Waterworks Works
There has been a lot of activity at Redhouse Ings Pumping Station as work is underway to protect the buildings from floodwater. The station takes water out of the River Ouse into a large lagoon and then pumps it to reservoirs at Eccup (near Leeds) and Elvington (east of York). The main part of the development seems to have involved sinking steel piles in a continuous wall around the station. We are very thankful that the method of driving the piles into the ground has changed since the 1980's. In those days the piles, that form the central wall of the lagoon, were hammered in by a large steel weight which sent endless, loud metallic clangs out across the countryside. Nowadays a much quieter hydraulic vibrating machine forces them into the clay. All the piles seem to be in place already so the worst of the disturbance should be over.