Curzon No.2 Viaduct moved over the railway! Lawley Middleway launching gider construction starts!

Added: 2026-05-31

[00:00:00]Welcome back everyone. Um, I always put this diagram up at the start of a video just to give everyone a detailed diagram of what eventually will be here on the Cousin Street site. However, a lot of today's video and the most exciting part is off of this uh diagram over towards Lolly Middleway just on the right hand side where it says the canal side. Um there's Lorley Middleway that goes over um the road just right of the canal and then K number two violuct is um just beyond there but a lot has happened today. We'll get into it now and uh just use this as a reference.

[00:00:38]I'd also like to quickly point out the Discord. There's a link in the description. Please join if you're interested. It's a good way to reach me.

[00:00:45]Um and we've got quite a good discussion going on with a lot of knowledgeable people. So if that pies your interest, please do join.

[00:00:53]Right, as we can see, rather exciting um improvements happening over towards Lolly Middleway. This was the first thing I noticed flying over here.

[00:01:02]They've started to put together what we thought was a launching girder. Now, I still do not have the expertise to tell you what this is. Um but it's good to see that they are putting the pieces together. Now, it does look a little bit like a small launching ger. It doesn't look particularly um big like the one seen over in Delta Junction. Um but it does it looks more like a a launching guide than a crane in my opinion. Um especially with those red bits um on the one on the right hand side. It almost looks like they're going to use that to slide along. I'm not sure why they'd use a launching goer at this uh this juncture or this part of the route, but I guess we'll have to see.

[00:01:46]Um no one was working here as they work here um over the night. Uh so after 8:00 p.m. every day until the 6th of June.

[00:01:54]That is when the um road closure is it's from 8:00 p.m. till 6:00 a.m. every day until the uh 6th I think of June.

[00:02:04]Possibly the 8th of June, but I think it's the 6th of June. So by then we will know exactly what's going on.

[00:02:12]I guess a lot of that improvement is going to happen over the weekend. As we fly over towards co number two Varduk or Bellingham Bridge, we can actually see there's a lot of people working on this decking section here that we can just see um the Bellingham Bridge or Cuz number two is going to uh reach eventually. Uh it's it's planned to be moving until the 31st of May. However, I think you'll agree in a moment that they're going to be done much before that.

[00:02:43]This video was filmed at about half 12 um on the 29th of May. So, in just a couple of hours, as we can now see, it's already reached the temporary support, which we will see in a moment. This is the next one that it'll reach.

[00:03:08]We can see those workers getting ready to receive it.

[00:03:14]And here is the vioaduct itself. And it has reached that temporary support which means it's now actually finished crossing the railway.

[00:03:29]This bridge is 8 and a half thousand tons. So, it's very impressive that they've managed to move it so quickly.

[00:03:36]Again, it has just been a few hours and they've moved it they've done, I think, the most difficult bit over the railway.

[00:03:43]People were adamant they'd have to put a support in the middle of the railway um as the the span was too large, but it doesn't look like they've had to do that.

[00:03:51]They've simply just uh just slid it over.

[00:03:59]You can see a lot of workers all gathering around that single connection point.

[00:04:06]I went over here to get a slightly better angle of it.

[00:04:11]And we can see that pad that's now in the middle of curves number two vari that it was sliding over a couple of weeks ago. And pretty much that bit over um from that vioaduct support on the right is how much they've managed to slide it in I don't know I'd say less than six hours. So by the end of today it's a bit of a shame as they've got to get off to um somewhere for the weekend but it even tonight I think they might uh have pushed it possibly near enough the whole way. Um, so it should be definitely uh in place before before the 31st. I think we've seen the main major move. I know it's still got to move quite a way yet, but um we can also see this long rod out the back. Uh it goes across many vioaducts and couple of people working out the back here.

[00:05:10]It's on um K number two Vex is currently sliding on a lot of like teflon pads basically kind of thing that like anti-stick pads uh like stuff that you have on your pans when you cook. Um and that helps to reduce the amount of drag.

[00:05:27]Uh we can see Diston Junction Varduct in the back and as always a load of container crates flying back over cur number two Violet.

[00:05:42]Gives us a sense of how big it is.

[00:05:46]Apparently it's going to be all nice and lit up when it's firmly in place. So I'll get a get some footage of that eventually.

[00:05:56]Apologies if you can hear that. Some cars beeping outside my window. Yeah.

[00:06:01]So, it's it's now latched on and this is about two hours later now that I'm recording this uh voice over and I wouldn't be surprised if they've moved it a bit more. Um I do anticipate it taking some time at each point to sort of lock into those um metal vard supports on the top. Um, but uh, yeah, I don't see why they can't move it. Or maybe each each Vardock support is one day's work. That would make sense as well. But there's a lot of people on that third one, two away from where it is now, the one next to Lolly Middleway.

[00:06:37]But yeah, so lots and lots lots happening um, today, which is good to see. And this kind of work is one that will obviously progress over the weekend. Um, I know uh I know most of the work on Ken Street stops over the weekend apart from Saturday morning, but on Monday or possibly even Sunday night when I do a video again, it will look very different over here.

[00:07:03]Still interested to see what this yellow crane is building.

[00:07:09]Please do drop it in the comments if you know what it is.

[00:07:18]Now I'm going to fly back over towards Ken Street. Um I do change my position in just a moment uh just to keep the drone nice and close to me. And that is where the cut resumed. That was actually pretty good cut.

[00:07:38]Can see these vio supports.

[00:07:41]Uh someone has reached out to me.

[00:07:43]they're going to basically sit down with me and talk me through all the terminology. Um, so that would be much appreciated. Um, I missed their email about two months ago. Um, although it's still not in my inbox, but they've sent me a screenshot today. Um, so yeah, I'm very excited to learn more about what's going on on the site.

[00:08:05]You can see over in that storage area on the right hand side where they do the concrete for work little bits. Uh it looks a little bit empty today actually.

[00:08:14]No special um things in there.

[00:08:20]We can see the concrete wall around the water attenuation tank is sort of getting up towards halfway on this closest side here. Done. Uh so they just got to finish off the other half of this this wall and then um then that little bit on the other side of the rectangle.

[00:08:40]And then uh yeah, we can see the little bit of rebar sticking out from the the columns that were poured underneath.

[00:08:49]So be interesting to see what goes on top of that. The decking is taking shape on the next couple of uh concrete columns there.

[00:08:59]As we look over left, it actually looks like they've poured the concrete now. Um they're waiting for that to set. So that's good to see.

[00:09:09]or at least poured half of it. I don't know if that looks fully full. Um or they've started anyway. Uh we can see this false work section taking shape. Um and where this is probably over lunchtime. Not too many workers out here today. Um or they're all focused on the the uh Ken number two vari um activity down there. Uh but I'm sure they're just on their lunch breaks at the moment. We do see see a couple of workers up here.

[00:09:39]Uh this rebar section is looking good.

[00:09:43]Starting to uh take shape on that left hand side. A lot of reinforcing rebars taking shape.

[00:09:57]Still not really started on the ones on the right hand side just yet.

[00:10:02]Be good when they start that.

[00:10:14]looking over at those U beams on the right hand side as well.

[00:10:18]Obviously, they've got to complete more of these uh decking sections and pour them with fill fill it all with concrete before they can put the they have the U beams to put something across basically.

[00:10:29]Uh so, it's not ready yet. And also the second tower crane is going to be um put up on the 4th and 5th of July as mentioned previously. So I will have coverage of that of course. We can also see people down in the bottom of that tower crane uh tower crane in the blue square.

[00:10:48]Uh I wonder what they're doing down there.

[00:11:02]I will move on in a moment and we'll have a look at the top of the site and also over at the tram tracks.

[00:11:08]Um, so that's interesting. Uh, we can see a orange two orange cherry pickers either side. Bit of a closer look at the the rebar section.

[00:11:20]I think I was actually giving myself time here just to uh to walk around just to get a better view of the drone from the ground.

[00:11:28]We can see that uh blinding layer.

[00:11:31]They've extended it and put a couple of uh fences around it. That's just um it's better to work on that than than the dirt itself. So, they pour like a layer of concrete. It just means it's flats and sometimes it can help if there's moisture in the dirt to work on. Looking over at these brand new offices, we can see they've um some somebody mentioned it was a car park. I'm still confident it's not. Um well, again, I I don't know, but it looks a little bit small. How many cars you going to get on that? Um, but uh we can see there sort of a like a a rebar section they're building much like on the actual site. I guess they're going to fill up with concrete and it's going to look like the rest of the patio.

[00:12:29]Be good when these are opened. I do keep saying it, you know, more workers on site, quicker um progress and things like that.

[00:12:39]Lots happening on the site though. Every day you come back.

[00:12:44]You know, a lot of work goes into this.

[00:12:47]Each one of these park caps is much bigger than it looks from here. I'm very high at this point, but it's much higher than uh much actually larger than that.

[00:12:57]Taller than a person, that rebar sticking out. So, um uh I I did just want to point out, although we'll see it when we come back, um there's some new pile caps that have been um exposed. Obviously, nothing's going to happen to those for just a while, but um good to see that in some dip like a small dip. Uh they have been exposed.

[00:13:25]This is the route that the tram will take into Ken Street.

[00:13:31]We can see the excavator over at this top part, but it looks largely untouched after the railway arch that it goes through.

[00:13:44]That'll be cool to go through on the tram.

[00:13:47]And look over at the section that they've already done.

[00:13:53]I noticed there seems to be like something in the tracks that wasn't there before. uh instead of just being like a a steel beam um that seems to be like I don't know kind of filled in areas compared to before.

[00:14:14]I do wonder when they're going to finish with this section so they can move over to the next bit up towards that railway arch.

[00:14:22]Um, but yeah, they it looks pretty much the whole way the same the whole way down. Now, the next thing they've got to do is turn it into like a turn it into the road.

[00:14:39]So, as I mentioned, this is the route that it will take down this road and then into curs basically as the natural road follows.

[00:14:52]Looking over towards the top of Ken Street now.

[00:14:56]Can see all the buildings in Birmingham.

[00:14:57]A lot's going up because of HS2.

[00:15:08]Lot of reinforced rebar coming towards completion. They'll then pull the concrete to make a pile cap as seen all over the site. Now interested to see why they've covered the corner of those um piles that have been exposed. Uh some of them were recovered in dirt partially. I think that's just where the wind's blown it. But uh over towards the top of the site, we can now see a lot more rebar. They've been building this up for a while. and four like weird bits on the right.

[00:15:46]That's uh all I could explain them as four concrete squares. Uh some of them look slightly more detailed than the others. Uh that just means that they've got um the concrete for formwork around it. Uh and the one on the top left and bottom left have already been poured.

[00:16:03]Um these are obviously going to form columns for some sort of business uh building support. Um, but I don't know exactly what they'll be. Those piles on the right hand side that have been jet washed for ages are now fully uh exposed, ready to be worked on.

[00:16:27]And there's those newly exposed piles that I was talking about. I think there's five of them there. One is yet to be cut, it looks like, down to the base. Um but yeah, there's then also more to the left of that and that will form the next section like we can see above it. even where they're storing um sort of rebar and stuff. Now on the right hand side, I think there's pile cap uh there's piles under that as well that they need to turn into pile caps and columns and it'll start to mimic what looks um like the decking sections and false work sections over here that eventually U beams will be placed over it all and it will start to form the station.

[00:17:13]There's not actually many more piles to be dug up now after that. Um, that'll be the majority of them. So once they turn into columns, we will well and truly be done with the digging stage and it will look like a station.

[00:17:28]I'm hoping by the end of the year, uh, they'll have nearly every pile cap made, if not all of them.

[00:17:37]And this is another look over at the, uh, tower crane, obviously with the next one being delivered in about a month.

[00:17:43]And the last concrete lodge being poured on the left hand side. Well, thank you all very much for watching. I'll be back on Monday or maybe Sunday night and uh I'll see you then. Please like and subscribe.