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Major progress has been made at Eatons Footbridge as the new footbridge foundations have now been constructed and the soil/seed mix bagged wall has been installed to prevent the river from undermining the bridge foundations in what is an active tidal area.

On 12^th June, the new footbridge was lifted into position, re-connecting the footpath between Ashurst and Henfield after several years of waiting by local residents and Public Rights of Way.

Now all that’s outstanding are the new steps, gates and landscaping to both ends of the bridge to complete the project.

C J Thorne have this week started a new project in Uckfield at the local Community Hospital. The £37,000 project, which is being funded by the Hospital’s League of Friends will involve converting the grass verge opposite the ambulance station into additional car parking spaces for its staff.

C J Thorne have recently started work on a new project at the National Cat Centre. The £250k project will involve upgrading the existing car park and providing additional parking spaces. A retaining wall will also be built in order to improve the line of sight on the site’s access road.

C J Thorne has recently started work for West Sussex County Council to replace an existing historic footbridge that had fallen into disrepair.

The bridge is located over the River Adur so gaining access to the bridge was a bit of a challenge! Fortunately, due to the recent good weather, work is progressing well. The old bridge has now been removed with sections salvaged for the local museum.

The new piled foundations are nearly complete and the new 21 m footbridge was delivered to site from Holland this week, ready for installation.

We have recently completed a project at Astral Towers in Crawley to extend the existing car park, which has provided 75 additional parking spaces.

The £220k project included earthworks and landscaping in an environmentally sensitive area and combined the skills of staff from both C J Thorne and Hobart Paving Ltd to complete the works. Well done to Steve, Lee and their team for doing a great job.

On Friday 20th April 2018, CJ Thorne visited Robertsbridge Community College to take part in their Careers Event. We met with students and introduced them to the world of Civil Engineering and were on hand to give guidance and answer questions as to what steps they could take to begin their career. A very informative event and we were thrilled to be part of it as well as helping students think about their future.

Rosebery Park pond restoration was completed on Friday 6th April 2018. The construction involved the installation of Gabions designed to allow the surrounding area to filter the storm water into the pond. Cobbles, which were sourced from Scotland, have been laid to one side of the pond providing access for the public to be able to feed the ducks. A new water overflow system has been installed within a newly laid York Stone paved area and a new seating area has also been provided for the public to sit and enjoy the scenery.

A new project for us at Thorne’s working on behalf of Epsom & Ewell Council to carry out the restoration of an historic pond in Rosebery Park, Epsom, Surrey.

The pond was built in the mid 1800’s and was generally used as a boating pond. Even though the pond was never intended to store fish we caught and removed over 200 fish with some of them weighing over 10lbs!

After pumping out the water it became clear that the silt levels were very high and as a result, Epsom Council have instructed us to arrange to have the silt removed. Despite weather conditions proving to be a challenge at times, the works are progressing and the fish all found a new home!

Work began towards the end of 2017 to replace the staircase at Birling Gap, a project commissioned to us by Wealden District Council. Despite the weather causing a few challenges along the way, the staircase was reopened on the 21^st of December 2017, in time for the busy Christmas holidays when the area attracts many visitors.

The new staircase has been relocated 5.8m north of the previous position tight against the existing cliff face, which is eroding at a rate of approximately 0.7m per year.

The plan going forward is to relocate the staircase every 8-10 years as a part of a Managed Retreat Programme that allows the chalk cliffs to erode naturally, instead of using man made techniques to try to halt the process. This is the third time that C J Thorne & Co have been involved in moving the staircase at this busy tourist location.

Well done to Rob, Harry and their team for a first-class job.

Whilst work continues at Bayham, the progress of the new reinforced concrete road bridge over the spillway starts to take shape.