Archive for March 2008
Pool Cam
March 29, 2008, 3:57 pmChannel M have installed a webcam inside the MEN Arena so the whole world can watch the construction of the swimming pools for the World Championships in just over a weeks time. It’s great entertainment… the pools have been constructed and the lighting is now the main focus of attention. The webcam will make a good animated gif once it is finished… I have been saving an image per day…
—ikl | no comments
(posted in the Main Blog category)
Manchester Skyscrapers #1 (1)
March 27, 2008, 8:35 pmI’m ready for the influx of new tall buildings planned for Manchester. I have photographed all the sites as they are now and will return to the sites as work progresses over the next few years. For the initial images, it will be a case of spot the space where the building will go and look at all the empty sky!
The first building to be featured is the proposed Albany Crown Tower, which will comprise 44 floors. To be built on the site of the derelict former Department of Employment building on Aytoun Street in Central Manchester. The building currently located there was featured as Manchester Architecture #48, a little while ago.
Financial difficulties it seems have delayed the start of works, demolition of the existing building was planned for 2006 with the new tower expected to be completed during 2008. As is plain to see, the old building still remains.
For information on the new building, the developers have a website full of information - Albany Crown.
—ikl | no comments
(posted in the Manchester Skyscrapers category)
Inner City Terrace
March 25, 2008, 8:22 pm
I’ve found a few quaint side streets to the rear of the former Express Newspapers building over in Ancoats. I have seen small terraces of this nature in Chester, but never in Manchester. The rows of houses run perpendicular to Cornell Street.
—ikl | no comments
(posted in the Manchester Architecture category)
The beeb heads for a Science Museum exhibition…
March 20, 2008, 7:55 pmIf you recognise straight away the name Hermann Hauser then there is an exhibition planned for next year down in London at the Science Museum that sounds well worth visiting.
I suppose the BBC micro could be considered as the i-pod of the very early 1980’s… and to think at the time I wanted a Dragon 32 instead!! I still have my BBC B in full working order (although the “7″ key sticks a bit and could do with stripping down and cleaning). Mine had an additional 32k SRAM (Wooo!!) and eventually I upgraded from cassette storage to not just a single 5.25″ drive, but a double 5.25″ floppy drive! I still get it out now and again to play Elite, CHOLO, Chuckie Egg and Space Pilot…
—ikl | 1 comment
(posted in the Main Blog category)
K Floor, UMIST Main Building
March 17, 2008, 9:19 pmI’ve always like this floor, it is essentially nowdays just a large exam hall but has seen use as a sports hall. It is the top floor in the more modern easterly section of the building. Rumour has it that this floor was constructed originally to house a large swimming pool, only the engineers it seems forgot to include the mass of the volume of water in the initial structural calculations. The mistake was only discovered when the building was completed. By then it was decided the structure wouldn’t be strong enough to support the additional weight and the swimming pool idea was shelved. Whether true or not, it is an interesting story - one which all UMIST students learned during their times there.
—ikl | no comments
(posted in the Manchester Architecture category)
Inspiral Carpets, Manchester Academy - 14/03/08
March 15, 2008, 12:12 pmThis year we didn’t attempt the crush at the front by the stage instead opting for halfway back. The second one of Clint was a surprise when I uploaded the photos I had taken to see what they come out like. Bringing the telephoto lens with me was a good decision…
—ikl | no comments
(posted in the Main Blog category)
Palindromic mileage
March 13, 2008, 10:23 pmThe car just keeps on going… it passed 140,000 miles this morning and 140,041 miles this evening. It isn’t too far off from its second major overhaul at 150,000 miles where I will probably strip down and replace the front suspension and give the car a respray. Alternatively I could just buy a new car… but where is the fun in that? I’ll drive the Volvo estate in the meantime…
—ikl | no comments
(posted in the Main Blog category)
Development
March 11, 2008, 9:23 pm
It looks like a developer is trying to shoehorn in a new building to the end of the Deansgate Locks Arches development… I shall see what develops.
—ikl | 2 comments
(posted in the Main Blog category)
No to diets…
March 11, 2008, 7:53 pm
…yes to food! The poster was in the window of a sandwich type shop on Cross Street, Manchester.
—ikl | no comments
(posted in the Main Blog category)
Panoramas from Victoria
March 10, 2008, 9:30 pmOn sunday I went into Manchester on the train. Due to engineering works on the Piccadilly line, trains from Warrington were arriving at Manchester Victoria - a station I have never used before. It made me consider the possible scale of expansion in the railway network if the new Manchester rail hub becomes a reality. It would really just be turning the clocks back to before Dr Beeching came along in the 1960’s and thought it would be fun to decimate the rail network.
Manchester Exchange railway station is still essentially there with platforms and a footbridge in tact, only the station roof, building and track have gone. Nothing that couldn’t be put right. In my view, the railway network to the north of the city should be expanded to ease congestion around Piccadilly.
The panoramas are basically the same, one from above platform 6 at Victoria and from platform 3. The super long platform that joined Victoria and Exchange is there on the left. The images expand when you click them!
—ikl | no comments
(posted in the Main Blog, Manchester Skyline category)
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