14 men, 12 hours a day, 5 days, 8 floors up and 171 tons of earth

A block of flats, in south London, required immediate attention when water started leaking from the roof into a tenant’s property.

Unusually the property had a roof garden, and when it rained water-laid in soil would sit above the flats and it started to leak through.

The original plan was to move the plants and soil from one side to the other in order to find the leak. However, this would not stop if it were to happen again therefore the plan was changed to remove the whole garden. This would turn out to be a massive task.

Cherry pickers and scaffolding were required to carry out the works. It took 14 men, 12 hours a day, 5 days, 8 floors up, to remove 171 tons of earth. The soil and vegetation was handled one bucket at a time, passed down a rubbish chute to the ground floor and then loaded on the trucks to be disposed of.