When we began designing the new academic building to replace the eastern end of the Rank building, there was an idea that we would strip away the back wall of No 31 Jesus Lane to leave a beautiful 18th century brick wall, which would serve as natural backdrop to the main stairs.

These photos give you a good idea of how much progress has been made, even though demolition only started three weeks ago. It is odd to look at the facade of the entrance way and to see blue sky where the end of the Rank building used to be.

Meanwhile Paul Ashley has been stalking the Brokk at work!

We held our first valuation meeting with the contractor on Wednesday. The project is on target and indeed, slightly ahead in certain areas. We have now cleared all the rooms in No 31 and 32 Jesus Lane and are starting to clear the corner classroom and C Block. First phase work on the Principal’s Lodge is complete apart from a few sensitive items such as removing the original slate in the pantry.

At a formal gathering in the Dining Room at Wesley House Cambridge on Thursday 17th July, Prof Judith Lieu and Dr Derek Nicholls signed and exchanged contracts with the Master and Bursar of Jesus College. The contract returns the freehold of the Wesley House site to the ownership of Jesus College and leases back 40% of the site to the Trustees of Wesley House for redevelopment.

As we peel away the late 20th Century structures and reveal the original buildings underneath we start to find all sorts of interesting features and questions. For example, this downpipe is clearly original but is only ten feet long so that it drains onto the patio of what was Flat 30 – a 1970s construction.

Getting a 20 cubic yard skip into the entrance of Wesley House takes some skill. The Transport department want us to take no more than 7 minutes. We have reduced it to 4 minutes.

The Brokk is a clever remote control machine which Havering Demolition will use to break up the concrete floors of the Rank building. The operator stands safely out of the way of the noise and vibrations. It arrived on Thursday morning and was carefully unloaded, just missing a parked Mercedes nearby. Let’s be honest, it looks like it would be great fun to play with but it has a serious purpose and by the end of Thursday it had already punched a hole in the roof of the entrance.

The Wesley House site in Jesus Lane has been emptied for a year while we redevelop the Eastern part to create a new postgraduate college with a focus on International students. We have decanted to 19a Jesus Lane which is just next door.