Oh no...please don't equate that to the horror and waste of money the "garden bridge" was. All the waste of public money for the vanity of Lumley and Johnson.
The Garden Bridge would have been (re)created as private space (as with most of the planted space in Kings Cross, as I understand it). Hopefully the Camden project would be public, allowing unrestricted public access.
You have been involved with some interesting projects @McRazz - I remember you writing about the wildflower planting at the Tower of London and at The Olympic Park in London, I think.
There is a big new planting project starting at the new Maggie's Centre for Cancer at the Royal Free Hospital in north London. I am really hoping they plan long term budgets and management well. I think they actually have money set aside for gardeners. I imagine they have good experience of managing their gardens across the country. It will be interesting to see how it plays out and if they try and recruit staff to do the work.
It so very sad to see public gardens deteriorate through lack of ongoing care and budget. Marylebone High St has some dismal examples.
We've got a garden bridge in my town. They achieved it by shutting off a bridge for public safety and letting it rewild. The biggest risk is that the council might one day have the budget to just fix it. It would take about 0.01% of the money they spent on the feasibility study for Boris's vanity project bridge but I can't see that being offered to places this far from London.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
Aparently £50 million was spent on the Garden Bridge plans event though nothing at all was built. Quite mind blowing where all this money goes. I suppose bridges get the greenlight for gardens and footpaths because crap housing can't be sited there. Better spending money on not cutting down local woodland instead, I would say. Preserve and support what we have.
In our local ward we get notifications that they are going to nix a small local park and build housing on it. The next week we get leaflets through the door asking for ideas on how to "green the borough".
@LunarSea That is really nice good photos. I found a couple of videos on the youtubes. About how they had to carefully plan the planters etc as the bridge was originally engineered to bear the weight where the tracks/trains would run. Hence the caution.
It seems it might not necessarily end up as a permanent garden space, it is still experimental, with consultations and input from the public too.
I went looking as I was also curious about how they get water up there. ....but had not yet. I would guess also the canals might play a part. There were people with watering cans at one point somewhere.
@LunarSea That is really nice good photos. I found a couple of videos on the youtubes. About how they had to carefully plan the planters etc as the bridge was originally engineered to bear the weight where the tracks/trains would run. Hence the caution.
It seems it might not necessarily end up as a permanent garden space, it is still experimental, with consultations and input from the public too.
I went looking as I was also curious about how they get water up there. ....but had not yet. I would guess also the canals might play a part. There were people with watering cans at one point somewhere.
The Highways agency is relatively short vids with good explanations of how it started etc. Part one and two.
Anyway glad you enjoyed it LunarSea
Edited.Oh! I didn't realize it would add the links the way it did!
Thankyou so much @Rubytoo, those videos are really interesting. I hadn't realised that so many bodies have been involved in it's creation. We go into Manchester about once every 3 months but I think we must have been there on the day they were crane-ing the building into place because we remember not being able to complete our usual walk underneath and wondering what the hell was going on!
For as long as the public have access it will now be on our itinerary every time we go into Manchester.
Clay soil - Cheshire/Derbyshire border. I play with plants and soil and sometimes it's successful
The Garden Bridge would have been (re)created as private space (as with most of the planted space in Kings Cross, as I understand it). Hopefully the Camden project would be public, allowing unrestricted public access.
You have been involved with some interesting projects @McRazz - I remember you writing about the wildflower planting at the Tower of London and at The Olympic Park in London, I think.
There is a big new planting project starting at the new Maggie's Centre for Cancer at the Royal Free Hospital in north London. I am really hoping they plan long term budgets and management well. I think they actually have money set aside for gardeners. I imagine they have good experience of managing their gardens across the country. It will be interesting to see how it plays out and if they try and recruit staff to do the work.
It so very sad to see public gardens deteriorate through lack of ongoing care and budget. Marylebone High St has some dismal examples.
Spades in the ground at Maggies at the moment. Not much to look at last time i visited..
At ground level everything on Kings Cross estate is public realm, its a really great, sypathetically designed place if you ever get the chance to visit on a warm June day. In my opinion its a real benchmark for regeneration.
@amancalledgeorge funnily enough we made more money out of the cancellation of that contract than if we'd proceeded with building it. What a lot of people don't realise is that its cancellation resulted in millions in termination fees, loss of earnings civil suits, and procurement re-stocking costs. I believe it was close to £60m by the end. That's a 100% loss to the investors and 100% benefit to us as a business. Far better to have pushed on and actually got *something* for their money.
Having heard the term 'high line' bounded about so much over the past decade its nice to actually see something of its ilk coming together in Manchester. The industrial corten look is a little overused these days but i think its quite appropriate in this case.
McRazz said: At ground level everything on Kings Cross estate is public realm, its a really great, sypathetically designed place if you ever get the chance to visit on a warm June day. In my opinion its a real benchmark for regeneration.
Totally agree - the planting is fantastic and there's much more to see than first appears.
I would love to visit the Manchester project.
'If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.'
The signs around used to say "Please enjoy this private estate considerately." They were able to remove protesters from the spaces as it was privately owned.
Probably not worth a long trip just for this (I'm not sure where you are) but a really good day could be made by also taking in the Science And Industry Museum and the John Rylands Library, both within easy walking distance of the viaduct and both free entry.
Clay soil - Cheshire/Derbyshire border. I play with plants and soil and sometimes it's successful
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That is really nice good photos.
I found a couple of videos on the youtubes.
About how they had to carefully plan the planters etc as the bridge was originally engineered to bear the weight where the tracks/trains would run. Hence the caution.
It seems it might not necessarily end up as a permanent garden space, it is still experimental, with consultations and input from the public too.
I went looking as I was also curious about how they get water up there. ....but had not yet. I would guess also the canals might play a part. There were people with watering cans at one point somewhere.
The Highways agency is relatively short vids with good explanations of how it started etc. Part one and two.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InrMhRiHzW4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uef_R6pdTcw
Anyway glad you enjoyed it LunarSea
Edited.Oh! I didn't realize it would add the links the way it did!
Thankyou so much @Rubytoo, those videos are really interesting. I hadn't realised that so many bodies have been involved in it's creation. We go into Manchester about once every 3 months but I think we must have been there on the day they were crane-ing the building into place because we remember not being able to complete our usual walk underneath and wondering what the hell was going on!
For as long as the public have access it will now be on our itinerary every time we go into Manchester.
I play with plants and soil and sometimes it's successful
At ground level everything on Kings Cross estate is public realm, its a really great, sypathetically designed place if you ever get the chance to visit on a warm June day. In my opinion its a real benchmark for regeneration.
@amancalledgeorge funnily enough we made more money out of the cancellation of that contract than if we'd proceeded with building it. What a lot of people don't realise is that its cancellation resulted in millions in termination fees, loss of earnings civil suits, and procurement re-stocking costs. I believe it was close to £60m by the end. That's a 100% loss to the investors and 100% benefit to us as a business. Far better to have pushed on and actually got *something* for their money.
Having heard the term 'high line' bounded about so much over the past decade its nice to actually see something of its ilk coming together in Manchester. The industrial corten look is a little overused these days but i think its quite appropriate in this case.
I would love to visit the Manchester project.
Probably not worth a long trip just for this (I'm not sure where you are) but a really good day could be made by also taking in the Science And Industry Museum and the John Rylands Library, both within easy walking distance of the viaduct and both free entry.
I play with plants and soil and sometimes it's successful