Southgate Complex | Bradford | U/C | 8fl

[Dan B]

New photograph of the site on flickr from today:



http://www.flickr.com/photos/sakostika/4254804782/

Is just about completing the seventh floor for the Provident Financial side of the site and has the full 8 floors at the Jury's Inn end. One more floor to go and very much almost topped out.

That is all.

[*-City Of Bradford-*]

Looking Good

[Dan B]

Since the snow all went, activity on the site's increased quite a bit. Seventh floor seems finished and they've now started on the eighth and final floor which is slightly set back a bit and doesn't look quite as tall. Scaffolding's gone up around the building now too so should see the start of the cladding phase.

A recent photo showing how it looms over Centenary Square:



http://www.flickr.com/photos/kingdom...rd/4295528851/

Will be one more floor added to this I think.

Also a shot from the City Park webcam showing it in the background with some of the scaffolding I mentioned as well as the first bits of the eighth floor visible:

[*-City Of Bradford-*]

Don't know if you're interested Dan, but a photo you took and posted earlier in this thread was used by the Council their Presentation at the Bradford Property Forum

http://www.bradfordpropertyforum.co....parkpptweb.pdf

Slide 18

[Dan B]

Originally Posted by *-City Of Bradford-*

Don't know if you're interested Dan, but a photo you took and posted earlier in this thread was used by the Council their Presentation at the Bradford Property Forum

http://www.bradfordpropertyforum.co....parkpptweb.pdf

Slide 18

I did get the feeling they probably browsed this forum from time to time, not least go nicking photos. I guess I do 'borrow' a lot of photos & images myself, though always with reference and not for official publication. I can't become too indignant over this though as I've copypasta'd loads from all these websites.

And to continue in that trend... (though with reference):



http://www.flickr.com/photos/m_j_s/4...in/pool-bfdalt

a cropping showing southgate from an interesting panoramic of Bradford from the Town Hall.

Also this shot from myself from the Richmond Building:



On the last floor now. I've noticed behind the scaffolding window frames and cladding structures have started going up, so the building should be progressing past its skeleton phase that many seem to be confusing with a multistorey car park as a result. Doubt we'll see much behind the orange netting that's gone up though now.

[Dan B]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chairma...7608004538510/

Another view of Southgate and it's relationship with The Odeon & The Alhambra. It's moved on from this again since and it's looking pretty much almost topped out now. I've seen there's plenty of undercladding now gone on on the Jury's Inn end of the site. Would be good to get some photos of the back of the site, it's much slimmer than you're made to think, it cuts in much further to the back. Makes you wonder why they'd want to give the impression of a rather chunky build as viewed from Thornton Road, though I don't know how else they'd go about doing it.

Edit: and an even more recent shot from the same guy, showing almost completion of the top floor:



http://www.flickr.com/photos/chairman8/4352554412/

[Dan B]

Found a gigantic render of the building design, though this may have been replaced by
the ones shown on the McAleer & Rushe Website. None of the renders correlate though.
This one just shows in great detail what the design and materials should be, so good
point of reference:



http://www.estatesgazette.com/blogs/...stmas-has.html

Interesting to note on the render the contrast between the real actual citizens of the city and the
make believe yuppies on the other side of the street who seem to have come straight out of the 1990s.
Can't they just make them a bit realistic for once?

Unfortunately it seems like the sandstone cladding is only in use at the front arch
the rest looks like blank sandstone coloured render judging by this. I would expect
more for £45m and a £6m council loan.

The above linked article also sheds some further light on that loan that I can't remember
the T&A having mentioned:

Originally Posted by EstatesGazette

As reported in EG last month, the developer went cap in
hand to the council for extra cash after its funders, Bank of Scotland in Ireland, said
it would only provide 75% of development costs on condition that the developer
secures and spends the remaining 25% of costs first. And this was despite the
developer securing a pre-let for the entire 117,000 sq ft office element and Jury's Inn
as the hotel operator.

So the bank is still footing 75% of the development costs. The council are therefore
paying for just under 13.4% of the development, I guess McAleer & Rushe are covering
the rest.

[*-City Of Bradford-*]

Was in the area last week:

image hosted on flickr

[silverstealth]

Both Feb 16th 2010



Feb 19th 2010



Images of the original buildings internally, and progressive shots.

http://bradfordinfocus.fotopic.net/c1669776.html

[Dan B]

Cheers for these shots silverstealth and all those on your website. Your second shot shows what I was on about here:

Would be good to get some photos of the back of the site, it's much slimmer than you're made to think, it cuts in much further to the back. Makes you wonder why they'd want to give the impression of a rather chunky build as viewed from Thornton Road, though I don't know how else they'd go about doing it.

Looking at the structure, this one appears to have topped out now with plenty of the under cladding and glass going in now on the building, saw some possible cladding blocks as well on some of the floors of the scaffolding. At its highest point it does appear to be about 9 storeys in actual fact contrary to the thread title.

[Dan B]

Shot taken from the National Media Museum where the games exhibition is currently on going, liking the contrast between the building blocks of tetris and the construction block:



Good exhibition by the way, lots of arcade games, recommend it.


By the way, noticed when walking past some of the stone cladding had started going on the building at the front on the Godwin Street corner.

[lazygamer]

Originally Posted by Dan B

Good exhibition by the way, lots of arcade games, recommend it.

It's only a small exhibit (I was perhaps spoilt by the GAME ON exhibition in the Barbican a few years back) but yes it is very good, and great to see kids playing on the old arcade machines and Spectrums. Take a load of 10ps with you (the arcade machines aren't free!)

[Dan B]

Originally Posted by lazygamer

It's only a small exhibit (I was perhaps spoilt by the GAME ON exhibition in the Barbican a few years back) but yes it is very good, and great to see kids playing on the old arcade machines and Spectrums. Take a load of 10ps with you (the arcade machines aren't free!)

It is kind of small, but I don't think they have much else space given it's replacing the gift shop area as it is, which makes me wonder where that's been relocated to. When I was down there we were constantly changing money for 10ps while we were playing this Gauntlet game 3 player, really addictive and you can see how quickly your money goes, mainly having missed the arcade generation myself, or at least retro arcades. I suppose it's making a tidy profit for the museum, nothing wrong with that. I love the detail they've put into it though, the decor of Tetris Blocks and the Space Invaders display painted on the glass frontage on the side of the building. Stroke of genius:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chairman8/4324411650/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/maraid/4299795307/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/christo...er/4306863367/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/christo...er/4307631726/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/christo...7594189770731/


That Barbican event looked nice and massive:

http://www.barbican.org.uk/artgaller...il.asp?ID=4964


There should be an upsurge in old arcade gaming or non-era bound ones, sure they'd make a profit with all the fond memories of people throughout these latter three or four decades.

[lazygamer]

Originally Posted by Dan B

It is kind of small, but I don't think they have much else space given it's replacing the gift shop area as it is, which makes me wonder where that's been relocated to.

There should be an upsurge in old arcade gaming or non-era bound ones, sure they'd make a profit with all the fond memories of people throughout these latter three or four decades.

The gift shop is now behind the new box office to the left of the entrance (so the gift shop counter is the same structure). It's a really good use of space that was previously taken up by the enormous rotating lens.

I remember a few years back the Media Museum had a temporary section on video games / the internet that was in part supported by BT/the BBC. You could play 4 player Quake 2 on trackballs(!) amongst some older and then brand new arcade machines. It was some time just after the major refurb.

I remember going into the Cubby Broccoli Cinema to watch some talk by some BBC bod about IPTV and how by the end of the decade (2009) you would be able to watch every episode of Only Fools and Horses thanks to an internet connection into your TV. When invited to ask questions, people were mocking the poor guy (license fee this, that, the other). Of course the BBC now has the iPlayer and the rest is history

[Dan B]

Originally Posted by lazygamer

The gift shop is now behind the new box office to the left of the entrance (so the gift shop counter is the same structure). It's a really good use of space that was previously taken up by the enormous rotating lens.

I remember a few years back the Media Museum had a temporary section on video games / the internet that was in part supported by BT/the BBC. You could play 4 player Quake 2 on trackballs(!) amongst some older and then brand new arcade machines. It was some time just after the major refurb.

I remember going into the Cubby Broccoli Cinema to watch some talk by some BBC bod about IPTV and how by the end of the decade (2009) you would be able to watch every episode of Only Fools and Horses thanks to an internet connection into your TV. When invited to ask questions, people were mocking the poor guy (license fee this, that, the other). Of course the BBC now has the iPlayer and the rest is history

So that's where it is now? Never noticed, didn't think there was as much space there though.

Wouldn't have minded playing a bit of Quake II, used to play it 4 player on the Playstation version that I've still got somewhere, some nice deathmatch games were had.

Considerably amusing anecdote there about the BBC representative, how wrong they all were. I have often wondered how the BBC supports the running of iPlayer, is it just brand loyalty? Doesn't it encourage fewer people to buy a TV License? Certainly my situation at the moment, and I wouldn't have it any other way.


Anyway, not to go off subject too much...


Went past the building today and noticed the Jury's Inn section had been cladded with white blocks all over the facade, most of the windows and glass had also gone in. Not sure if this is intended as under-cladding or whether it will be covered in render, couldn't make out the quality of the materials that well but it was certainly very white. A photo from the Richmond Building:



And a close-up:




Also noticed the sandstone cladding on the other side at the front corner of the building had progressed further.

[Dan B]

Dunno if you can tell, but appears render or some extra cladding is now going over the white blocks on the build. Hard to tell what it is though really:





The sandstone ''arch'' seems to be completed at the front and glass has started going in on the predominantly glazed bits.

[Yorkshire Boy]

are you sure this thing is 8 floors tall? I just walked past it (admitedly I was a bit under the influence) but it looks maybe 11 or 12 floors tall easy in places...

[Dan B]

Originally Posted by Yorkshire Boy

are you sure this thing is 8 floors tall? I just walked past it (admitedly I was a bit under the influence) but it looks maybe 11 or 12 floors tall easy in places...

That'll be the scaffolding which doesn't exactly follow floor height. Just have a look at the renders on the thread, 9 storeys at its maximum height, 8 storeys for most of the rest of the building.

[Briggsy]

I never realised the building was in a sort of 'U' shape, I'm guessing the car park will some how be in the middle? Not sure how they would get in if it's open ended at the top or will have a sort of tunnel going off the road at the back that leads to the big car park.

It's good to see the building work is coming along nicely and didn't hit any problems like the massive hole in the center did! Will improve the overall look of the centenary square area and hopefully boost the economy

[Yorkshire Boy]

Originally Posted by Briggsy

Will improve the overall look of the centenary square area and hopefully boost the economy

Indeed, it really flanks that corner of centenery square well, hope the cladding is well pulled off!