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Then & Now

Is it just me, or does anybody else think that the young girl in the centre behind the water feature and the young lady on the left are the same person after the passing of a few years.
 
Phil said:
Is it just me, or does anybody else think that the young girl in the centre behind the water feature and the young lady on the left are the same person after the passing of a few years.
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Phil said:
Is it just me, or does anybody else think that the young girl in the centre behind the water feature and the young lady on the left are the same person after the passing of a few years.
Click to expand...
Wow Phil...……...Certainly could be for sure!
 
High Street Deritend through the years of 1875 up to 2019 looking toward the Bull Ring from Alcester Street down to Chapel House Street.

I've had to make an amendment to this image because of a misunderstanding over a copyright matter.

Deritend High Street Alcester Street to Chapel House Street - Copy_opt.jpg
 
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Why do they pull down beautiful brick built factories like that and replace them with a hideous metal framed sheet metal covered monstrosity, can't these buildings be made into units for small busineses or something more productive and try and keep some of our heritage :worried:
 
ade said:
Why do they pull down beautiful brick built factories like that and replace them with a hideous metal framed sheet metal covered monstrosity, can't these buildings be made into units for small busineses or something more productive and try and keep some of our heritage :worried:
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Unfortunately not, they often are not fit for purpose because they were built before a lot of the regulations that are now in force came into force. They contain asbestos, are not disabled friendly and generally do not meet current building regulations. It is a tragedy that an old brick built building is demolished and replaced by a steel framed, glass and panelled building, often preconstructed (MacDonalds & Holiday Inn Express), but believe it or not it actually often works out cheaper and bearing in mind the CDM Regs (Construction, (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 amended 2015) place the onus of the Health and Safety of the building on the builder for the life of the building, take my word for it, it is cheaper to demolish and rebuild than to try and save a building. Additionally when converting a building for use in this day and age, you are often faced with planning officers who insist on like for like if windows, doors etc have to be replaced and worse than that is when someone has the building listed and everything has to be like for like at extortionate costs. In the case of a great many of the old factories etc, noxious chemicals and gases remain in the fabric of the building and lack of maintenance etc have left the building in a very poor condition as well as their inability to meet modern standards.

Bob Davis
 
Thanks bob
I see where your at with that, it's a pity they can't keep the frontage of the old buildings and build the modern, compliance passing, building cert areas off the back of it, from the front it would look like nothing's changed and keep the look of the old building intact
 
That has been done in some places in Birmingham, and also here in ~Reading, but as Bob says, it is expensive.and nowadays that is important. Similarly, quick "unexpected" fires are relatively cheap compared to long negotiations
 
Bob

I have worked quite a few contracts where the frontages of buildings have been left and woven into the design of the new build. I can't speak for the rest of the work but I can tell you that leaving the frontage does not incur all that much extra cost from a demolition point of view.
 
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Mike

Didn't I show you the one job we did on Alcester Road when you, Lyn and myself went to that photographic exhibition at Butchers Transfers old place in Balsall Heath?
 
mikejee said:
That has been done in some places in Birmingham, and also here in ~Reading, but as Bob says, it is expensive.and nowadays that is important. Similarly, quick "unexpected" fires are relatively cheap compared to long negotiations
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Mike
Spot on, saves demolition money too, I think somewhere on the forum there is an ex demolition man, hopefully from the days of the Ruston Bucyrus with the swinging ball, nowadays it is more clinical than heart surgery. Oddly enough preservation of the frontage does not rate high in the planners eyes. I hope that the attached screenshot helps prove the point. Many years ago (over 25) the rear of the building that once stood behind the hoardings a fine example of Victorian architectural design and building, similar to the one next door but more ornate was demolished. The frontage stood propped up for years to be incorporated into bravura new plans for shops, offices a hotel and cinema. Then suddenly about two years ago the frontage was demolished (the town complained it was an eyesore) and this is what we have today.

Sorry cannot get the picture on at this moment, will try later

Bob
 
Mike the only difference is that there is a bit more hand work when you get close to the frontage, of course the scaffolder's have to use a bit more scaffold as support as opposed to public protection, but as I said the actual demolition is not much more work.

Here is the job that we worked on, and the second photo is of what was put in place of similar houses that were demolished around the corner in Trafalgar Road, I know which houses I would choose to live in.

Alcester Rd.JPGCapture.JPG
 
Saninsburys in Moseley was a frontage retention job. There were a few done in John bright Street too. My dear old Ruskin College in Oxford was also subject to a frontage retention when Worcester College bought the site.
 
Bob Davis said:
Unfortunately not, they often are not fit for purpose because they were built before a lot of the regulations that are now in force came into force. They contain asbestos, are not disabled friendly and generally do not meet current building regulations. It is a tragedy that an old brick built building is demolished and replaced by a steel framed, glass and panelled building, often preconstructed (MacDonalds & Holiday Inn Express), but believe it or not it actually often works out cheaper and bearing in mind the CDM Regs (Construction, (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 amended 2015) place the onus of the Health and Safety of the building on the builder for the life of the building, take my word for it, it is cheaper to demolish and rebuild than to try and save a building. Additionally when converting a building for use in this day and age, you are often faced with planning officers who insist on like for like if windows, doors etc have to be replaced and worse than that is when someone has the building listed and everything has to be like for like at extortionate costs. In the case of a great many of the old factories etc, noxious chemicals and gases remain in the fabric of the building and lack of maintenance etc have left the building in a very poor condition as well as their inability to meet modern standards.

Bob Davis
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Bob,

Fully understand...…….But thy don't have to build ugly!
 
I doubt many specification are based on pleasing looking opposed to ugliness. Usually 'cheapest' is often No.1 on the list!
I was thinking the other day that small tornadoes (Birmingham is not immune to them) and whirlwinds might blow away many of the 'tin sheds' so widespread in the country.
 
Richarddye said:
Bob,

Fully understand...…….But thy don't have to build ugly!
Click to expand...
It is not building ugly, it is architects designing current century beautiful buildings, of course you and I do not think they are beautiful, but the architect is lòoking for his Opus magni, something that will be published in the next edition of architects weekly and put him up there with Lecourbousier, Lloyd Wright, the Bauhaus, Rogers and Foster, they have a job to do and money to earn and it has to be different. Visit Dubai and marvel that so many buildings can look so different and yes some are quite beautiful while others, well you can take them or leave them.

Bob
 
To complement Phil's photos shown here, there are photos of the former pubs in that location, in this thread.

Brighton Hotel/The Brighton Balsall Heath

Hi Gibbo I don't ever remember being called the Brighton Arms. It was the Brighton Hotel right up to the 70's I believe when the postal address changed from Brighton Rd and it was around that time that it simply became the Brighton. Sorry but the only decent photo I have comes from around that...
birminghamhistory.co.uk birminghamhistory.co.uk
 
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