Tag: apartments

365daysofbiking Decent, enough:

October 6th – From the wailing and gnashing of the NIMBYs of Aldridge, anyone would think that the block of apartments planned for the long derelict land right at the bottom of High Street on the Elms Island would be some monstrous, hideous carbuncle that didn’t fit with it’s surroundings at all.

Studying it closely while in the village of 26,000 on Saturday afternoon, I actually decided I quite liked it. I’m not fond of the flat roof, which is a cop out in design terms, but the rest of it is an interesting blend of textures and colours, and is actually quite bland, really. It’s not too big, it certainly doesn’t block light to the hHigh Street as some alleged and it seems a good match for the rather stark pub nearby.

I’m sure the elderly folk it’s built for will enjoy living close to the amenities of the ‘village’ centre, too, and it will help keep the local retailers busy.

It seems a decent thing to me.

July 5th – Returning, I came down the main road, and by the old people’s flats, a familiar grumpy, curled up ball, sleeping in the communal garden: it’s the old gummy cat I featured here a couple of weeks ago.

Always nice to see the old lad, and I particularly like his truculent, just-woken-up air here. Such a lovely old cat. I’m sure we share many common traits in our parallel dotages.

November 3rd – intrigued to note that the Kings Hill Methodist Church in Darlaston is still undergoing extensive work to convert it to flats 12 months after the conversion started. This is clearly no cheap, quick fix – the work has involved relining the roof, with all the tiles removed and replaced, skylights added, and I was pleased to note today all the lead stolen from the front gables had been carefully replaced.

It’s been fascinating to watch this transformation and I’m keen to see the results. What I thought would surely be some bodge has turned out to be respectful, skilled and so far, very sensitive to the original building.

Meanwhile, the metal poppies in the railings of the adjacent park are a wonderful touch, especially at this time of year.

July 9th – I wasn’t particularly late back, but the golden hour seemed to settle in early, on a peaceful, mirror calm Catshill Junction. The new flats have balconies now, but still no sign of anything being done with the scrub and statue on the canal bank. 

On the towpath side, the buggers don’t seem to stop mowing at the moment – I’ve never known a year like it. It’s almost as if the moment an interesting flower pops up it must be cut down.

It never used to be like this. I’m convinced it’s just so the Canal and River Trust can look like they’re pro active whilst ignoring real infrastructure issues.

December 2nd – High above Town Wharf in Walsall, a curiosity.

On the flat roof of one of the new apartment blocks, a plastic goat. I’d heard it talked about by Dan Slee a couple of years ago, but never got around to looking for it until I saw someone talking about it on Facebook last weekend.

The question is ‘why?’ but probably should more be ‘why not?’

Walsall still has the capacity to surprise and delight…

June 5th – A better day. There was warm sun and it was dry with a keen wind. I had to nip down to King’s Hill near Darlaston, and passed the derelict, abandoned Methodist Church. I haven’t been this way much of late, and since my last look at this architectural stunner, it has continued to decay gracefully. The building has been sold, and permission granted to convert it into apartments, but work has not commenced yet.

At least we’re not losing the building.

What fascinated me today was the way nature is reclaiming the place. When the Church still held it, although unused, volunteers used to tend the grounds. Now, it’s run wild, and a riot of begonias, roses and shrubs are taking over. 

It’s sad and beautiful simultaneously.

December 10th – If I’ve got time, when cycling to Darlaston, I like to hop onto the canal. It’s a quieter, more interesting and contemplative route, and depending how much time I have dictates where I join the towpath. Today, I was running a bit tight for time so I left it until Bridgman Street, in the industrial centre of Walsall. This is an area of small units, some old, some very new. About ten years ago, it seemed the industry here was threatened with encroaching apartments and gentrification, but the credit crunch saw to that.It’s generally a thriving, humming area with frantic commerce of the daytime being replaced by an eerie desolateness at night. 

The view from the canal bridge is quite good, if not beautiful, showing many of the architectural and development phases of Walsall. Interesting to note that you can now see St. Matthew’s Church from here, a sight impossible until the BOAK building burnt down last year.

August 17th – Some development decisions baffle me totally. Out again at dawn to Four Oaks station, I found myself early and hanging around. I studied the apartment blocks that had been built on the former builder’s yard next to the station. The yard was originally railway sidings last used to serve MotorRail, and is cut into the hill back towards Mere Green. That means a very narrow strip of land with an oblique retaining wall one side, and a view over a commuter railway station at the other. Into this narrow dog-leg, builders have squeezed bland, characterless boxes. 

Presumably, the Mere Green/Four Oaks adress sells them, and the commuter links. I find them utterly hideous, with a dreadful outlook.