Quite a busy day on-site, with the most visible progress being the installation of the galvanised steel handrail and balustrade for the external staircase.

This will be left with its galvanised finish rather than being painted, to match the galvanised frames for the adjacent door and window and the galvanised light fittings – and the zinc roof of the house. The bright silver finish will darken down a bit over time.

The main build team were also back to work through the initial snagging list from the Architect. Most of that got completed, though the testing of the foul drainage showed up a major leak in an underground pipe which is presumed to have been fractured by the weight of a digger driving over it; there’s not much depth of soil ‘cover’ over the underground pipes in the Courtyard. The damaged section of pipe was replaced but the nature of the damage means there might be further damaged sections.