Mini town forms in Gisborne South as work on The Block TV series fires up. See the pictures

Work is progressing on The Block’s unique Gisborne South site, with a new couple found to replace influencer Elle Ferguson and her fiance Joel Patfull after they quit.

The site of hit TV program The Block in Gisborne South, where the houses this year are being built on large rural blocks. Picture: David Geraghty.

It took just 24 hours for The Block to find a new couple to join the hit renovation drama after Bondi influencer Elle Ferguson and her fiance Joel Patfull quit the show.

Ferguson and Patfull left the series on Saturday, April 16, just four days into filming, after Patfull’s mother suffered serious injuries in a fall in Adelaide.

A Sydney couple on the show’s contestant shortlist was contacted that day and asked if they were available. They were and arrived on set and started filming on Sunday. With more than 40,000 applicants for this season it was never going to take long to find another team of ‘Blockheads’.

Meanwhile the new Block, six homes set on individual 10 acre estates, is rising like a mini town in Gisborne South.

Scores of tradies are on site at Gisborne South. Picture: David Geraghty.

Roofers get to work. Picture: David Geraghty.

It’s scaffold city on The Block site. Picture: David Geraghty.

Heavy, earthmoving machinery is seen on the site of one house. Picture: David Geraghty.

Hundreds of tradesmen can be seen working on the site as these exclusive pictures show, with major construction taking place on each of the properties. There are five houses being renovated by the contestants and another home is described as one host Scott Cam will be doing up. Each of the contestants houses is a weatherboard period home with vast modern extensions being built on to them. The estates are expected to feature unique ‘extras’ which could include swimming pools, tennis courts, small plantings of grape vines, olive trees, stables for the horse inclined and landscaped gardens.