long before an accident happens?'
Stuart wrote to Argent and got this response from the Argent construction helpline today, 26 October:
'York Way / Copenhagen Street & Zebra Crossing
BAM Nuttall have advised that the programme of works should have completed this week but, due to clashes in the footpaths and tight working areas, the programme is likely to overrun by at least three weeks.
Work is currently being undertaken on the central islands and BAM Nuttall will be looking to do the asphalt reinstatements early next week. They hope to have re-opened the footway in front of the garden area by the middle of next week. This will leave just the northern eastern footway of York Way. BAM Nuttall have advised that the north eastern footway will be closed and pedestrians will be diverted around the footway.
In terms of the zebra crossing, it is anticipated that works will be completed by 22 November.
BAM Nuttall have asked me to apologise for the over running of works and have advised that this has been due to unforeseen circumstances and re-designing. They are doing their utmost to complete the works ASAP.
Western Pavement on the Regents Canal / York Way Bridge
The York Way bridge footway closure and subsequent work has been undertaken by EDF Electricity. After a fault with one of their new cables, they had to re-lay another new cable and joint it, which has been the cause of the huge delay. My colleague has advised me that he was on site yesterday evening and noticed that the works had been completed by EDF and that the pavement had been re-tarmaced.
Temporary Northern Pavement on Goods Way
The northern pavement on Goods Way seems to be working okay at the moment and we have not received any other complaints about it.
Cycling eastbound along the Goods Way Pavement
I have emailed the King's Cross Project Team to remind them to use the traffic diversion routes of Euston Road and Agar Grove and to dismount from their bikes if they are using Goods Way eastbound.
I have asked our contractor to install a 'Cyclists Dismount' sign facing westward at the western end of Goods Way to remind any cyclists that they should get off and walk their bikes eastbound through this section.
Kings Cross Environment 