A different point of view

... sometimes I take a great notion
to jump in the river and drown.

So yes, it's that man again, the statue known for no discernible reason, as Voyage. This thing always puts that old Leadbelly song in my head for some reason but that's just me I guess.

Final stages

Back in February I posted about the construction, in the old dry dock, of a stage for open air performances. Well here it is in all its wooden glory ready for its debut on Saturday with the annual Humber Street Sesh. Looks pretty good to this pilgrim through this barren land. Another welcome development is the opening of a small footbridge (from which the above shot was taken) allowing public access to the stage and buildings. The stage is built from larch so it should weather down to a silvery grey in due time complementing the grey bricks hopefully.

And finally for the truly OCD amongst you; the ancient graffiti Daze is still there though somewhat faded by the passing years, well, aren't we all?

Getting there

I haven't been in this area for a while so it was a pleasant surprise to find that the second set of buildings in this complex by the old dry dock are very nearly completed. If I remember the plans rightly there's another set of buildings to come along the road. It's all looking rather nice I think. Here's how it looked last time.

A developing picture

Yet another here's-how-it's coming-along image, this stitched together from about eight shots taken from the end of High Street. The second and third buildings are coming along nicely, all just tickety-pickety-boo!. 

Further good news, at least as far as I'm concerned, is that the multi-storey hotel planned for just behind where I took this is now definitely no longer going to be built; the planning consent has expired and the site is for sale. So if you want to buy about an acre of development land in the centre of the city of culture now's your chance; just watch out for the crows.

Stages of development

I was happy to find that the little pathway that runs alongside the old dry dock has been re-opened so I could have a wander along there this afternoon. As I mentioned in an earlier post some construction is under way in the dry dock. This is to be a small open air stage/amphitheatre for events during the Year of Culture, I don't have to tell you how enthusiastically this has been received amongst those who like to troll the local newspaper. Personally I think it's a grand idea and will entertain many on those warm evenings that Hull is especially noted for, between the end of June and the start of July. As well as a stage there's to be reed beds planted at each end for that eco-friendly look that is so in vogue these days.

While I was away

I've only been into town once in about two months or so, so I missed the official opening of this, the C4DI building, that is going to be the fountain of so many brilliant ideas that we will all live happily ever after in a digital wonderland. While the future maybe bright the once gleaming brass skin is already going a bit grubby, sorry, that should read gaining an impressive patina. Work is well under way on the rest of the site and the old dry dock is finally dry with some sort of construction going on in it.

Bold as brass

The latest on the new C4DI building is that it is now getting a cladding of shiny brass tiles. This is just the first of, I think, four new buildings for this site.

Deep Piles

It's not all falling down in the old town. At the new C4DI site work is underway to put in the necessary supporting piles. It seems a company called Aarsleff have been given the task of ramming steel into the Humber's muddy shore. Pile driving is not something you can do quietly and the noise from the operation nicely echoes off the Deep's walls. I recorded it just for fun. It's really not pleasant but it took me back to when I was a youngster living in Hartlepool and they built an atomic power station across the way, the pile driving went on for what seemed like two whole years; now that was tiresome.