Tag Archives: building site

Aug 05 2023
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Daily Post, Urban scene

Building, ever more

Friday 4th August 2023, 9.05am (day 4,362)

Another building site, 4/8/23

There seems some kind of irresistible compulsion to construct more and more tall buildings in Manchester city centre, pretty much regardless of other considerations. There were a number of blocks built around one end of Canal Street and finished just before all that lockdown rubbish kicked off in 2020, which still appear to be mostly empty; certainly none of the commercial spaces on the ground floor has ever been occupied. And yet the city has plenty of homeless people and families who I’m sure would be able to make good use of such accommodation. In the meantime, let’s just build some more: it keeps certain political interests happy, doesn’t it.

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Jun 16 2023
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Daily Post, Hebden Bridge, Urban scene

Scaffolders on Eiffel Street

Thursday 15th June 2023, 1.20pm (day 4,312)

Scaffolders, 15/6/23

I apologise, as much to myself as anyone else, for the uneventfulness of life at this time. The scaffolders are busy in Hebden however; there were already at least four major scaffolding installations visible from home (including next door), and this fifth went up during the day. A growth industry it seems.

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Apr 19 2023
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Daily Post, Hebden Bridge, Urban scene

Rebuilding (study with green)

Tuesday 18th April 2023, 4.55pm (day 4,254)

Rebuilding, with green, 18/4/23

Photographically I still mildly regret not looking out of the window at about 3am on the morning of 2nd August last year and seeing this building aflame. This picture is taken from my house so we’d have got a good view: as it was, I did smell the burning and hear a distant alarm but once my subconscious had determined that none of this was coming from our living room, or similar, I went back to sleep and missed the opportunity. Never mind. The rebuilding is under way, as you can see. I like the green on this shot, which is what caught my eye in the first place.

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Oct 13 2022
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Daily Post, Urban scene

Weather defence

Wednesday 12th October 2022, 8.20am (day 4,066)

Weather defence, 12/10/22

I recall a time when I imposed a block on further pictures of building sites in Manchester, but needs must. The Town Hall is still undergoing its years-long renovation — first pictured back in January 2018, for heaven’s sake. On this picture, no endorsement is intended: other weather defence options are available. I presume.

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Aug 04 2022
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Daily Post, Urban scene

A little-used balcony

Wednesday 3rd August 2022, 10.30am (day 3,996)

Redundant balcony

An estate agent might still describe this a “Manchester city centre apartment, including private balcony, with intimate views of the River Medlock below”. The reality is that this building has been swathed in scaffolding for months now (certainly since at least early February, as this pic proves), and the Medlock is a litter-speckled concrete drainage channel at this point. I doubt those stairs have much purpose in existence, either.

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Mar 09 2022
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Art and architecture, Daily Post

Manchester still rises

Tuesday 8th March 2022, 10.15am (day 3,848)

Town Hall area, 8/3/22

Nearly two years ago today (9/3/20) I was in Manchester and depicting much the same area of the city, albeit from higher up. On the left of this picture, the Town Hall remains swaddled in scaffolding and Prince Albert’s memorial on the right is also still under wraps. Shortly after 9/3/20, the stupidities of lockdown began and there were only three more Manchester pictures for the subsequent five months. None of that this year, thankfully. And if anyone ever tries it again I will ignore them.

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Feb 15 2022
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Daily Post, Transport

Departing King’s Cross

Monday 14th February 2022, 10.30am (day 3,826)

Departing King's Cross, 14/2/22

What goes down South, must come back up North again (at least, unless one wants to be paying hotel bills for an excessive length of time). I don’t know where this train was going, but I was on the 10:30 back to Leeds, and then home.

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Feb 05 2022
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Daily Post, Urban scene

Scaffold tunnel

Friday 4th February 2022, 5.30pm (day 3,816)

Scaffold tunnel, 4/2/22

The endless building and rebuilding of Manchester does not seem to have particularly slowed down as a result of the last two years of bollocks, although seeing as no one has any money any more except Mark Zuckerberg it seems, I don’t know who’s going to inhabit all these new buildings. This scaffold tunnel rises over my walking route to work and I’ve been passing through it in both directions for some months, thinking it would make a decent picture; this evening it gets its chance.

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Aug 19 2021
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Daily Post, Urban scene

Joe visits Manchester

Wednesday 18th August 2021, 11.10am (day 3,646)

Joe at Victoria, 18/8/21

Three weeks and two days until Joe goes off to university, the psychological implications of which (for us all) remain unexplored. But at least we can get the logistics prepared, so he accompanied me to Manchester today to pick up practical stuff, plates, cutlery, you know, things that mean he won’t have to eat off the floor. Will this be the last shot of him in this particular city? Impossible to say what the future will bring.

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May 12 2021
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Daily Post, Urban scene

Desert fortress?

Wednesday 12th May 2021, 1.35pm (day 3,548)

Fortress rodblok, 12/5/21

Out in the harsh desert wastes of the Karakatarmakadam Mountains, the stark grey stonework of the Fortress of Rodblok stands astride the gravel flats, beside the dried-up river valley. Abandoned for centuries, the winter winds are now all that move through its lonely halls. No longer do pilgrims visit to pay homage to the great Red Icon embedded in its highest reaches.

Or, possibly, it’s a plastic object of some sort lying around in that roadbuilders’ yard on the way to Mytholmroyd. See it how you like.

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