Talking up Defiencies

They’ve just had a very one-sided phone-in on BBC Radio 5, with virtually an hour of the dismal Jimmies and Jennies complaining about all the inadequacies.

We’ve just had a volunteer complaining, that they are not being given car parking on the Olympic Park. It sounds to me, that they should have been turned down as a volunteer.

Let’s face it, if you don’t like the conditions, don’t volunteer.

We should be celebrating what we got right.

My field is project management and we should be celebrating the fact that all of the venues and transport links have been constructed on time and generally on budget.

Remember the Olympic Park is built in a marsh and with all the bad weather we’ve been having lately, that has not only caused construction problems, but made the design of the park difficult. Luckily, the main site of the Games is by the River Lea and Joseph Bazalette‘s massive Northern Outfall Sewer, so hopefully we’ll cope, with water and sewage.

I’ve watched the plans unfold and East London has improved beyond all expectations.

When we won the bid the London Overground from New Cross to Dalston and from Stratford to Richmond only partly existed as a set of travelling urinals.  now it is a modern railway with new trains, signalling and completely renewed track.  The East London Line deserves five stars in its own right, as it was built through Brunel’s Thames Tunnel of 1840 and under the Kingsland Road, without breaking anything.

As the icing, London has now got its magnificent cable-car, which will be the fun legacy of the games.

And now the phone-in is talking about the failure of the O2 mobile phone network.  My Nokia 6310i works well on O2 at the moment.

How Various Nationalities Could Get to the Olympics

London has always been a multi-national and multi-cultural city, so there has always been large groups of various nationalities in various parts of the city. Where I live is just a stone’s throw away from where my French Huguenot ancestors lived and go a little bit further south and east and my Jewish ancestors could be found at the start of the 19th century. Even now, certain Caribbean groups have settled in places like Brixton,New Malden has been populated by Koreans and there’s an area of Camden with lots of Georgian restaurants. London is a complete jigsaw of nationalities.

So you can get a few mildly humorous rules about how the various nationalities might get to the Olympic Park.

The Koreans in New Malden, as do many, have an easy trip.  They just take a train into Waterloo and then take the Jubilee line round to Stratford.

Remember the London Underground rule to estimate journey times; 2 minutes per station and add 5 minutes for an interchange.

The French should walk to the Park from West Ham or Hackney Wick stations, on top of the Greenway, as this walk and cycle path, sits on a major part of London’s sewerage system, which was built by a man called Joseph Bazalette, whose grandfather was French.

A few of the Russians will be very rich, so will be in VIP limos, but if they and their fellow countrymen do go by public transport, they’ll take the Olympic Javelin Shuttle from St. Pancras station.  But one day they might like to go by the Central line and go a few stops past Stratford to look at Gants Hill station, which is to a design for Russia by Charles Holden.  There’s some pictures I took of the station here.

You’re Never Far From a Rat in London

I took this picture on the Greenway by the ViewTube yesterday.

You're Never Far From a Rat in London

As I was standing on top of the Northern Outfall Sewer, which lies under the Greenway, I suppose this is to be expected.

An Insignificant Plate on the Greenway

From Pudding Mill Lane, I decided not to take the easy route of transport home, so I climbed onto the Greenway and thought about having a coffee in the ViewTube. But it was too late, as the cafe was closed. There was an American film crew there, making a piece about the Olympics, as there often is, so I gave them some of the history about the area, the sewers and Joseph Bazalgette.

Marshgate Lane Plate

This plate in the Greenway, is all that is there to indicate one of the largest of the Olympic construction contracts.

To create easy access to the Olympic site and easpecially after the Games, Marshgate Lane is being lowered so that large trucks can get in. It is not an easy job, as they are effectively having to tunnel under the Northern Outfall Sewer and as the name indicates, the area used to be a marsh. People often wonder why projects cost more and run late.  This is one that has a high degree of risk, although it should be ready in time, but one misplaced action could conceivably break the sewer and cover everything in the outflow from several million toilets.

Luckily, knowing Bazalgette, he built a degree of strength into the sewer that will protect everything and everyone.

Etchings in the Evening Sun

This picture shows the decoration on the new sewage pumping station at the Olympic Park, highlighted by the evening sun.

Decoration on the Olympic Park Sewage Pumping Station

The images are taken from the original drawings from Joseph Bazalgette’s Abbey Mills pumping station.

I hope that when the Olympic Park is fully open, buildings like this won’t be hidden behind excessive security fences.

A Visit To Abbey Mills

This week is Sewer Week and I had an invite to visit the pumping station at Abbey Mills.

These pictures were taken of the outside and inside of this cathedral of sewage.

It was a fascinating visit and thanks to Thames Water, who made it all possible.

Naming of the Districts of the London Olympic Site

After the Olympics in 2012, the Olympic Park will be split into five new districts of London.

There is a competition to name them.

I’ve just entered to name Area 5. I would like to call it Bazalgette City.  And here’s why!

London has nothing named after the man, who probably did more to design and build the infrastructure of sewers, embankments and other public works that are still in use today.  Without Bazalgette, London would have not become a modern city until much later. This area contains much of the immense Northern Outfall Sewer, which Bazalgette created that is now 150 years old and the area is also close to his Cathedral of Sewage at Abbey Mills. Hence if should be Bazalgette City and not Bazalgette Town, as every city needs a cathedral.

I’ll add other names I can think of later,  but the competition closes on the 16th May.

Happy as Pigs in Muck

This building with the two pink cylinders to the left is the primary sewage collection and pumping station for the Olympics.

Olympic Primary Foul Sewer and Pumping Station

Inevitably, the two cylinders have been named Pinky and Perky, by the wags on the site.

Note that I took the picture from behind the ViewTube, standing on this concrete box.

Connecting the New to the Old

I think the box is the connection between the station and Joseph Bazalgette‘s Northern Outfall Sewer.  But for now it makes a good authorised viewing platform.

Nowhere in the vicinity could I find any information about the pumping station or the sewer.

I find that a serious omission.

Bazalgette Honoured with Olympic Sewage Pumping Station

The Olympic Park will create a lot of sewage and to pump it into Joseph Bazalgette‘s Northern Outfall Sewer, an elegant pumping station has been designed, which depicts Bazalgette’s Abbey Mills Pumping Station.

The new pumping station is described in the Architect’s Journal.  There are also some good pictures here.

I think he would have approved of the new pumping station, as he was a man to always use the best of the technology available at the time and he merged suprb engineering with very good art.  The new station appears to follow these rules.

The Cathedral of Sewage

Abbey Mills Pumping Station was built by Joseph Bazalgette to pump the sewage all the way to Beckton. It stands as a glorious monument by the side of the Greenway that leads across the Olympic Park.  Although, at present due to the works for CrossRail, you can’t actually get to the park directly along the Greenway.

It dominates the skyline and can be seen from West Ham station, looking more like a mosque than a cathedral of sewage.

There does appear to be some tidying up going on, but surely this impressive building should look its best for the Olympics.