The asbestos has left the building!

After months of stasis, it feels like this project may suddenly/finally be gaining some momentum.

It started with the asbestos coming out. There wasn’t much and the job took the removal specialist less than an hour. But being officially asbestos-free still feels like a milestone worth celebrating.

Next, planning permission for the interior works came through. Oh, rather, I received a written statement that I don’t need planning permission for the proposed interior works, as my architect has said all along. Still, having that in writing from the planning official is another step forward.

asbestos removal + planning consent = permission to start work

Yesterday brought a flurry of activity. People came by to give quotes for:

• gutter repairs,

• drainage surveys (my drain is located inside the building, who knew?!),

• replacing the rotten back door (that can only be opened using pliers) and windows, and

• strip out work (i.e. taking down interior walls, removing floor tiles, etc.)

The commercial kitchen also started coming out - hooray! But it isn’t going without a fight. The fryer was still full of oil, which sloshed out onto the floor along with one perfectly-preserved, 8+ month old chip. The ginormous ventilation hood came down in a single piece. Several pieces of kitchen equipment are too big to fit through the doorway separating the kitchen from the front of house, so that wall is coming down. It’s possible that they won’t fit through the front door, either. In which case, they’ll need to be broken down or cut apart.

So the building is in a state of semi-organized chaos. But at least something is happening.

Change is afoot.

There’s no going back now. (At least not to a hot food takeaway!)