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Tall Buildings

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Baysailor

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Re: Tall Buildings

PostThu May 25, 2017 12:14 pm

A mate from the north once described a flat as something the council used to own. Versus an apartment being a new build with floor to ceiling windows. I would hope newly constructed, poured concrete apartment buildings are thoroughly soundproofed. But who knows!
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Peiriannydd

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Re: Tall Buildings

PostFri May 26, 2017 8:40 pm

Baysailor wrote:When you look at the high rise condominium apartments of glass and steel in North America, they are truly aspirational living. Have also seen recent equivalents in the Netherlands and other EU countries. The problem with us in the UK is that we still have the council flat stigma from years ago that high rise living is associated with. Until our culture can come to grips with the fact that many people prefer the lifestyle of upscale apartment living over traditional terraces we will continue producing mediocre buildings. Prospect Place was a good step forward. Hopefully Bayscape will continue this trend.


I think it's true that tall buildings have suffered from perceptions of the council/social housing developments of the past. Not just in this country, but also on the Continent too. But I'd extend that to other developments. I think we still suffer from this post-WW2 issue of cheap building, whether to replace damaged buildings or to kick off the economy, the precedent was set for poor-quality developments. Developers have been allowed to get away with a lot more in this country and as a result our expectations have dipped.

It's interesting that someone made comparisons with Canada. Australians are like Brits in that they love their houses and would rather a house than an apartment/flat. Most old suburbs in Melbourne were built around 0.25 Acre blocks of land and good quality housing. High-rise apartment living is a relatively new thing in Melbourne and Sydney. The apartments on the Gold Coast have been there for decades, but they're mainly for retired people and holiday lets. The early tall buildings in Melbourne and Sydney were for offices.

The big difference is that despite a boom-bust economy over the decades and skills shortages, Aussies won't pay good money for shit! They're very much like Yanks in that respect. They work hard, so when they shelve out their hard-earned cash they expect quality. More than that, there is far more civic pride in places like Melbourne and Sydney than there is in a lot of British cities. Do you think that Ty Pont Haearn would have been approved in say downtown Sydney or Melbourne? No!

We need greater expectations from our developers. Crap design and poor quality buildings should no longer be acceptable. Perhaps this will come as the demographics shift with more and more people living alone or as smaller families and flats become more attractive to a greater percentage of the population.
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Ash

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Re: Tall Buildings

PostSat May 27, 2017 3:27 pm

Peiriannydd wrote: Do you think that Ty Pont Haearn would have been approved in say downtown Sydney or Melbourne?


Sydney.

Image

Melbourne.

Image

I rest my case.
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Peiriannydd

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Re: Tall Buildings

PostSat May 27, 2017 3:39 pm

I think Ty Pont Haearn is worse and it's in the centre of the city and it was built in the last 10-15 years.

I'm not saying that other cities don't have crap buildings, bad examples of brutalist architecture or just run down buildings, but not much as poor as Ty Pont Haearn built in the same time frame.

Jantra

Re: Tall Buildings

PostSat May 27, 2017 5:18 pm

They are nowhere near as shit as ty pont haearn
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Briz-Tim

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Re: Tall Buildings

PostSat May 27, 2017 6:26 pm

That one in Melbourne is really nice. Classic mid-century modern minimalism.
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Simon_SW17

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Re: Tall Buildings

PostSat May 27, 2017 10:39 pm

The key difference with Ty Pont Haearn and those buildings shown is that they were 1960's/70's design. Also they are much better despite pre-dating Ty Pont by 30 years.
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Peiriannydd

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Re: Tall Buildings

PostWed Jun 14, 2017 10:26 pm

Fire - the achilles heel of every tall building. Utterly terrifying event in London this morning.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40280169
It's been a long time since the progressive collapse disaster at Ronan Point, I wonder what the reaction to this event will be?
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Zach

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Re: Tall Buildings

PostWed Jun 14, 2017 11:13 pm

To my mind having student living in high rise buildings is a disaster waiting to happen. I have seen first hand in Australia where people rent serviced apartments in high rises in Sydney/Melbourne (40+ storeys) for a stag/hen weekend they come back and set fire to the kitchen and wonder why they are then kicked out.
Just look at the amount of broken windows in Ty Hafen and you can see what care people take of their space when its not their own property.

We always think we have learnt lessons, but look at the Radisson Blu, less than 10 years old and all its cladding is leaking.

Like all bubbles the "experts" will say that the fundamentals are different this time and there is an urgent need for tulips sorry high rise student accommodation.

You build a semi that's sub standard and its an annoyance, you build a 30 storey that's sub standards and it's a death trap.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huTVLAsTY50
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Peiriannydd

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Re: Tall Buildings

PostWed Jun 14, 2017 11:30 pm

I quite agree actually. Students are a terrible fire hazard. I just think back to when I was at Cambridge, the amount of fires in student rooms resulting from alcohol-fueled stupidity was ridiculous. Thankfully, the Porters are there 24/7! A fire will happen, it's just a matter of time.

That said, these new towers are lot safer than the older ones. But still, it remains to be seen how they will perform and these cladding systems seem to be a serious problem. There should be fire stops to prevent the fire from spreading up the building through the cladding. Clearly, as with this tower refurb and recent events in Dubai, the cladding systems are failing.
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