A significant milestone has been reached in the HS2 build, as the huge tunnel boring machines (TBM’s), have completed the longest required 10-mile tunnel under the Chiltern hills.
HS2 TBM
Florence, yes that is a bit Magic Roundabout, a huge TBM has excavated 80m under the Chiltern hills to deliver the first of two giant tunnels, making up one of the significant infrastructure projects required to complete HS2. Cecilia, the other TBM is still going.
TBM cutaway
These TBM’s are impressive and daunting. They are 170m long and are self-contained underground factories, a team of 17 people operate the TBM, which as well as digging the tunnel adds the concreate wall segments to build the tunnel, moving along at up to 15 metres a day, 24 hours a day. HS2 state the largest HS2 TBM cutterhead is 10.26m, roughly the height of two giraffes standing on top of one another.
HS2 Tunnel
While there are political rows over HS2, both its intent and planning, as well as the finances, this is also about an unprecedented engineering feat so kudos to those involved.
The Jubilee swimming pool in Penzance, Cornwall is all things. It is both a blast from the past, a piece of modern engineering, a story of contemporary financial funding and is now a traditional harbinger of our times, with the announcement that it is closing!
Penzance Lido
The Jubilee Pool is a historic art deco lido in an unusual triangular shape, It is massive, being the largest saltwater pool in the UK with an estimated 5 million liter’s capacity. Opened in 1935 to mark the silver jubilee of George V it ran the usual gamut of popularity and then neglect. It weathered damage from storms in both 1962 and 2014. With more recent funding being provided by community funds, as well as ironically a substantial ERDF grant, over £3m was invested for the pool’s revival. Along with the addition of a 410m hole drilled into the bedrock below the existing Lido, this created a smaller geothermal energy pool heated to a cosy 32 degrees, which opened in September 2020.
Jubilee Pool, Penzance Lido
The huge popularity of wild swimming and outdoor swimming should have made the pool popular. But as with so many projects while the enthusiasm and funding for the actual project is made available the resulting ongoing maintenance can damage its survival. In January 2024 the pool closed, intended to be a winter closure to mitigate high energy costs, low winter usage, and to enable further refurbishment and improve the sustainability of the Lido. It is scheduled to re-open in May 2024. What its long-term future looks like depends upon its popularity, which requires smart marketing and pricing to ensure it covers those high running costs. Let’s hope it succeeds.
There is a bit of a storm-in-a-teacup given the news that museums are consolidating some of their collections at new facility in TVSP. The Thames Valley Science Park, in Shinfield, Berkshire is due to re-house some collections from the British Museum, the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, and the Natural History Museum (NHM). These are all based in London and they’re moving to TVSP in Reading, which is outside London, but not really that far, it’s not the Orkney Islands for goodness sake!
TVSP in Reading
The Natural History Museum (NHM) is facing criticism from scientists and academics, about this move, based upon the notion that distributing the collection will lead to a lack of expertise and losing the centre of excellence at the institution. As most of the collections are actually being consolidated, many are in backroom storage that never sees the light of day (yeh I know that might be a necessity for certain things!) it seems a bit tenuous. Could it be that these experts don’t want to move out of London? Or lose their London-weighing funding?
TVSP
The upside is the TVSP is being built, which will replace these institutions ageing buildings, and crumbling storage space. The British Museum has already moved thousands of objects to a new Archaeological Research Centre on the site, which is due to open shortly. So it might just be for the better. Unless they don’t allow visitors. And to be fair once it’s done, no-one will notice.
The 2023 RIBA Stirling prize for the UK’s best new building went to the John Morden Centre. Interestingly, its a retirement day care facility in London, with another shortlist being Lavender Hill Courtyard Housing.
The five shortlisted locations for the Museum of the Year 2023, would itself make an interesting journey planner, covering Belfast, Glasgow, London and the Orkney Islands.
Scapa Flow Museum, Orkney Islands
For those who don’t know, the Orkneys are the bit north of UK’s most Northerly point at Dunnet Head. Although Thurso is the nearest town and John o’ Groats is normally suggested, being the start or end point for the John o’ Groats to Land’s End trek. Though none of these locations will get you the wind-blown ferry to the Orkney Islands, which itself lie south of the Shetland Islands.
Scapa Flow Museum
It looks as though if you do ever get there, then the revitalised Scapa Flow museum is well worth visiting.
Recent speculative news has been about Centreport, a proposed £2BN tidal barrage across the Wash, connecting the Lincolnshire coast with an area of outstanding natural beauty on the North Norfolk coast, which will include a giant sea container terminal in the middle. Is this ambitious or just plain daft?
Centreport
At first view it seems daft, why would you want to place a giant infrastructure project in an area of relative natural peace and quiet? The project suggests that as well as being an economic development it intends to protect the local area, helping save the area from climate change and providing flood defences. An expensive 11 mile causeway will include mid-point, the world’s first tidal energy deep sea container port. The person proposing the development has developed the existing Deepwater Container Terminal in Gdansk, Poland. So it is not just speculative blue sky thinking.
Centreport
This giant ambitious engineering project seems feasible, if we were the Dutch, and had their experience, expertise and commitment to managing water and land development. But we don’t. It has taken us years to build the HS2 railway line, we flunked the funding for the proposed Swansea Tidal Lagoon, so we just don’t do big engineering projects unless private capital is paying. And for those of us who love this part of the coast, really, we don’t want to see more concrete and human development on this stretch of nature, thanks all the same.
With a bit of northern grit and determination Leeds announced itself to be the unofficial UK City of Culture during 2023. Why unofficial? Well the UK city of Culture, determined by the UK Government, runs every four years, with Coventry having taken that mantle in 2021, after the successful Hull activity in 2017, and Bradford being the next city of culture in 2025. Leeds had prepared a bid to become one of the European Capitals of Culture, confusingly there can be multiple capitals in any one year! But given the UK’s vote to leave the European Union that became a wasted effort. Except Leeds decided it wasn’t going to be wasted and turned that outline bid into preparing a feast of activity during 2023.
Leeds 2023
But is doing “creative” stuff and sponsoring the “arts” a way to transform and build a place? Many towns and cities have turned to the creative industries to build or sustain regeneration, think of the success of Tate St Ives, or the Turner Contemporary opened in Margate in 2011. But these things require substantial investment, think Hastings Pier or the V&A museum in Dundee.
The Government has recently announced the second tranche of their “Levelling-Up” Fund, an investment of £2.1 billion for one hundred and eleven projects/areas. These include funding for The Eden Project North a transformative £50 million in Morecombe, and £20 million for Gateshead Quays and the Sage (itself a re-development). But do these iconic projects themselves transform and create regeneration? For every Tate there seems to be a Middlesbrough, and for every one project included in Levelling Up there are scores more that miss out!
While many of these levelling up plans are about infrastructure, which does indeed seem to help regeneration, do stand-alone cultural or heritage activity help sustain growth? While sometimes arts seem to flourish during regeneration, is it the regeneration building the arts community or is the arts bringing in regeneration? Its really hard to measure.
What does seem to be clear is that just a stand-alone activity doesn’t build long term growth and prosperity. Things like the Hepworth Wakefield require continued investment. Necessary conditions seem to be a population that itself is growing and has disposable income to support a flourishing arts and creative communities. So one can only wish Leeds much success and if you’re around the area, or looking to visit somewhere, why not Leeds in 2023?
The iconic skyline of Battersea Power Station is still visible in London, but since the power station was shutdown in 1983, it’s become a dreary empty industrial wasteland.
Battersea Power Station, redeveloped
Now, in October 2022, after 8 years of redevelopment, and a similar billion figure cost, the space has been re-opened and transformed into that well-rehearsed concept of retail, living and work, including Apple’s new HQ. This is actually Phase 2 of the overall development plan for the Grade II listed building which includes the enhanced facilities of Zone 1 Northern tube line extension, and a new pedestrian and cycle route providing access to the amenities of Circus West from the eastern side of the power station. Circus West was the first phase development which itself included these tropes including a private cinema, library, gym, spa and swimming pool.
Battersea Power Station, the turbines have stopped spinning and been replaced with greenery
Phase 2 see the opening of the actual revamped Battersea Power Station building. The iconic four chimneys are still there, but have been replaced with concrete replicas, with the addition of a glass lift (Lift 109) to the top of one of the chimneys to provide a 360-degree view over London. The art deco Control Room A, has now been restored as a events space, and the more brutalist style Control Room B will open as a bar. Other original features remain and there will be a heritage trail around the building. Living history has continued as the developers have used the adjacent river thames to take the excavated site materials away by barges, where they will be recycled and reused.
Control Room/Turbine Room B
While this massive site, 42 acres (over 8 million sq ft) continues be to developed, it is really nice to see this iconic landmark remain on the south bank.
After the devasting fire that destroyed the magnificent Notre Dame cathedral in Paris in 2019, there has been speculation on what will be rebuilt and when.
Notre Dame
Now looking at re-opening in 2024, this distinctive iconic building will once again be open to the public. While this will me more a facsimile, being a restoration of what was, the outside of the historic attraction is being re-imagined.
Design Space outside Notre Dame
The landscape architect Bas Smets has been given the task to create the new vision for the wide open space surrounding Notre Dame. The square in the front of the cathedral is imagined as an open space surrounded by greenery that highlights the eastern façade of Notre Dame. The surrounding trees will provide shade for seating areas and there is an innovative wall of water that will help keep summer temperatures down.
The area “behind” the cathedral, currently divided by hedges and fences, will become one large public space, with gardens to the south where the existing trees will be integrated into a large riverside park 400 meters long. The existing underground parking space, located under the current main square, is proposed to be transformed into an interior promenade. This will house the Notre Dame reception areas of over 3000 square meters and offer access to the archaeological crypt and an opening onto the river Seine that flows alongside. But there will be a wait – these developments take place after the re-opening with a schedule for the compete transformation by 2027.
Cultural Highlights 