Boundary wall to be rebuilt at historic Biggleswade chapel as part of renovation and repairs project

A defective boundary wall is to be rebuilt costing nearly £17,500, during the second phase of a renovation project at the Drove Road Chapel site in Biggleswade.

Four phases of repairs have been identified to the weather damaged historic listed chapel buildings and their surrounds.

The town council was asked by experts to consider replacement of the boundary wall and fencing encircling the cemetery as part of plans to restore the chapels as closely as possible to their original condition.

Town councillors were updated on the project in July, when it was agreed to defer a decision to draw down £10,000 for wall repairs to consider the best long-term solution.

Two options were presented to a town council meeting last week, one involving the removal of the wall and the other having it repaired.

Officers suggested proceeding with restoration of the wall to ensure it would be in keeping with the rest of the cemetery.

Taking it down and clearing away materials would cost around £5,600, while the second choice to rebuild the wall was estimated at £17,450.

Town councillor Madeline Russell explained: “The recommendations are the best way forward to look after the cemetery properly and it’s right to allow the project manager some discretion, rather than have everything coming back to us all the time.”

Councillors agreed unanimously to proceed with rebuilding the defective wall at a cost of £17,450 sourced from the public works loan board budget of £155,304.

They also backed up to £5,000 to be available to the project manager to transfer relatively small sums and manage spending on agreed items for phase two.

The work includes digging a new foundation trench and removing debris, and supplying and laying a new concrete foundation.

Closely matching and salvaged bricks will be used to rebuild the wall, according to a report to the council.

“When repairing parts of a wall it can weaken the adjacent sections, which the supplier cannot be held liable for,” said the report.

“As part of the quote from the sub-contractor, it’s stressed that no allowances have been made for pruning work required.”

The sub-contractors cannot wait weeks for a report to go to council for a decision, hence the request to improve the efficiency of the work, added the report.

Town councillor David Albone asked if the council’s public realm team could do whatever pruning is necessary.

BTC’s place shaping manager Isaac Lord replied: “I’m sure that would be fine, but I’d need to liaise with the project manager from the conservation viewpoint.

“I’ve made it clear for this phase I’d expect to receive weekly progress updates on each of the specification items agreed by the council, while any change in costs would be reported back here.”

Town councillor Duncan Strachan said: “It’s essential the project officer be allowed to manage because we’ve employed him to do the job.

“We can’t expect him to come back to the council for every single item. He’s an expert. I don’t think we’re qualified to tell exactly what needs doing and how it should be done.”