I wondered how long it would take for the health and safety brigade to put a stop to some of the traditional working methods being employed in the building of a Roman villa at Wroxeter.

The six builders who have been creating the Villa Urbana at Wroxeter for Channel 4′s ongoing documentary series have been using only tools and materials which the Romans would have used to build an impressive town house.

But last night’s episode saw their strict taskmaster, Professor Dai Morgan Evans, show a softer side as he bowed to pressure to let them use wheelbarrows when transporting heavy stones.

And, after a worried health and safety officer told him flat that he couldn’t use wooden scaffolding as a platform for the high rise work, the professor reluctantly allowed a steel frame to be brought in.

It got me thinking. It is only right that modern day builders are offered the highest protection possible under law, but do you think Julius Caesar would have been worried about risk assessments and whether his workers felt a bit hot in the sun?

Obviously I don’t know the man but if history is anything to go by I reckon any health and safety whingers would probably have ended up in the lions den along with the gladiators.

It shows how things have changed and obviously Mr Morgan Evans has had to concede that his team cannot do everything exactly the same as the Romans did, but they are giving it a pretty good go.

I particularly enjoyed when the team, who appeared to have as much enthusiasm for the job as a snood-wearing foreign Premier League footballer has for a training session in early January, were given a treat to perk up their spirits.

The six guys, including plasterer Tim who had never even been abroad before, were whisked away for a long weekend to see some of the best preserved Roman ruins in the world, at Ephesus in Turkey.

Despite a painful introduction to a Turkish-style back massage the builders appeared to get a sense of what the project was all about and returned to Wroxeter with a spring in their step.

It was also heartening to see the good people of Shropshire demonstrating their generosity with a number of volunteers and even a donkey helping to lighten the load.

The villa will open to the public at the English Heritage site next month and I for one, can’t wait to see what it looks like inside.

By Russell Roberts