The PORTSMOUTH (and area) thread

[Pompey77]

I think we need to up the ante and get a moderator to listen, its not as if were a small number here; the welsh subforum with all the advantages a subforum brings to create proper focused debate and ease of access and comprehension for visitors appears to have around 10 regular posters, this thread gets around 4/5, Bristol's gets around 7/8, even Gloucester and Weston-Super-Mare have about 3/4 each.

I don't think its overly ambitions to expect those figures to at least double with a dedicated subforum given all that is going on in these areas, similarly the numbers of forumers from other parts of UK&I popping in to view and comment will increase dramatically.

I haven't heard a single argument against this and its starting to piss me off that nothings happening.

[SkyscraperSuperman]

WDN thread made.
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1382188

[Pompey77]

Some pics of progress at fort Nelson;
image hosted on flickr

Untitled by Royal Armouries, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

Untitled by Royal Armouries, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

Untitled by Royal Armouries, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

Backfilling the side of the visitor centre with chalk by Royal Armouries, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

Untitled by Royal Armouries, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

Untitled by Royal Armouries, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

Untitled by Royal Armouries, on Flickr

The round structure is the new visitor centre which looks like its going to be buried and the wooden structure within the fort is the new gallery. Looking much better than I was expecting.

[ill tonkso]

I was not expecting a wooden construction. The green credentials must be pretty decent.

[Pompey77]

The gallery will look great if all of the open bits are glazed and then some sort of green roof added on the flat bits, I'm fairly certain that's the plan - would any other roof treatment work in the context of the fort?

Eco credentials yes, except for all that concrete in the visitor centre. The wooden structure certainly looks a lot better than a load of steel especially since it will remain exposed.

[ill tonkso]

Some of the piling is done for The Blade, took a look today.

[SkyscraperSuperman]

Lots of activity at the Blade today, a whole queue of trucks waiting to enter the site.
There were about 4 lined up when I arrived, and quite a few more came along as I was taking the pictures:

[davidaiow]

copied from WDN:

I hope they remove those barriers in the middle of the road, insert a few tress in the central reservation and make it more pedestrian friendly

Also, thanks for the update

[Pompey77]

Originally Posted by davidaiow

I hope they remove those barriers in the middle of the road, insert a few tress in the central reservation and make it more pedestrian friendly

It would look much better but I'd be surprised if they did, there's no real need to cross Anglesea Rd. except from at the two ends where crossings exist. Also there's a bit of a safety issue with drunk students walking home from Gunwharf, the fact that they were looking at rebuilding the pedestrian bridge shows they see this as an issue. Anyway a higher priority should be removing all the barriers and the brick toblerone from WC avenue.

Presumably these trucks are taking away all the spoil from the ground works. They seem to be generating a lot considering there's no basement to dig out?

Good to see this is in full swing, I'm gonna have to do some updating of the project summary. To show this as U/C!

On another note I've finally found the plans and architects of the Fort Nelson development, I think its fair to say they look excellent. I've set up another thread on the Cultural and Sporting venues sub forum to avoid diverting this thread too much. Here's a link; http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1385614

[ill tonkso]

I saw the plans when I was up there last. Should have taken photos really as that was over a year ago! There are some nice renders up there.

[SkyscraperSuperman]

Very quick update from today - they appear to be taking down the hoarding around the Blade site and replacing the wooden fencing that keeps the hoarding stable (there were a couple of trucks from some fencing company, one of which you can see below). Not sure if they're planning to re-install the same hoarding afterwards, or replace the site barrier entirely. Didn't have time to stop for any length of time (was on my way to an exam!) but I got a picture:

[Pompey77]

I expect they'll be adding some sort of branding to the new hoarding..... hopefully we should find out who's building it.

[SkyscraperSuperman]

Had another look on my way to HMS Warrior at about 3pm, they were putting all the plain blue hoarding back up, so no branding just yet! Looks like they were just re-fortifying it or something like that, so nothing exciting by the looks of it!

[Frankus Maximus]

I'd just like to say (belated) congratulations on the Blade beginning construction! I only visit this thread occasionally and as has been mentioned previously there is very little visibility for this project elsewhere in the Forum - a South of England subforum is a very good idea. Can someone remind me how tall it's going to be please (I know it was supposed to be taller than 1 Gunwharf Quays which is 95m I think).

[ill tonkso]

101m

[Pompey77]

Is that a window in the hoardings I can see to the left of the blue van in superman's last pic? Could be a good place to view the excavations if so. Planning to be down there this weekend so I'm gonna have to have a good scout about.

[SkyscraperSuperman]

Let us know when you're around, Pompey77! We can organise a trip to the pub if you're up for it - ill tonkso and I were talking about having one for the Pompey forumers in the near future!
And yeah it does look a little bit like a viewing window, maybe for people in Victoria Park to see what's going on. I'll keep an eye on it and maybe even wander into the Park sometime to see if you're right.

[ill tonkso]

I can confirm it is, I was peeking through it sunday!

[davidaiow]

Went through on the train an hour ago. Not much going on, just some clearing of the ground. Quite a good view from the railway, naturally.

[ill tonkso]

We have Cladding!



I thought I would pop by today and I was greeted with this little Beauty!