Endurance

So much has gone on in my life in recent months: Went to Amsterdam, fell in love, didn't go to India (yes, that is, believe it or not, something to note), broke up a fight, got a new dream job, formed a band that properly gets paid, went to France (twice), went to Finland, survived the economic crisis (so far)...

... as has at least one of the London new builds by the looks of this photo. Which I can non-exclusively reveal is.... The Heron Tower. Also, Broadgate Tower looks well and truly occupied (though not featured in this photograph). God knows what's happening to the Cheesegrate or the Bishopsgate Tower though. The demolition of the Cheesgrater site started well before the Heron Tower one, so it's all a bit arse abourt face if you ask me.

I'm retired from skyscraper hunting officially, but couldn't resist posting this photo, together with a link to skyscrapernews to read more about it.

By the way - and I hate to go on about it - but my new blog is starting to pick up in frequency of posts, and it is more fun writing when you have more readers, so please do take a look.

Things move fast

You know those signs which are rigged up to a speed detector and light up, telling you, personally, to slow down if you're going too fast; one of them just flashed at me... on my bike. Cool as!

I'm not the only things to come and go in the blink of an eye though. Take a look at this:

And now this:

Aside from one photo being zoomed in far closer, you will notice that the second is far less cluttered with sheet clad building owing to the clearing of the site to build the Heron Tower. And these photos were taken, what, 2 and a half months apart.

The upshot of this is there are now - for a limited period - pleasant vistas across to St Botolph's without Bishopsgate Church. This view has been obscured for probably the last 30 years at least by a bland concrete building and, if all goes according to plan, will be obscured once more within the next year. So get in fast!

It's a very pretty church and i'm glad it's now revealed to the world. Does this mean I wish Heron Tower wasn't being built?

It's a tricky one. If the Heron Tower wasn't going to be built then I suppose the plot of land would be a great location for a small park. I think it'd get plenty of sun and, as illustrated here, the views would be pretty.

But that's never gonna happen. That land is destined to play host to an office block of some description. A view obscuring office block. But the question remains; what sort of building should it be? Preserving the view can't be an argument against or in favour of any building higher than 1 storey. Realistically, any new building in the city is going to be at leats 5 storeys high (even the old ones tend to have at least 4 floors).

So it does make me sad to know that the view of St Botolph's from the south East will be short-lived one, at least I know the building that gets in the way has an architectural ambition that might just soften the blow a little.