Tag: refurbishment

May 5th – One of the reasons I haven’t been this way much in the last few months is that the canal aqueduct over the railway between Leamore and Harden has been closed so the structure can be refurbished, and has only just reopened.

I do hope that this loose, non-compacted shale isn’t the final preparation for the towpath surface – it’s uncomfortable to walk on, dangerous to ride on and just a plain shoddy job.

Take care if you’re riding this section – the loose nature of the surface steels wheels.

June 16th – Thanks to whoever tipped me off (I think it might have been Dave Fellows), but my complaint about the lack of handrails on the steps down from the canal to (the still closed)  Bentley Mill Way on the Darlaston/Pleck border were, it seems, premature. 

This week, a new rail has been installed – and jolly nice it looks too.

Have to say though, the steps – implicitly on a cycleway – are still awful to negotiate with a bike, but at least we have something to grab now.

It’s a shame the shallower, easier to negotiate access the other side has been removed…

December 16th – New Street, mid morning. These are not photos of the station pre-upgrade, but afterwards. Some of it may be improved later, but nothing shows the  shallowness of the turd-polish this project really was than this view; just a little away from a main route through the station, bare 60s concrete, dirty 80s cladding and ugly, dark structures. 

New Street looks stunning in press photos from the concourse, and from the streets nearby; but use it and you soon realise that the Emperor has no clothes and the station is still failing, still unpleasant and still unfit for purpose.

You can’t polish a turd, as the saying goes, but they have rolled this one in glitter.

February 28th – Another grey, dull day, with a worsening wind. I had stuff to do in Walsall Wood and headed up the canal to get there. Between Cathshill Junction and Walsall Wood Bridge, work has been ongoing since summer on the eastern embankment. First, it was strengthened with sectional piling at the Black Cock Bridge, and the level raised; now soil has been added to some thickness along much of the stretch, presumably to provide better security agains overtopping and to counteract weather erosion. 

I note that on the bend that was piled, staves have been driven into the bank, and reed beds planted behind, presumably to create a natural buffer against erosion in a particularly vulnerable spot.

Wonder if they’ll get round to fixing the brickwork and voids on the pedestrian side of the canal anytime soon?

January 9th On the way back into Brownhills, I passed another pub with a difficult recent history. After a long period of stability, the Shire Oak went through a few landlords in quick succession, and was closed for a good while, before being reopened on Christmas Eve last. It’s a decent house when in the right hands and I wish the new hosts well; such a prominent, landmark pub, standing as it does on a major junction, should do well and it would be very sad if it were lost. 

Good news here too, though, as a refurbishment is on the cards. I hope everything works out for this historic community boozer.

March 27th – The refurbishment of Austin House in The Butts, Walsall is an impressive thing indeed. Boasting 248 solar panels and a geothermally assisted heating system, as well as state of the art insulation, this ageing towerblock has been transformed by landlords Walsall Housing Group.

It’s sad that they couldn’t push the boat out similarly for the flats in Brownhills, but it is very impressive indeed.

February 17th – There’s water everywhere at the moment, but it’s depressing to note that flooding caused by bad drains is still happening a couple of years after I first noticed it. At the Black Path, near the A5 by Brownhills School, pedestrians and cyclists are forced onto a muddy desire-path around a lake formed because the drain at the bottom of the slope hasn’t been cleaned out for years.

Similarly, and most frustratingly, at the other end of the Black Path, the money recently spent on Hoilland Park clearly didn’t extend to sorting the nonfunctional drains on the tennis court. Like the flooded bowling green at Waslall Wood, this has been ongoing for a couple of years now. A refurbishment has recently taken place here, yet it’s still flooded, and presenting a hazard.

I’d really like someone to look into sorting these problems out – a lot of people complain about them, and it’s getting harder and harder to defend the official position. 

If we can find money to resurface paths, I sure we can spend a little bit sorting the blocked drains.

October 9th – A casual observer might think I had a downer on the project to renovate and upgrade New Street Station in Birmingham. I haven’t particularly, but in my opinion the design leaves much to be desired, both functionally and aesthetically. A good example of the aesthetic horror of the design is the polished stainless steel cladding being erected on the Stephenson Place facade. Unsealed, and hanging from girder work erected on the surface of the old Pallisades centre, again, it stinks of bodge and bad taste. The mirror surface looks tatty to me; adjacent sheets  don’t always meet perfectly and where the sheets are pinned, the surface is often distorted and looks dented and cheap. 

Compared to the iconic and stunning Selfridges building, this looks like something dreamt up on a bad Saturday in the pub by a crazed Meccano fan. I dread to think what the rest of it will look like when complete…

November 18th – Humphries House, in Brownhills, is being refurbished, much to the surprise of the residents of Brownhills. The 60’s high-rise block had two companions, Waine House and Bayley House, both now demolished, and it was felt for a while that Humphries House would soon go the same way. Walsall Housing Group, in their infinite wisdom, have chosen to refurbish and reclad the remaining residences instead. I noticed this morning as I passed by on the canal that insulation was being fitted beneath the new cladding, and the fitting of windows was now nearly complete. Don’t envy those guys in the cradle, I can tell you. Bet it’s chilly up there, too…