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News and Comment August 2012

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27 August - Readers comments - Shard to charade

The Shard The Black Horse Inn, SidcupFive blogs from the past week owe their existence to very welcome tip offs from readers. There were more, some of which are not appropriate for use right now, but a couple are.

One message told me that the contractor chosen to refurbish the new Civic Offices is coming down in the world. The same company, Mace, built the Shard at London Bridge. It is particularly interesting to note that Mace have been given responsibility for “furniture provision, fixtures and equipment” and “responsibility for move management”. Buying desks seems to be a long way removed from sticking a crane on top of the Shard. Does Bexley council know what it is doing?

I expressed some misgivings about the bland appearance of the new Travelodge in Sidcup and lamented the lack of the veranda which prompted The Sidcup Community Group to send a copy of the plan. The developer has a way to go yet and seems unlikely to be forgiven for bringing down the old facade which was supposed to be preserved.

Blaming the developer and Bexley council in equal measure the SCG reminds us that “after the developers had excavated an underground car park and positioned a concrete crusher immediately behind the Black Horse facade (which had scaffolding around it erected in such a way that the facade was supporting it rather than the reverse), the developers returned for permission to complete the demolition. Going back on undertakings, in order to ensure that the total destruction of the Black Horse was rubber-stamped”.

A thinly veiled suggestion that the original facade was weakened by careless construction methods, or worse.

 

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