Solid Foundations Are Of Paramount Importance #15

As promised, I went on a little derive of Ancoats over the weekend to document the latest developments in the, er, development. The cobbled road is Bengal Street, which has finally reopened after over a year, and you can just make out one of the new buildings in the distance past the bright streetlight on the corner of Jersey Street (it's white and a bit curvy). The church is St Peter's, which the Halle Orchestra is soon to take over as rehearsal rooms. Behind it on the very left is the original BS41 building; the structure between the two is the first part of the new bit. The picture at the bottom shows all three new bits together.

Solid Foundations Are Of Paramount Importance #14

These shots show the removal of the crane - the whole thing that started us off with these Solid Foundations posts and what the original Ancoats story was about. They also illustrate the size of this development, which now actually dwarfs Beehive Mill (the building in the original photos that says Sankeys Soap on the chimney, and where the final pic of this set is taken from). I'll try and get over to take snaps of the completed structure and reopened road, and then we can lay this part of the Site Specific Stories project to rest and get on with the next exciting instalment. Anyway, these are from October 2012, so pretty much bang on a year from when the crane went up.

Solid Foundations Are Of Paramount Importance #13

This was May 2012 on leafy Bengal Street. You might notice that in fact two buildings not one are now next door to the original apartment block BS41 (the one with white cladding on the left-hand side and a big hole in the middle, if you know your Ancoats landmarks). Hilariously, the company name of the lifting platform you can see through the site gates is: The Art Of Elevation. Made me chuckle.

Solid Foundations Are Of Paramount Importance #12

These two photos are from January and February 2012 - look how gorgeous the weather was a year ago! Who'd've thought, what with all the snow at the mo. Anyway, as you can see the timber and insulation had started going in at this stage.

Solid Foundations Are Of Paramount Importance #11

So... we had something of a hiatus there, but I recently dug out some old photos of the Ancoats development and, as it's pretty much complete now, I recently watched the crane being dismantled and taken away, and as I had another Ancoats story published recently, I thought I'd share them with you. This lot are from December 2011 - as you can see, work started taking off somewhat. Knowing what we know now about how big this behemoth has turned out to be, it's amazing it seemed to take so long to get going. OK, so more soon, and more on that other story too. Watch this space...

Solid Foundations Are Of Paramount Importance #10

Solid Foundations Are Of Paramount Importance #9

Things are cracking on on site, and they're even working in the dark now the days are drawing in, which ties in nicely with the bit in the story where "a giant red crane has sprouted from nowhere" overnight. It's a rubbish photo below, but you get the gist. I'm also liking the idea of the crane having headlights, as if it can just go off for a spin round Ancoats.

Solid Foundations Are Of Paramount Importance #8

The photo above was taken on Tuesday 1 November 2011. The photo below was taken a week later. There's a whole new floor!

Solid Foundations Are Of Paramount Importance #7

Two new angles of the crane in the short story, both on different days (Friday 28 October and Tuesday 1 November), yet both in the sun. See it's not been a bad autumn.

Solid Foundations Are Of Paramount Importance #6

Progress over the last week...

Solid Foundations Are Of Paramount Importance #5

Here's a record of when the author noticed that the second round of stories had mysteriously disappeared...

Jersey Street/Bengal Street - building site hoardings, sign
Saturday 22 October, 1.20pm

Jersey Street - fence to building site carpark
Tuesday 25 October, 10am

Jersey Street - gate to building site carpark
Friday 21 October, 6.30pm

Jersey Street - parking ticket machine
Friday 21 October, 6.30pm

Jersey Street - silver-coloured Ford hatchback
not sure but think Friday 21 October, 6.30pm

Hood Street - building site entrance, sign
Friday 21 October, 6.30pm

Hood Street - building site entrance, Site Safety sign
Tuesday 25 October, 10am

Hood Street - next to one of the Ancoats Peeps
Friday 21 October, 6.30pm

Blossom Street - engineers' van, parked outside St Peter's Church
Friday 21 October, 6.30pm

Blossom Street - carpark, kitchen and bathroom joiners' van
Friday 21 October, 6.30pm

Blossom Street - building site hoardings, behind blue and white Pedestrian Route sign (identical to last week)
Tuesday 25 October, 10am

Bengal Street/Blossom Street - building site hoardings, sign (pictured)
Saturday 22 October, 1.20pm

Loom Street - SUV, parked in Ask? building bay
Friday 21 October, 6.30pm

Loom Street - furthest entrance to BS41 flats
Saturday 15 October, 5.30pm

Loom Street - BT Openreach van
Friday 21 October, 6.30pm

Solid Foundations Are Of Paramount Importance #4

Here's how the building site is looking today, from a new angle. It's a week since the first batch of 15 stories was left in various spots on the perimeter and I've decided to repeat the exercise. Another 15 printouts - scrawled with the words "Read me - dare you" - were left on Friday 21 October 2011, between 2pm and 2.30pm. Most are in exactly the same places as last week, as a kind of reminder; some are in slightly different locations.

This is a record of where 15 stories were dropped off this week...

Jersey Street/Bengal Street - building site hoardings, behind red Road Closed sign (identical to last week)

Jersey Street - fence to building site carpark, in line of sight to car driver (identical to last week)

Jersey Street - gate to building site carpark, by the latch (identical to last week)

Jersey Street - parking ticket machine, outside Murrays Mills (identical to last week)

Jersey Street - silver-coloured Ford hatchback, parked near the parking ticket machine further towards Great Ancoats Street, outside Royal Mills, under windscreen wiper

Hood Street - building site entrance, behind red Site Entrance sign on gate (identical to last week)

Hood Street - building site entrance, behind Site Safety sign on gate (gate was shut so couldn't gain entry)

Hood Street - next to one of the Ancoats Peeps, behind rusty downpipe (identical to last week)

Blossom Street - engineers' van, parked outside St Peter's Church, through open nearside window (glass door to church now boarded up)

Blossom Street - carpark, kitchen and bathroom joiners' van, under windscreen wiper (the red van was there again, but window up)

Blossom Street - building site hoardings, behind blue and white Pedestrian Route sign (identical to last week)

Bengal Street/Blossom Street - building site hoardings, behind red Road Closed sign

Loom Street - SUV, parked in Ask? building bay, under windscreen wiper

Loom Street - furthest entrance to BS41 flats, behind metal cover

Loom Street - BT Openreach van, under windscreen wiper

Solid Foundations Are Of Paramount Importance #3

It's been nigh on a week since the flash fiction Solid Foundations Are Of Paramount Importance was left lolling about Ancoats, and in that time it has been both published and performed. You can read the story on the wonderful website 330 Words; I realise this blows my cover, but hey-ho. Click away. This is a photograph of the site today; it's all action. Look, that concrete wasn't there when this project started.

Solid Foundations Are Of Paramount Importance #2

The photograph in the previous post was inspiration for a short story (300-odd words long), written by the author of this blog. The blog was set up to tie the story and the photo together and to try and engage with potential readers of the story - and potential characters within the story. The story is called Solid Foundations Are Of Paramount Importance.

The story was printed out with a brief explanation of the project and a link to this blog. Fifteen copies of the story were then folded up and marked with the words "Read Me", and distributed around Ancoats, which is where the photograph was taken. The drops were made on Friday 14 October 2011, between 3pm and 3.30pm. It was a pleasant sunny day and neither rain nor wind was forecast for the weekend so this seemed as good a time as any to leave bits of paper lying about outside. The writer is also currently working, hanging out and occasionally staying in Ancoats, so it meant tabs could be kept on the stories in situ - as in this photograph...

On Friday 14 October, fifteen copies of the story were left in various places around and about the building site which features in the text. All drop-off points are within sight or sound of the construction site. All fifteen copies are now no longer there.

This is a record of where the stories were secreted, in the order in which they were left, and when the author noticed that they had been lifted...

Jersey Street/Bengal Street - building site hoardings, behind red Road Closed sign
Saturday 15 October, 5.30pm

Jersey Street - fence to building site carpark, in line of sight to car driver
Saturday 15 October, 5.30pm

Jersey Street - gate to building site carpark, by the latch
Friday 14 October, 5.15pm

Jersey Street - parking ticket machine, outside Murrays Mills
Saturday 15 October, 5.30pm

Jersey Street - cream-coloured Mercedes Benz coupe, parked by the parking ticket machine, outside Murrays Mills, under windscreen wiper
Friday 14 October, 5.15pm

Hood Street - building site entrance, behind red Site Entrance sign on gate
Sunday 16 October, 5pm

Hood Street - building site entrance, inside, under new length of wood
Sunday 16 October, 1.30pm

Hood Street - white Transit van, parked outside and delivering to/working at St Peter's Church, under windscreen wiper
Friday 14 October, 4.30pm (author saw van seen leaving from office window)

Hood Street - next to one of the Ancoats Peeps, behind rusty downpipe
Saturday 15 October, 5.30pm

Blossom Street - St Peter's Church, through the glass door
Saturday 15 October, 5.30pm (a wedding was at that point in progress)

Blossom Street - carpark, red small van, through open driver's window
Friday 14 October, 5.15pm

Blossom Street - building site hoardings, behind blue and white Pedestrian Route sign (pictured)
This had been read, screwed up and thrown on the floor Friday 14 October, 5.15pm - it was reinstated by the author. This was the last story to go - and was taken by a friend of the author, Sunday 16 October, 5pm

Bengal Street - MBLA Architects, BS41 building, behind plaque at entrance
Friday 14 October, 5.15pm

Loom Street - old blue Saab, parked in Ask? building bay, under windscreen wiper
Saturday 15 October, 5.30pm

Loom Street - entrance to carpark under BS41, next to keypad
Friday 14 October, 5.15pm

Solid Foundations Are Of Paramount Importance

Ancoats, Manchester, UK