Tom standing on the piles which will support the back walls of the houses.

The view from the bottom of the drainage shaft.

The Sedum planted green roof of our project Lord House at 90 Grove Park.
The new houses will have plug-planted green roofs supplied and planted by Blackdown Horticultural.

The shaft for the new mains drainage connection.

Paul and Mick will dig this shaft down then drive a tunnel under the road to find the sewer, which is 4 metres below road level.

A diagram showing the solar thermal system.

This is being specified to provide 57% of the hot water requirement and also contribute to the underfloor heating.

Two diggers on site.  

The new one is digging a manhole and connection to the mains drainage sewer.

The contiguous piles are beginning to be exposed.

The ends of the piles will be broken off and a reinforced concrete capping beam cast across the top of them.

After this the excavation can start...

The piling rig departs.

We have asked graphic designer Sheila Duggan to work with us on layouts for the hoarding.  Watch this space...

The last of the 164 piles is done.

The piling rig was delicately manoeuvred amongst the branches of the newly pollarded Plane tree.

Each house will have bat tubes built into the walls.

The design of the houses incorporates whole-house Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery.  

This will directly recycle 95% of the heat which would otherwise be lost through ventilation. 
The system supplies fresh, filtered air to the habitable rooms which is preheated by air extracted from the wet rooms.

The street Plane tree being pollarded.

The Grove now.

Grove Park is a turning off Camberwell Grove, near the top of the hill.

A view of Camberwell Grove in 1776.

The Grove will feature on Wednesday 13 June in a BBC2 series The Secret History of Our Streets.

This wire is used to tie the rods to the spirals to make the reinforcing cages.

76 piles down, 86 piles to go...

The depth of the piles varies between 6.5 metres and 17 metres, depending on the load they carry.

The woodland at Lettsom Gardens.

Lettsom Gardens is a large green backland space just up the road from the new houses.

It has woodland, a hard surfaced pitch and these allotments.

Studies for the staircase.

The Piling rig in action.

Piling in progress.

Reinforcing cages.

These are pushed down into the wet concrete of the piles.

Safety first...