The long awaited Bishopgate development has finally been submitted for planning. On the site of the former Royal Mail sorting office, the development will comprise of five towers containing over 1100 student apartments with some leisure and retail at ground level:
Yes - the Royal Warwicks Club I think? It was around the time of the first Swanswell plans. I wonder if that building is also in the sights of the developers, and if they'd be successful this time around.
As for EGO, Fargo did cross my mind as a possible new home, but I think they'd need quite a bit of space. Their current venue was created from two warehouses and includes a cafe/bar and flexible studio space with enough room to seat 180 people.
Pointless road on the left hand side.. They should turn it in to green space or a pedestrian zone. There's enough parking nearby, and with the main entry coming off the roundabout, it seems a bit redundant as a road.
That bridge reminds me of the one in Brum - seriously needs improving because in both short term situations that's all that can be done. Obviously the long term plans would be to bury the roads or calming and surface crossings. But as I was saying, maybe the bridge could have some nicer steelwork features on it like an arch or something and the ramp clad in terracotta to match the plinth of this new build?
Pedestrian footbridges are commonly made into iconic structures in their own right these days, something like a suspended bridge. What we have here is a very basic ugly footbridge. Unless they properly sort out the ring road I'd rather an attractive footbridge rather than a dangerous pedestrian crossing. The central reservation looks too narrow for a crossing for starters. In Plymouth they removed a subway below their inner ring road and replaced it would a surface level crossing and someone has already been killed crossing it.
Changing it to a pedestrian crossing would have a big effect on how the ring road is perceived, as well as being a HUGE improvement aesthetically and IMO improving the link between the canal basin and the city centre to a certain degree.
As for being dangerous - only if people are idiots. It's a simple traffic light controlled pedestrian crossing. Unless either a driver or pedestrian acts like an idiot it should pose no problems.
And the bridge itself is dangerous and resulted in deaths.
1. Drunk guy decided it would be fun to try and tightrope walk along the top of the railings and fell off. Died
2. Woman was thrown off the bridge in front of traffic by her husband. She was hit by a car and died.
3.I can think of at least two occassions of reports in the local paper of youths throwing things off the bridge at cars - one was bricks, another was a concrete slab. Thankfully no-one was killed and injuries were minor IIRC, but caused huge disruption with the section of the ring road being closed for investigations etc.
The road on the left provides vehicular access (to the rear of) to Delta Super Market and Machine Mart. The stub end could be converted into a pocket park but at a time of extreme Council budget cuts it is as likely as CEO Martin Reeves taking a 50% pay cut.
There should be more but Friargate appears to be fizzling out as opposed to sizzling hot. I think Bishopgate is being built in phases, too. Hopefully it gets completed because it will mask all of the horridness behind. It's like a mini Edgwick Park Industrial Estate in the city centre behind there.
If its being built in the stages then I guess the section with the podium will be built first as the photo above seems to show the earthworks being done on that side of the site.
When you look at the plans, you can see there are two building on site. One is the building with 3 towers, the other is one block with a tower on. There are the two phases. I does appear that the block with the podium is the one under construction now.
Dr P! I took almost the same picture from the same spot on Saturday!
I walked past it last a week ago and there was nothing there, maybe a floor, so I was surprised to see something so tall yesterday.
It's going to change the city centre a lot. I hope the car park gets built on as well so it completes the street, and then CDP do a Fargo Style development in the surrounding lanes.
As quick as that, if not quicker I'd say. Will top out within 10 days. There are two cores on site (there are two buildings in phase 1), and I think for this initial phase the tallest will rise to about 60m.
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