London 2012 Olympic Games: Olympic Park, Stratford - the view from Hackney Wick

My train is stuck in the station under a snotty hankerchief sky. Trains are backed up between Hackney Wick and Stratford at the congested end of the North London Line. The doors stay open so I get off and snap a few photos. 

   In truth, I'm a little wary. I only narrowly avoided being mugged and dunked in the River Lea during my last trip down the Wick.

    The floodlights on the roof of the new Olympic Stadium catch my eye, sticking out like bats' ears on east London's shy skyline. I zoom in on the triangular floodlight rigs. They suggest something else too...Pass the Dairylea cheese, please. 

   The red cornetto rising on the left isn't actually inside or attached to the Stadium. It's the cumbersomely titled ArcelorMittal Orbit, a 115 metres (377 feet) high steel sculpture and observation tower. 
   Designed by Anish Kapoor, I can't yet work out if it'll resemble a steel rose or a nose bleed. It should be finished by December. If you don't like it blame Boris Johnson, London's Mayor, and former Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell. Boorish and Tess decided in 2008 the Olympic Park lacked a certain je ne sais quoi. 

Certainly, it'll be Britain's largest piece of public art, made possible by the deeply filled pockets of Britain's richest man, Lakshmi Mittal, chairman of the ArcelorMittal steel company. Lakshmi lashed out £16 million to help cover the sculpted tower's £19.1m cost with the balance coming from the London Development Agency, the capital's regional development body. 
   The sculpted tower celebrates Kapoor's creativity but also manifests Mittal's interwoven personal and corporate ego. It might also mark the LDA's monument. The cut-crazed coalition government wants London's growth promotion agency shutdown by March 2012. 

Looking over Hackney Wick from its elevated station, I can''t help but wonder if £19m might've been better spent creating jobs or building new homes. There seems to be a lot of local creativity. Just look at the graffiti.

   Finally, my train grabs a green signal, eases out of the station and quickly seems swallowed by the organised construction chaos inside the Olympic Park site.

    There's still over a year to go but politicians and media are already asking us to swallow loads of Olympic hype and mucus. Already, I sense distracted brain cells turning to snot. 

Click on images to enlarge. 

Photos: Copyright Paul Coleman. Not to be re-used without permission.

Paul Coleman, London, June 2011.

Click on images to enlarge. 

Photos: Copyright Paul Coleman. Not to be re-used without permission.

 

TSSA rail union calls for Elsenham public inquiry

The coalition government's Transport Secretary Philip Hammond is being urged this week to hold a public inquiry into why Olivia Bazlinton and Charlotte Thompson were killed by a train at the Elsenham level crossing in 2005. 

  Gerry Doherty, general secretary of the transport union TSSA, called on Hammond to act when opening the union's annual conference held in Norwich. Delegates heard Doherty speak about two crucial documents about the level crossing that have only recently 'emerged'.

   The documents show Network Rail and its predecessor, Railtrack, had received danger warnings about safety at Elsenham several years before the tragedy. An earlier fatality at the crossing had occurred in 1989.

  Mr Doherty, speaking about the inquest into the girls' deaths, said: "The inquest was a travesty because neither the coroner, the families nor the Rail Regulator were told about them. If either of these reports had been acted upon these girls would still be alive.

   The Office of Rail Regulation has reopened its inquiry into the tragedy. "We are fully co-operating," said a Network Rail spokesman.

Earlier on May 13, Network Rail, as Railtrack's successor, was fined £3 million and ordered to pay £150,000 costs following an Office of Rail Regulation prosecution for a health and safety offence which caused the deaths of seven people and many more serious injuries when a West Anglia Great Northern train derailed at Potters Bar station on 10 May, 2002. 

   Railtrack was responsible for the infrastructure - and Jarvis was the contracted maintenance firm - when the accident occurred.

   Bob Crow, general secretary of the RMT union, said: "People need to remember it was the privatised Railtrack and their contractors who were responsible...Network Rail didn't even exist when the tragedy of Potters Bar occurred...It is the directors of Railtrack and Jarvis - including Steven Norris - who should have been held personally liable...It is a scandal that those really responsible have got away with it.

   "Instead of coming out of the pockets of those actually responsible this £3m will come out of precious public Network Rail funds that could and should have been invested in improving and maintaining safety on our railways.

   "That is an appalling indictment of the way that this whole episode has been handled."

Paul Coleman, London, May 2011.

Ai Weiwei: Circle of Animals at Somerset House

Yesterday (Friday, 13th May) London's pigeons bathed in Somerset House's cool fountain waters and sated themselves on the crumbs falling off the tourists' paninis. The birds didn't seem impressed by artist Ai Weiwei's twelve bronze animal heads but at least they hadn't embellished the sculptures with their trademark tags.

   However, tourists and human rights activists are flocking to the Fountain Court at London's Somerset House to see Weiwei's pieces. The heads recreate the Chinese zodiac sculptures that once surrounded the imperial fountain of Yuanming Yuan in Beijing. 

   Somerset House's wildly optimistic What's On guide says "Ai Weiwei and guests will give an accompanying lecture to coincide with the Circle of Animals...Zodiac Heads installation". Currently, Ai Weiwei's whereabouts are unknown. Chinese authorities arrested Weiwei on April 3. The Chinese government labelled him as a "criminal suspect". 

   People throughout the Europe and the United States have turned Weiwei into a 'hero' of human rights. Flustered governments have voiced concern and dismay at this apparently blatant misuse of state power by the Chinese government. 

   But will such apparent official distaste invoke major foreign policy changes towards China? Boycotting Chinese products, services, markets and investment opportunities doesn't seem likely. China's plentiful supply of cheaper labour remains extremely attractive to European and American manufacturers. Chinese investment in the residential and commercial property markets of European and American cities is highly lucrative for players in the development game. 

   Despite well-intentioned people turning the Somerset House installation turning into a de facto shrine to Weiwei and human rights, London sits right at the heart of much government shedding of crocodile tears for Weiwei. Earlier this week, I heard one property developer describe how members of the Middle East's rich and powerful tyrants, increasingly worried by threats of revolution, are seeking safe havens for their vast fortunes by investing heavily in 'super-prime' residential property in Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea. 

   Apparently, the property developer said, there's a market catch-phrase circulating that says "every time a rebel mortar bomb explodes in the Middle East, another ten pounds sterling is added to the value per square foot of super luxury apartments and offices in central London". 

Photos: Copyright Paul Coleman 2011 (No re-use without permission).

Paul Coleman, London, May 2011.

Elsenham tragedy could lead to level crossing closures

The Times today (Weds, 11 May) reports that David Higgins, the recently installed chief executive of Network Rail, has ordered measures designed to cut deaths at mainland Britain's 6,452 level crossings. 

   In an article written by transport correspondent Philip Pank, supported by a commentary by Chris Bazlinton and by an editorial, The Times reports that the deaths of teenagers Olivia Bazlinton and Charlotte Thompson at Elsenham level crossing in 2005 could lead to the closure of hundreds of level crossings.

   Higgins has promised full disclosure to the Office of Rail Regulation of all Network Rail documents that preceded the Elsenham tragedy. The families of Olivia and Charlotte discovered safety assessment documents, including one written as early as 2001, that stated the risk of disaster at Elsenham was real. 

   Chris Bazlinton, Olivia's father, highlights these series of warnings and recommendations contained in documents, which if acted upon, would almost certainly have prevented the deaths. They include:

• the 2001 expert's memo expressing the high risk of a tragedy at the crossing
• a 2002 risk assessment calling for consideration to be giving to locking the pedestrian gates when trains passed
• a report of a 'near miss' at the crossing one month before the tragedy in December 2005

These documents were never shown to the Essex coroner during the subsequent Chelmsford inquest nor were they shown to the regulator or to government rail investigators.


Paul Coleman, London, May 2011

Renzo Piano's Central St Giles and The Shard

I donned the PPE gear and squeezed into the service lift with eleven other souls this afternoon. We zoomed to the top floor of architect Renzo Piano's orange, green and yellow Central St Giles development.

It wasn't the sunniest of days but the views from the penthouse were spectacular. I thought it wise to take a photo of Piano's other stamp on the London skyline, The Shard. As you can see, The Shard is well on its way to becoming Europe's tallest building.

Click on images to enlarge. Photos by Paul Coleman. No re-use without permission.

Paul Coleman, London, May 2011

St Pancras Chambers refurbished and magnificent once more

The Gothic magnificence of St Pancras Chambers, the fairytale 'castle' that housed the old Midland Hotel no longer hides behind building site hoardings. A £100 million refurbishment of the Victorian building, with its formidable Euston Road facade, is now complete.

    I wandered inside George Gilbert Scott's famous Grade I-listed London landmark the other day. People can now walk up the stairs from King's Cross and walk under the arch into St Pancras International's Eurostar station. 

   The building's expansive chambers, rooms, corridors and famous central staircase re-opens to the public on May 5. With its grand penthouse residences and a new Renaissance Hotel on its lower floors, new life has come to one of London's grandest places. The Midland Hotel first opened in 1876 but closed in 1935.

    I'll be taking a tour inside soon. So watch this space for more details and photos (Click on images to enlarge).

Photos copyright of Paul Coleman. No re-use without permission.

Paul Coleman, London, April 2011

London's 2012 Olympic venues viewed from Alexandra Palace

One of the first sun-splashed days of 2011 provided some tempting views of London from Alexandra Palace, one of my favourite London landmarks. 

   I zoomed in across six miles on some of the new structures on London's skyscape, including the new Olympic Stadium (below) and the Aquatics Centre (above). The Shard looks well on its way to becoming Europe's tallest building.

   The last photo suggests London's householders are highly vulnerable to the impact of decisions taken by bankers in the gleaming glass and steel towers of Canary Wharf, part of London's financial centre.

Photos copyright of Paul Coleman. No re-use without permission.

Paul Coleman, London, April 2011.