Tesco Tunnel
Gerrards Cross
2004-2010
Update
June 2011.
The final page has been added to complete the
story. The link to it is at the bottom of this page.
If you would like to go back to
my home page, which covers topics other
than this one, just click here.
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What started as a novel project to build a Tesco store over a railway
cutting in Gerrards Cross by creating a tunnel, turned into a dramatic
event when the tunnel collapsed on June 30, 2005. The story ends
on November 29th 2010 when the new store opened at last, five years
late. This page
serves as Home for a number of other pages built over quite a long
period of time.
There is an account
of the work preceding the collapse, recorded to display railway
activities and construction work
from 1999 to 2005 with a few flashbacks to an earlier age.
Then there is the account of the collapse itself and the aftermath.
In March 2006, it
was announced by Tesco that Costain
would take over the civil engineering project from Jacksons and
would first conduct an investigation into the engineering aspects
affecting the decision as to what should be done at the site.
This investigation is not a very visible process but nevertheless
merits photographic recording because of what may come next. This
page is likely to change frequently until more definite plans are
announced.
Much was happening in 2008. This
page, added in October, gives
an account of some of those activities.
After a lot
of preparatory work in 2008
and 2009, a large crawler crane was brought in and the gap
created by the collapse was filled with new segments.
Meanwhile the handsome west portal has
been constructed.
The site is complete and the Tesco store is open.
Pictures and text © Guy Gorton 2007/2011
guy.gorton@virgin.net