King’s Boulevard
These pictures show the new King’s Boulevard which leads from King’s Cross station to the Central St. Martins College of Art and Design.
It is the first part of the development at Kings Cross Central to be completed. Note the maps, which set a whole new standard.
Another Of Jerry’s Horrors
This picture shows some of his handiwork being removed from the cupboard in my bedroom.
A Shelf By Jerry
If you think that was bad, just look at this hole he made in the floor of the cupboard to access the shower.
Pipe Access By Jerry
It’s all gone now and hopefully when the new wardrobe inserts come from IKEA, his handiwork will be buried for ever.
But Jerry seems to keep popping up in some very unexpected places.
How Not To Put Up A Towel Rail
Jerry was, and hopefully now isn’t a very bad builder. I am reorganising my spare bathroom, so I’ve taken down his disgusting wooden fittings, the like of which I’ve never seen anything so bad and putting up quality Miller ones from my previous home.
My Towel Rail and Hooks and Jerry’s Holes
Note the holes drilled everywhere, where he made so many mistakes. I can count eight holes and three he’s crudely filled and that doesn’t count the three I reused.
Does anybody have a good way to fill holes in tiles?
How Do I Get Prisoners To Paint My House?
I have a cupboard in my bedroom that needs stripping and painting. Obviously, some might think I’m the sort of person who should benefit from some sort of scheme, as I’m a widower, who has had a stroke.
After all Jacqui Smith, the former NuLabor Home Secretary got two prisoners to do some painting at her house according to this report in the Guardian.
But then as I said, I’m a widower and I’ve had a stroke. I’m certainly not sick or mad enough to want to be a Member of Parliament.
Why Does Regeneration Create So Many Ugly Buildings?
his question was asked in the BBC web site and this article is what Owen Hatherley said.
The last paragraphs are about Leicester.
This is the site of the Leicester Science Park, where new things should be able to occur. A sign says “starting on site summer 2010”. There is no sign of it a year later.
What there is, is a new housing development. Little detached boxes in cul-de-sacs, designed for two purposes – maximising car parking and maximising profit. Each house has a little neo-Georgian porch, what the developers call a “gob-on”.
What you notice is the emptiness. Not just the huge empty wastes outside, but the empty-headedness of a society that has abandoned all hope that it could create something better than this bloody mess.
I think he’s thinking on the right lines.
For a start my new lifestyle proves that you can live without a car. But you do need a house with lots of clean space to work, socialise and relax.
C and I also brought up three kids in a tower block. Good ones certainly work and my middle son looks back on that flat in the Barbican with its superb views and lots of space with affection. My late younger son liked it so much, that when he first setup home it was in the block next door.
Too many though the Barbican is ugly. But not to the many who’ve lived there!
Flooding in East Yorkshire
I’ve just been watching the flash floods in East Yorkshire and there is more here on the BBC web site.
It looked like a modern housing estate was flooded. Was it built on a flood plain as many are? If so surely, the stupid council, who gave planning permission, should pay for the damage. And what about the architect, who created beautiful brick car parking spaces that just prevent the water soaking into the ground and just channel it into the houses.
These little boxes should never be built without a proper flood assessment. After this, they’re probably uninsureable anyway.
In the same report on the web, it says that a Tesco in York had to close because the roof started to leak. If it had been a green roof with perhaps grass on it, the problem might not have happened. If Adnams can do it in silly Suffolk, surely everyone can. Here are the reasons for a green roof from the design brief.
To reduce the visual impact of the building.
To reduce heat transfer into the building and to regulate the buildings core temperature.
To reduce water run-off and burden on drainage.
That all seems logical to me.
The roof incidentally was built by Sky Garden Greenroofs. I wonder how many Tescos and other supermarkets have green roofs? I think in the UK, one Co-op does.
Using People to Heat Buildings
I like this story on the BBC web site.
I think I read somewhere that a person gives out about the same heat as a one bar electric fire.
We rarely collect it to make sure buildings are warm enough. But that amount of heat does explain why the Underground gets hot.
Jerry Couldn’t Put Up Coat Hooks Either!
The hooks for dressing gowns in the downstairs bathroom were hideous wooden ones, which if they’d cost a pound each in Dalston Market, you would have been robbed.
After taking one down, I found this behind it.
How Not To Put Up Hooks
So Jerry couldn’t even put up hooks in tiles without making lots of unnecessary holes. Note the two at the top as well!
Either that, or I’ve got woodworm that can chew through tiles.
We Need More Duchesses!
The late Duke of Devonshire and his wife, who is now the Dowager Duchess have spent a lifetime turning Chatsworth into a commercial proposition. Some may argue that they were wrong, but surely the people who flock to the house in droves aren’t doing it because they hate it.
But I do like Matthew Parris’s tale in The Times today, where the current Duke is organising tours around the scaffolding, that clothes the House now, so that repairs can be performed.
It is a great idea, as when restorations are performed, the public should be encouraged to see the skills involved, especially, when taxpayers or lottery losers money is involved.
On a similar level, few would argue that the ViewTube at the Olympic Park has not been a success.
So let’s see more exhibitions, webcams and viewing galleries on major construction sites.
At least Network Rail put up a small exhibition at King’s Cross, but where is the information around the new CrossRail stations? It might be on the web, but many of those who might be interested probably don’t have a computer to hand.
Do Posh Buildings Not Have Basements?
I have explored the basements of many important buildings like office blocks and hospitals, and usually find that they are made to work hard by putting all sorts of heavy equipment there. But it is always the basement and not like the luxurious private hospital where I was last week, where it’s the lower ground floor.
The Anonymous Widower 