Guest 651- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 5,673
Anyone know what is happening at MFI (Woolcomber/Castle Street)?
Noticed some activity and that the back yard has recently been clear up....
Been nice knowing you :)
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
will hold my breath paul, anything would be an improvement.
thought that you would know as a student of planning department websites.
Guest 651- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 5,673
22 January 2011
23:5989940Not much visible at ground level, but down it comes !!
Been nice knowing you :)
Guest 698- Registered: 28 May 2010
- Posts: 8,664
23 January 2011
00:1189942The demolition team will have to watch out for used druggies' needles.
I'm an optimist. But I'm an optimist who takes my raincoat - Harold Wilson
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
23 January 2011
08:1189949The Britannia is next.
Perhaps when the area(s) is cleared, it could be used for paid car-parking ? Better than being fenced off.
Roger
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
23 January 2011
11:2089964cannot see that happening, the cost of levelling the ground, tarmacing it etc would be prohibitive for something we hope would be short term.
there is not a pressing need for extra parking in that area anyway.
Guest 682- Registered: 19 Jan 2009
- Posts: 146
23 January 2011
11:4089966Quite correct Howard - plus the cost of the equipment and its installation.
I was asked a week or so ago as Ward Councillor whether I had any objections to its demoltiion - naturally I didn't as I didn't a couple of weeks before when the same question was asked about the Britannia and adjacent buildings - may have been useful and practical buildings in their day but all now eyesores in my view.
Guest 696- Registered: 31 Mar 2010
- Posts: 8,115
23 January 2011
12:1889967That is what I consider unrealistic attitude on the part of Councillors.
The Britannia is a building that is adjacent to DTIZ, on the other side of the river. It has nothing wrong with it structurally, other than being in need of painting and whatever usual maintainance a building periodically requires.
DTIZ, however, has Burlington House and the multi-story car park, which both are in need of demolishing. The expenses to demolish these latter two, and the problems connected with the port-traffic that such demolition would require, as Townwall St. would need to be blocked off untill Burlington House was cleared away, are probably well out of the reach of DDC.
However, to build anything new in DTIZ to attract people, such as tourists, with the port traffic passing through right next to it, is equally unrealistic. I was glad when ASDA pulled out of the project.
Yesterday we went to Folkestone, and the old buildings are beautiful. ASDA in Folkestone stands out like a crime against humanity in terms of architecture, and some other modern concrete slabs there also look ghastly.
Anyway I can't see any Arabian Sheiks investing in DTIZ. So DTIZ development is a mirage in the desert.
Dover's major beauty is in the Castle and Light Tower Church, visible when entering the Town and crowning Dover. Burlington tower and the port traffic streaming through Dover are just a sorrowful site, and must no doubt be seen as such to people visiting the Castle!
Guest 682- Registered: 19 Jan 2009
- Posts: 146
23 January 2011
12:5289971Inside the Brit. is in an awful mess - I've have been in there - it's disgusting.
What do you base your comments on that it only needs painting and what do you call 'whatever usual maintainance a building periodically requires' as the pub chain that owned it did nothing is recent years?
Guest 703- Registered: 30 Jul 2010
- Posts: 2,096
23 January 2011
12:5589973The only reason for keeping the Btittania would be as a warning, it's a prime example of the low quality of design and construction that was allowed in the 60s.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
23 January 2011
13:2289977alex
different thing with burlington house, the owners have mobile phone masts that they are gaining income from.
only when they are rumbled by h.m.r.c. and a business rate is levied will they decide whether it is to be demolished.
the other thing about the britannia is that land is more attractive to a potential developer if there is no building already there.
Guest 696- Registered: 31 Mar 2010
- Posts: 8,115
23 January 2011
13:2889979Well, Nigel, may-be you could explain what the mess is inside the building. How are we supposed to know? No-one goes in there. I can only assume by what I see from the outside, that the building is stable and made of bricks.
Any building that has been disused for a long period will have mess inside. My dad bought a house in Dover in 1972 and completely remodernised it inside. He put in new stair-cases and put wall-boards on the walls. Had new windows and doors put in, and a new bathroom. He put new ceiling and floor tiles in all the rooms. He did most the work himself, and contracted workers only for the essential restructuring. And he had a fresh coat of paint spraid on the outside walls. Two men came and did the paint job, and it took them two or three hours!
I somehow doubt that any mess in the Britannia building cannot be cleared away. I have experience of how buildings can look inside and how they can be cleared of mess, having worked as painter and decorator and carried out plenty of remodernising work inside disused buildings! I also know it from how my dad got the house remodernised in Dover which we moved to.
Having personal work experience, I know what I'm talking about here. Exactly what needs doing inside the Britannia can only be judged if one looks inside. What I find hard to understand is how a building can be deemed ready for demolishing because it is messy inside.
May-be you could explain to us all what structural problems concern the Britannia, if any. Has water leekd inside and ruined the foundations? Are there dangerous cracks in the walls? Is the place sinking into the ground?
If it just needs a general cleaning up job inside, and painting (all buildings periodically need repainting inside and outside), then this is no argument to knock the building down! Mess is usually cleared out and loaded onto a lorry.
Roofs also need to be periodically changed. Heavy roof beems of wood can last hundreds of years, the smaller wooden beems may-be 50 to a hundred yerars, and the thinner pieces of wood on which the tiles rest should be changed every few decades, if they are rotting, or even every 50 years, but at some point they will need changing.
The Britannia building is not particularly old in comparisson, but I dread to think what DDC councillors would do if asked to modernise old buildings in Canterbury. Come on with bulldozers or what?
Unregistered User
23 January 2011
13:4189982Alex. there is something I agree with you.
The ASDA debacle in Folkestone.
If we had keeled over in Dover you might have had a similar development.
As for Canterbury they did exactly what you describe and they call it the White Friars development.
It had a similar property to the Britannia. I drank in it.
Watty
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
23 January 2011
13:4689983the britannia has no architectural merits at the end of the day, doubt that many will mourn its passing.
Guest 651- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 5,673
23 January 2011
14:1489984As mentioned on the previous thread if the state of the offices that WCCP had next door with the concrete peeling from the steel girders and endless leaks then the sooner it comes down the better !! The building has absolutely no architectural merit so not sure how you can compare them with medieval buildings in Canterbury.....
Back to the subject of my thread... Paul/Nigel - is there any reason why the planned accomodation for the MFI site be carried out if there is permissions already in place for them ?
Been nice knowing you :)
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
23 January 2011
15:1689989In alot of cases it cost more to do a old building up than to pull it down and build anew one the Britannia is not a listed building so best get rid of it.
Unregistered User
23 January 2011
15:4389993Paul , absolutely no reason & I think we would expect some sort of appropriate residential development to be put forward.
Watty
Guest 696- Registered: 31 Mar 2010
- Posts: 8,115
23 January 2011
18:2390001Paul W:
It certainly is a relief to know that the kind of ASDA construction in Folkestone is not appreciated as a model for Dover.
Paul Scotchie:
As for the other site in Castle Street - Woolcombers Street, I would suggest that any new building project corresponds to the existing style in Castle Street, which would not be concrete, but bricks, possibly pulling out the old construction plans of the existing buildings. This in order to keep to the architectural harmony. I believe that visitors to Dover would also expect to see a harmony in building style on the same road, while walking to the Castle.
Vic:
Many buildings are not listed, but this does not mean that all buildings that are not listed have to be pulled down! Our Country would go bankrupt if we followed your advice there!
Guest 698- Registered: 28 May 2010
- Posts: 8,664
23 January 2011
19:0290005If you feel so strongly Alex why not apply to have it listed? Personally I think the Brit is an eyesore and should go.
I'm an optimist. But I'm an optimist who takes my raincoat - Harold Wilson
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
23 January 2011
19:2290008Again Peter I fully agree with you,it is a eyesore and it should have gone years ago.
Been nice knowing you :)
Been nice knowing you :)
