Council calling McCabe's bluff re Don Valley?

[sitwell]

Remember the old days when a drink in town was in town ,starting at the Claymore and going through at least 20 pubs to the bottom of west street or vise versa ,now the students have dragged it up the top of west street and from the bottom of fargate down is a ghostown day and night . The Moor was cut off from London Rd by the horrific manpower services commission building and will never thrive unless that is removed. the council wank themselves off about the peace gardens and Devonshire Green ,is that it ??

 

[shorehamview]

PS - if you think a city designed by architects would work, just take a look at Park Hill - a brutalist vision of hell (IMHO) designed by a very highly esteemed (sic) architect!

The old Broomhall flats were, like the other new council flats, partly inspired by an esteemed architect, Le Corbusier. He was a very famous and indeed very good architect and Sheffield City Council decided this was just the thing for modern urban living. Like Park Hill flats, this was a "city in the sky", a truly modern, 20th century idea. The one thing they didn't take into account was the shoddiness of those actually building them.

They were essentially a kit, and therefore easily assembled. The walls were made up of concrete panels that were to be edged with rubber baffles, and that's where the problems started. The builders had to put the rubber baffles between the slabs, but sometimes they dropped them from the scaffolding, and thought that as it was too much of a waste of time to fetch another one up they'd miss the odd one out. This of course meant that the waterproofing of the concrete seals as designed by the architects wasn't there in many places.

Then there's the concrete slabs themselves. Designed to be a simple steel-reinforced slab, the steel reinforcing frame wasn't always placed correctly when the concrete was poured, and so the steel was exposed rather than covered. No worries thought the makers, the rubber baffles will sort that out.

So when a combination of no waterproofing and exposed steel met the British climate water got in, and the steel started to rust. The flats inside were damp, some actually had water running down the walls inside, and they were also very prone to getting mouldy, and this caused lung and respiratory problems for many of the residents.

What started out as a grand idea for utilising one of the great modern architects of the last century ended in money wasted and people's health affected.

Check this link from the Yorkshire Film Archive for a film and article on Park Hill.

 

[KenMcnaughtsNuts]

very interesting. but youve got to admit, the high rise buildings of park hill/broomhall/norfolk park etc look/looked utterly hideous? if it were a hotel would you stay in it? i guess the idea of what looks good was different in those days?

 

[sitwell]

The dressing up of them looks just as bad ,see the tower blocks at Netherthorpe ,or the 'games village' at Hyde Park. Or even the 2 at Club Garden, polishing turds comes to mind.

 

[KenMcnaughtsNuts]

ive not taken much notice, i think the netherthorpe/upperthorpe/whatever the heck they are ones got some funky new colours, is that what you mean?

i actually lived on the broomhall flats for a (thankfully) short while, there was indeed mold (mould??) all over the bedroom. water leaks everywhere too. it wasnt fit to house rats. anybody who lived there 20 years or whatever must have serious health issue i reckon.

 

[shorehamview]

i actually lived on the broomhall flats for a (thankfully) short while, there was indeed mold (mould??) all over the bedroom. water leaks everywhere too. it wasnt fit to house rats. anybody who lived there 20 years or whatever must have serious health issue i reckon.

"Mold" is what you get in America, or when you use one of those decadent Weterns computers that only uses American English. Or when you live in a town in Welsh Wales. Mould is what you get when you are English, or ignore the Yankee spellchecker, or add proper words to it's limited American dictionary.

But yes, people did have serious health issues. I didn't live there, but I did visit for a school project in the early 80's. Grim.

 

[KenMcnaughtsNuts]

"Mold" is what you get in America, or when you use one of those decadent Weterns computers that only uses American English. Or when you live in a town in Welsh Wales. Mould is what you get when you are English, or ignore the Yankee spellchecker, or add proper words to it's limited American dictionary.

But yes, people did have serious health issues. I didn't live there, but I did visit for a school project in the early 80's. Grim.

Is it really? well now. i've called it mold all my days. those pesky american spellcheckers really do make a fool out of me! the darnest thing is...everytime i set them to proper actual english english, as opposed to american pretend english. my computer gets a virus from looking at too much porn. why a computer would want to look at porn, i have no idea. but that's another issue. the point is, i then have to reinstall everything. and then the american spellchecker gizmallarker (not an actual word) comes back like a johnny vegas turd after a flush. oh american spellchecker, will i ever be free of thee?

on a side point, how annoying is it when americans say we have strange words or spellings? like arse. and bollocks. and biscuits. it's called english. not american. the clue is in the damned name! it's our bloody language. therefore it's everybody else who speaks english wrong.

 

[alcoblade]

Remember the old days when a drink in town was in town ,starting at the Claymore and going through at least 20 pubs to the bottom of west street or vise versa ,now the students have dragged it up the top of west street and from the bottom of fargate down is a ghostown day and night . The Moor was cut off from London Rd by the horrific manpower services commission building and will never thrive unless that is removed. the council wank themselves off about the peace gardens and Devonshire Green ,is that it ??

You have fonder memories of drinking in town than I do. I was always too spread out. Its much better these days.

I suspect you're viewing it through eyes that are 30 years older. Things weren't really better in "the good old days"....

UTB

 

[TAMUS]

Shops are not the Future , lets have a big free car park on the Moor , then maybe all the Chuggers would Chug off .

 

[vorpal blade]

Thing is KMcN, American English is often the older form. Its unfair to criticise their spelling which hasn't changed since 1600ish when ours has morphed since the Pilgrim Fathers, have you gotten that? And if the British 'invented' the computer its our fault that the Americans developed and popularised it and we didn't. That's why spellcheckers default to Yank.
On the restored Park Hill, though the flats are probably too small and low, got to say I think it looks great and I have to admit I always loved the look of Hyde Park Flats as I came in on the train from Doncaster as a kid.
If we aren't to obliterate the countryside on our little island we shall have to get used to living in high rise buildings or stop reproducing.