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Centenary Square developments 2019

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sospiri said:
Hate to be a pessimist, but water features won't last five minutes before the drunken yobs from further up the street are tipping dye and detergent into them.

Maurice
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Good to see you back, you must be feeling better remembering your misspent youth
Bob
 
Thanks Bob. But I am not guilty of grafitti or tipping dye or detergent into water features at any time in my life. Now cramming as many as possible into a Morris 8, some standing on the rear bumper, and spending the night in some farmer's barn on the outskirts of Brum - that was a different matter! :-)

Maurice
 
sospiri said:
Thanks Bob. But I am not guilty of grafitti or tipping dye or detergent into water features at any time in my life. Now cramming as many as possible into a Morris 8, some standing on the rear bumper, and spending the night in some farmer's barn on the outskirts of Brum - that was a different matter! :)

Maurice
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Maurice
I think people of our era had not yet developed such 'pranks', we were more reserved (and yet so daring!!!) with what we did like as you say cramming as many people as possible into old cars and telephone boxes.
Bob
 
HnC,

If they grow roots like the one I had in my garden, they'll make short work of that nice new paving! :-) Mine nearly took the wall of my garage down and eventually I had to kill it off.

Maurice
 
sospiri said:
HnC,

If they grow roots like the one I had in my garden, they'll make short work of that nice new paving! :) Mine nearly took the wall of my garage down and eventually I had to kill it off.

Maurice
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Maurice
They are City planners and councillors, they would not think of things like that. Anyway they probably think that the roots go straight down. From someone who had a similar experience with a tree close to the house.
Bob
 
I suspect they are only concerned that it will look good in 2022. Most of what is built has a relatively short life span it seems (compared to previous times) and as such endorses a present day 'short term' way of thinking.
 
When I moved into my house three years ago there was a silver birch in my garden. First thing I did was have it taken out. I could not afford to let that get as big as the trees that are being planted in Centenary Square. I was in Riga Latvia last year and I saw some silver birches which must have been 30 metres high.
 
You are right, David, they can be very destructive. Might not be as fast growing as Leylandii, which we also had problems with, but they make work when a different species would have been better.

Maurice
 
Perhaps they won't be left there long enough to put down good roots! Things are changed and re-done so often they probably won't have a chance to grow much!!! Either that, or they will be vandalised.
When a line of trees were planted in Lightwoods Park they did not survive ill treatment and remains were removed.
rosie.
 
I have just realised, it is actually job creation for any babies born this year, come 2039, elfnsafety will see paving being forced up and cracked, the area will be coned off and a 20 year old apprentice will go in with his new laser chainsaw and take them down and say to the watching press, my Great grandad remembers these being planted. There you have it Hastings, the little grey cells worked, Mon Dieu and simples.
Bob
 
Paving under the Library of Birmingham seen from the back of the Amphitheatre.



Behind the gate near the Amphitheatre. View of the construction of the new water feature / fountain area (I think). Towards Symphony Hall / The ICC. The paving outside of those buildings still hasn't been dug up, when you are walking to Broad Street! Assume that they will have to open up the section at the far end of here, then close off the area still open now.

 
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The new reflection in the Hyatt Regency from Centenary Square of the Alpha Tower and HSBC UK - 1 Centenary Square. Seen to the left of the Hall of Memory.

 
Discovery Terrace view of Virgil aka the John Baskerville typeface sculpture Industry & Genius.



The fences is still around it.
 
Centenary Square in the rain.

Baskerville House end.



CAT on Broad Street. Paving near Symphony Hall and The ICC has not yet been pulled up!



The West Midlands Metro extension to Centenary Square on Broad Street.

 
The trouble with all these acres of paving is that they look so dismal on a wet day! We used to complain that the centre of Bournemouth was split into two halves and on foot you couldn't get from one side to the other without getting soaking wet. In the 40 years that I lived in Bournemouth, that never changed. Yet Poole, next door had a shopping mall stretching from the bus station over most of the centre of town and on a dismal day, you could spend hours on the move without getting wet.

The entertainment area of Brum is similar to Bournemouth. This to my mind is really bad piecemeal planning and the planners aren't capable of thinking beyond the next building they are working on.

Maurice
 
maurice you left out the word desolate....where are all the people looks like a ghost town to me
 
With the digger, I waited until a few people had gone before taking that photo. The roadside with the Metro works wouldn't be people there. First pic, the people were further to the left!
 
Bike racks back in use outside of the Library of Birmingham.

Did notice other sections of hoardings replaced with metal fences, but not much to see right now.

 
The Statue that no one likes has now been reinstalled in Centenary Square, I refer to the Statue of the two women with children, I managed to get a few good photos of the statue, and one of the lads working on the site took a photo of the
front of the statue,

Normally I would now give a link to to the photos on Flickr not any more all photos that I now take go into my photo
archive sorry and all that
 
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