Living with our heads in the clouds

The demise of the Obel project.

Remember a previous post where people were being encouraged to live with their heads in the clouds? Well not any longer - compare the hoarding above with the previous post - the slogan has now been painted over and work seems to have been discontinued on the monstrosity originally planned for here....

... and this is all that has been built since work started a year ago. (Construction work on the 265ft building begins in May, with a completion date of autumn 2007) Must have been low flying clouds!!

According to a publicity brochure from the Eric Cairns Partnership:

Just a few years ago, a building of such towering ambition
on Belfast’s oldest street would have been unthinkable.
However, two years ago the unveiling of Obel caught the imagination
of Belfast’s residents and visitors alike. Since then, Obel tower has
been heralded as a sign of an invigorated Belfast of regeneration and
confidence.
Now, as the structure moves above ground the scene is set to watch as a
genuine Landmark is created.

This was the scene about a year ago - as you can see from my recent pic above the crane and builder's cabin have also been removed from the site.

I, for one, am really pleased that this project doesn't appear to be getting off the ground.

Funny thing: if you google for information re Obel all you get is the old publicity hype. There appears to be absolutely nothing about the demise of this much lauded project cum failure.

More Blots on Belfast's landscape

You may remember an earlier post of mine about a goddam awful new development being built in Belfast - well here are three more giant turds that are going to be fouling up Belfast in the near future ...

The Boat (don't ask me) will be erected just across the road from that massive Obel (which apparently is undergoing some difficulties at foundation level - let's hope that means it's sinking in the mud) and will totally obscure the old Custom House. Pity the same cannot be said for the other massive lump of shite i.e. the Post Office building in Tomb Street (to the right on the above picture). I can't see anything (short of a few tons of semtex) being able to obscure or improve that.

The Frames complex - between the Central Library and the old Belfast Telegraph office - just another mass of glass and metal....

... similarly this, which is to be erected on the site of the former May's Market, looks to me like a huge Lego © kit with none of the appeal.

Who is the moron responsible for all these monstrosities? What, in the name of all that is holy, is wrong with building with good old bricks? I could be wrong but I think it's just possible that somebody owns a lot of shares in some glass company. Too expensive? Not modern? OR - let's just build something totally different from everything else - doesn't matter how ugly it looks, as long as the punters pay for it. These are ugly, these are eyesores, these are shite - how did they ever receive planning permission to build these? Sadly there are people who think that these new developments are wonderful. So long as Belfast gets a new skyline they don't care what it looks like - the old one is too dull and boring.

...... yes they really do - or buried in the sand - or stuck up their asses!!

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.. and blueboat this should interest you - apparently this ...

or this ....is the Fitzwilliam being erected just across from your office window (and you thought the new Opera House extension was ghastly).

Belfast Law Courts

At the bottom of Chichester Street you will find Laganside Courts Complex, previously known as Belfast Law Courts or just simply The Law Courts.

Chichester Street once ran from the City Hall to Oxford Street but at the height of the bombing campaign, as a security precaution, it was decided to block off both ends of the lower part of Chichester Street where the Law Courts are housed. This complex came to resemble Fort Apache with its high fence and gates.

For some time now work has been going on to remove the gates and security fencing and as you can see a picturesque public garden is beginning to take shape.

Laganside Courts Complex with the Waterfront Hall and Belfast Hilton in the background.

Blot on the Landscape

What this means is that they are going to build a massive apartment block, so that the quays which were actually being turned into a pleasant part of Belfast are now going to be ruined by this enormous blot on the landscape. The reason for it being Belfast's tallest building is because it is a very small parcel of land and they cannot build the same number of apartments if they were to build sideways.

The 26-storey residential tower will be called Obel, a play on the words obelisk and Belfast, and will be built in the city's revamped docklands next to the historic Custom House on the bank of the river Lagan.

At 80.5 metres it will be the tallest building in the province and the latest in a string of lofty blocks of flats being built across the UK.

Where once high-rise living was synonymous with urban decay, graffiti and poverty, a new wave of properties are aimed at a more aspirational class of dweller.

Yes, you are quite right, that means yuppies. Yuppies who buy property in redevelopment areas and then complain that the original residents are lowering the tone of the area. Sorry! if you are going to buy property in the docks area then you just have to accept what is part and parcel of docks life!

Leviathan, Donegall Quay by Kai-Olaf Hesse

This is what the area looked like before they stuck up that hoarding and can you imagine what it will look like with a massive apartment block just behind the tail.

Apparently this is what it is going to look like ......

· The Obel in fact has 29 floors above ground, 26 of these are residential and are wrongly named by the press as being the total number of storeys for the project.

· Every single apartment in this development sold within 48 hours.

Belfast homeowners with a head for heights have rushed to take up an offer to buy into what will be the city's tallest building.

All 182 apartments, penthouses and duplexes in the Donegall Quay Obel tower - with price tags between £100,000 and £475,000 - were snapped up within 48 hours. Selling agent Eric Cairns Partnership said interest in the 26-storey landmark building was "unprecedented" in Belfast with sales exceeding £30 million.

"Since the launch of Obel last week, the interest in securing residential apartments has been phenomenal," said Gayle Blackbourne of joint venture development company Donegall Quay.Construction work on the 265ft building begins in May, with a completion date of autumn 2007, at a cost of more than £50 million.

INVESTMENT BELFAST.