The new industrial estate

A very nice collection, telling quite a powerful story. Sadly the story seems to be that buildings must be built as cheaply and as quickly as possible with no real concern for appearance or longevity.

I wonder if the trees were planted voluntarily by the builder or was that a condition of planning consent.

It is interesting to compare the legacy of Victorian architecture to that of the present day.

Well done on making a thought provoking collection Toni.
 
Foxbat Flyer said:
A very nice collection, telling quite a powerful story. Sadly the story seems to be that buildings must be built as cheaply and as quickly as possible with no real concern for appearance or longevity.

I wonder if the trees were planted voluntarily by the builder or was that a condition of planning consent.

It is interesting to compare the legacy of Victorian architecture to that of the present day.

Well done on making a thought provoking collection Toni.
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Thanks Chris. I have a feeling many of these structures are 'temporary' in that 50 years from now they'll all be gone & replaced with something else. The good thing is that the energy & materials required to create them is quite a bit less than a more conventional, long-term structure, so that when they've served their purpose then can be scrapped, the steel/ali recycled & the land re-used.

The landscaping was probably a requirement because it's just over the road from the latest development in Bicester, but I'd like to think that it's all part of making a place more attractive to work in compared to industrial estates built 30 + years ago. For me, this part is the bit with the greatest mis-match, with things that are inherently natural and chaotic placed in straight lines like the corrugations of the steel used to clad the building. Un-natural order placed on the natural to make it conform, but only temporarily like the buildings themselves.
 
I think you have hit the nail on the head Toni - there is no interest in making a building to last, never mind a visual statement - for that we should be grateful. The sight of the modern warehouse building is dismal at best. A far cry from previous generations' intention to make a visual statement to last.

There has been a good series on modern architecture on TV, it proves that we do have the talent and technology to design and build great structures, but who wants to pay!

As for the trees, they show great promise, I hope they last way longer than 50 years.
 
Just talked with our son on zoom this morning - he's in New Zealand, and has observed the houses there are shockingly badly made, quick and cheap from timber. Apparently it's something Europeans comment on all the time.
 
AgentOrange76 said:
Internally maybe but most have a twin skin brick external walls.
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Well most of the new ones I’ve seen in the past 12 months have brick outer and timber framed inner. Some have timber framed 1st floor only. I am told the building societies are happier with this.
We went for a used house eventually, 1970’s build, so plenty of bricks but not a lot of insulation.
 
His comment was that they generally weren't insulated, and lacked good foundations, with timber piles driven directly into the soil instead of having decent foundations. Perhaps it's to allow for a little more flexibility in the structure due to the number of earthquakes they have, though that doesn't explain the lack of insulation.
 
ancient_mariner said:
Just talked with our son on zoom this morning - he's in New Zealand, and has observed the houses there are shockingly badly made, quick and cheap from timber. Apparently it's something Europeans comment on all the time.
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My son is also in new Zealand and works in a role which is on the periphery of the building trade. He says building standards are a relatively recent concept there. Most houses don't have double glazing, for instance. Many of them do have air source heat pumps however, as electricity is expensive and they don't use gas.
 
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