An Unusual Office Property
I went to see this property at Highams Park, as it was featured in Open House.
The refurbishment is not complete yet, but it would make a lovely small office for a professional, who needed a lot of light. In fact the developers will be using it themselves as part of a favourable deal with Network Rail, that would appear to ensure that the signal box gets sympathetically restored.
Obviously, you’d have to like trains.
There’s more on the signal box and its history on the Highams Park Forum.
One point to note in the pictures is the subway under the tracks, shown in the picture with the train approaching. Was this subway dug under the tracks to stop idiots crossing when it wasn’t safe? And was it dug without disrupting the train service?
Is Essex Road Station Ripe For Redevelopment?
Essex Road station in London, is architecturally-challenged to say the least. if you venture underground to the trains, there are a couple of large clean lifts and dimly-lit passages to stations, that still have echoes of Network South East.
Essex Road Station
But things are looking up on the trains front, in that the new Govia Thameslink franchise has committed to running more trains through the station, including later on weekday nights and at weekends. It also looks like Crossrail 2 has decided on its route and it would appear that the chances are, the new line will by-pass Essex Road station.
The station sits on a prominent and quite large corner site as this aerial view from Google shows.
Essex Road Station
So it would appear that a whole lot of reasons exist for the site to be redeveloped as perhaps much-needed quality housing. Transport links, size and location are all good and the deep-level station is in crying need of a refurbishment. The only constraint is that provision might need to be left for a very unlikely new rail or Underground line.
Properly developed it would be an asset to the area.
And The Winner Is!
This dreadful building called Woolwich Central won the Carbuncle Cup 2014.
Woolwich Central
You do wonder about Tesco, in that two buildings on the shortlist were their supermarkets.
Perhaps, the previous CEO was architecturally-challenged.
A Design Crime – A U/S Building
It is a common term amongst engineers, that might by used by others too, to describe something as U/S or useless or unserviceable. There’s a discussion about the use of the abbreviation here.
So I was surprised to see this building with a big uS sign on it.
But it probably deserved it, as it was on the short-list for the Carbuncle Cup 2014.
I’ve tagged this with Crap Marketing, as who’d want to lve in a uS building?
Return To de Bohun School
de Bohun School was my Primary and Junior school.
It looks like it could do with a lick of paint. But it’s still very much as I remember it!
The Viewing Platform At Kings Cross
I came across this viewing platform at Kings Cross.
The pictures show the platform and some of the views.
It’s on the path that leads between Kings Cross Station and Granary Square, by the Regent’s Canal.
Building sites should have more of these!
It’s Amazing What You Can Do With Meccano, Lego And Sheets Of Glass
I happened to go through New Cross Gate station and just had to take some pictures.
Let’s hope that Network Rail and Transport for London, are going to use the system to create a few more modern stations. There certainly seem to be decision makers in these organisations, who are not afraid to do the unconventional.
Let’s face it, London Underground in the 1930s created some of the finest stations of the era, anywhere in the world. When our descendants look at stations like this one at New Cross Gate in a hundred years time, they might just say that we got something right.
Just because it’s only a station, it doesn’t mean the architecture or construction must be second rate.
The Back Passage At Kings Cross St. Pancras
A new passage has opened up on Kings Boulevard, which lets you by-pass the crowds going to and from Granary Square, by linking you directly to the subway that goes under Pancras Road
it is certainly magnitudes better than some subways on the Underground.
The Glasgow KISS Games
The Scots are known for their thrift and they certainly seemed to have used the KISS principle (Keep It Simple Stupid) to produce an affordable opening ceremony last night.
The only extravagance would have been the amazing video screen, but that was probably hired through Sports Technology in Sussex, so we’ll see that and others like it, at events in the future.
The costumes and props for the show weren’t on the level of extravagance we’ve seen lately at some Games.
And it would appear that the only problem with the dogs was finding enough of them!
But the KISS principle has also been applied to the venues.
In a way holding the opening ceremony in Celtic Park by the athlete’s village was following what was done in London, where the athlete’s village was with all the main venues. This meant that athletes could enjoy the ceremony and then go to bed at a reasonable hour for competing today. We shouldn’t have games, where the athletes are some way from the venues. Both Glasgow and London have sufficient transport to cope for athletes and spectators.
But surely the masterstroke is building a combined sports hall and velodrome, with the facilities between the two arenas. You must get a hell of a lot more useable space for your money.
This one will be copied ad nauseum, all over the world.
A 3D Map Of London
This 3D map of London is at the Building Centre close to Tottenham Court Road station.
Unfortunately, dalston is just off the map, But it was good nevertheless.
The Anonymous Widower 