Today's pages

In no particular order:

Ocean View Road (with a map & a beach photo too)

Kendall Street (another fast moving building site)

Singo's Bonython Tower (speedy)


If you're in New South Wales, have a good long weekend. If you're elsewhere, have a good weekend. If you're in North Korea or the Whitehouse, good luck. If you're in Bali, I hope it hurries up and erupts so everyone can get on with the clean-up and get back to normal as quickly as possible.

See you next week with more changes to this lovely little town we call Gosford.

Bonython Tower AKA Singo’s tower

September 2017

There are now boards of some sort on top of the timber beams on top of the scaffolding at the Mann Street end of the site. The first and second floors are to be offices and the third floor is to be a carpark for residents of the apartments above.

(American readers, what you call the “first floor” we call the ground floor so when this website refers to the first floor, you should read that as the “second floor”. Many of the lifts (elevators) installed in Australia were made in America and have the American floor names and so no ground floor so we have to do the conversion often.)

Elsewhere on the site, we can see three green bins, one half hidden under the scaffolding, and one white bin and one big black one in the foreground, plus more than a dozen neat stacks of building components.

Concreting complete, September 2017

And on the ground floor (“first floor”) we can see that the concreting is complete. Complete everywhere except the loading dock at the bottom of the photo, which is the back of the site, where the access lane is and the trucks come to deliver more materials to the site.

Loading dock wall complete, September 2017

We can see the loading dock wall stretching from one side of the site to the other now. Last week photos (click here) showed that little dog-leg section of the loading dock wall had not been built. That was due to the earthmoving machines still being at work where the concreting is now.

I don’t think the loading dock will be completed for quite some time. As we can see, it’s currently in use as a sort of storage area for the big black bin, the yellow lifting cage, the big white bin, the three groups of white weight bags, a green shipping container (bottom right corner of photo) and various other bits and pieces.

It won’t be needed as a loading dock until the ground floor restaurant is open for business or the office suites or apartments need furnishings delivered. Though, if this building site keeps up the cracking pace it’s set so far, that won’t be too long at all.

After knock-off, September 2017

A lone supervisor wandering the site, after the day has ended, checking and inspecting ahead of the next day’s work.


 Extra

View of Gosford on a recent hazy day, September 2017

 The cranes of the Kendall Street and the Singo site on Mann Street are just visible through the haze of a recent day in September. The weather this month has made capturing views of the cranes quite tricky.


Come back next week for more changes in this lovely little town I live in. Or sign up for email updates in the sidebar --->

Kendall Street

Breaking up a sandstone wall, September 2017

Breaking up the sandstone wall along the north side of the site.

 

Breaking up a sandstone wall, September 2017

Broken up sandstone falling to the base of the wall in small boulders. Are there more poured concrete stabilising pillars behind the sandstone being broken up?

Poured & set concrete, September 2017

Some of the concrete for the carpark has been poured and has set. The apartments will be built on top of the carpark.

Carpark under construction, September 2017

Here we can see that the level of the set concrete is below the level of the front of the building site itself. On this upward sloping site, that must not have taken too much digging out to achieve.

The hill rising up behind (and through) this site is Presidents Hill, on the west side of the town of Gosford. The trees on it are mostly gum trees.

Behind the bottom part of the yellow crane on the left of this photo, we can see small houses of the same type and age that were demolished to clear this site for its apartment tower.


Come back next week for more changes in this lovely little town I live in. Or sign up for email updates in the sidebar --->

Ocean View Road

A view through a gap in the hoardings, September 2017

A view of the site’s progress through a small gap in the hoardings around the site. We can see a poured and set concrete floor, at street level, and scaffolding and timber beams supporting the first floor, however far along the first floor is.

Other than the hoardings and the towering crane lifting fresh materials into the site, there’s nothing to be seen of what’s going on on this building site. It will have to rise up to the level of its second floor before we can see it. This is a real mystery site.

Ocean View Road site from afar, September 2017

From The Esplanade, all that’s visible of the Ocean View Road site is its crane and how high over Ettalong that crane towers. The hill in the background is Blackwall Mountain.

The big white building is, at the moment, the biggest and tallest building in Ettalong. The red roofed building to the right of the crane is the second biggest and tallest building in Ettalong, at the moment.

Where is Ettalong in relation to Gosford? September 2017

Ettalong is 20 – 25 minutes drive from Gosford. It’s on the shores of Brisbane Water, as is Gosford.

That blue dot just below the word Ettalong is the building site.

Ettalong is on the shores of Brisbane Water and not far from Gosford itself. It's within the old Gosford City Council area and a short ferry ride from Palm Beach and Barrenjoey Head. Palm Beach and Barrenjoey Head are on the northern beaches of Sydney and the Barrenjoey Head lighthouse shines at night. You can see it shining and turning from the beach carpark at the southern end, the Sydney end, of Trafalgar Avenue.

When this building site is finished, it will be 4 or 5 storeys tall and will have views straight down south, across the water, from Ettalong Beach to Lion Island and Pittwater. Palm Beach and Barrenjoey Head are at the northern end of Pittwater.


 Extra

Dusk at Ettalong 2017

On the horizon, on the left, we can see Box Head, after which the Box Head surf company was named. On the right, we can see Barrenjoey Head and, very faintly, the lighthouse on it. The fainter bit of land, to the left of Barrenjoey Head, looks to me like Bangalley Head in the Sydney suburb of Avalon Beach.


Come back next week for more more changes in Gosford and its lovely surrounds. Or pop your email address into the updates form in the sidebar --->

Hargraves Street

Recently finished on Hargraves Street Gosford, September 2017

Hargraves Street is a small new block of apartments recently finished in Gosford. Hargraves Street has only this building in it and the building site below it in the whole street. It's a tiny street. On the other side of the street, the ground falls away sharply, down to the level of a house below on Holden Street.

This apartment block is 4 or 5 minutes walk from Gosford station and about the same distance from the Emergency department of the hospital, should the residents ever need the Emergency department.

The top floors of this building should have views of the trees on Presidents Hill to the back of the building, views over the trees along Holden Street and Kendall Street and views down into Gosford itself as well as straight across the treed serenity of Rumbalara Reserve on the other side of Gosford. I don't know if the eastern side of the building, the Gosford side, has a few little views of Brisbane Water or not. I hope so.

Building site directly beside photo above, September 2017

There was no sign to tell me what this site is. It's hard up against the side of the apartments in the photo above and, as you can see, it's not a big site. Perhaps it will be a carpark for the apartments. That would make sense with the amount of apartments verses the amount of cars parked on this street. We'll just have to wait and see.

Hargraves Street marked in green on left side of map

You can see from this map how close Hargraves Street is to Gosford railway station for commuter residents and how close it is to Mann Street, the main street of Gosford.

Just under the words "Hargraves Street" on this map, you can see the word "hill" in black. That's Presidents Hill. On the other side of the map, again in black, you can see "Rumbalara Reserve". Between those two hills is the commercial heart of Gosford, a mere 8 streets wide. And that narrowness, caused by Gosford in the narrow mouth of the Narara Valley, is why Gosford must have all these thrusting new towers as it's population grows and cannot remain the town is now, in September 2017 and before the first tower is finished. The future has good and bad in it but it cannot be avoided.


Extra

Rhythm Hut Faunce Street Gosford

 
Colourful mural on a wall outside the Rhythm Hut in Faunce Street. A little local colour to finish off the page.

Today's Pages

Point Frederick apartments
Singo's Tower AKA Bonython Tower
Narringa
Hills Street & Dwyer Street

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Singo’s Tower AKA Bonython Tower

Crane at Singo's site from Baker Street, 7th September 2017

 

 

The crane at the Bonython Tower site towers over Mann Street and the whole of Gosford. It gives us a hint of just how massive the tower will be when it’s finished, in comparison to our small quiet town. And this is just the first of the big changes.

Presidents Hill in the background, 7th September 2017

The eagle-eyed will have noticed the crane in the background of this photo, which locals will know is away on the other side of the railway. That crane in the background is on Donnison Street West, by the look of it. With so much on the other building sites to publish this week, an update on that one will have to wait until next week. (For updates to your inbox, put your email address into the pinger thing in the sidebar to the right.)

Before, 31st August 2017

After, 7th September 2017

The before photo at the top of this pair, with the pipes laid, and the after photo at the bottom, with the concrete poured over the top of the pipes. The plan for this bottom floor of the tower is a restaurant, so the pipes at this end of the site are probably plumbing. We’ll find out when the whole tower is finished and we can go in and have a nose around.

Loading dock area, 7th September 2017

This is the loading dock area at the back of the site, where it lets onto Paul Lane off William Street. The zigzag wall on the right of the photo is new this week.

Structures are growing all over the site, though some are rather more mysterious than this one and we’ll just have to wait and see what they are when they’re finished and have fun guessing in the meantime.

Mystery structure, 7th September 2017

Mystery structure at the back. We haven’t had proper rain for weeks, so that must be ground water in the big hole. And men at work around one of the foundation pylons.

Hard at work, 7th September 2017

Hard-hatted workers hard at work in the late afternoon sun.


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Narringa

Narringa, 7th September 2017

Narringa's entrance, 7th September 2017

Narringa is now looking all but finished. It won't be too long before we start to see potted plants and cane chairs on the balconies.

Townhouses at the back of Narringa, 7th September 2017

The two townhouses at the back are much further along this week. The apartments are in the bigger building at the front, looking across towards the water.



Paving being laid at the front of the entrance to the apartments. Not much is left to be done outside, just fencing and landscaping from what I could see. The tradies were mostly too busy to talk to so it's hard to tell how much work is still to be done inside.


More photos and chat next week. If you want updates in your inbox, put your address in the box in the sidebar to the right.

Hills Street & Dwyer Street

Hills Street, 1st September 2017

The Hills Street apartments are a little bit closer to completion this week.

Hills Street, 1st September 2017

Potted plants ready to into the planter box in the side wall of the Hills Street site. Another sign it's nearly finished.

(The crane in the right background is on the Gosford Hospital site, where the bit new building is going on at the Cape Street North side of the hospital grounds.)

Hills Street, 1st September 2017

Even the letterboxes and the outside lighting are done now. It can't be more than a few more weeks of fiddling fixtures and fittings being finished inside, before the buyers start moving in.



 Dwyer Street

Nothing to report. No visible change. The workers on site said it'll be finished soon but most of the work left to do is inside and so it's invisible to the naked eye. Though I can say there's still some work to be done on the edges of the site, in terms of laying concrete and/or pavers and so on.


Come back again next week for more fun watching my home town change and grow.

Point Frederick

Albany Street, 2nd September 2017

Albany Street Point Frederick, on the corner of York Street. Some people call this area along the main road there, York Street, East Gosford but it's technically Point Frederick.

Pt Frederick is a long thin peninsula thrusting southwards into Brisbane Water and the top floor of this block, perhaps the top few floors, should have a pretty good view down the length of Brisbane Water. I'm not sure if they can see the lighthouse at Barrenjoey Head from this spot. It will be nice if they can. Who doesn't want to see a lighthouse from their window?

Lynn Avenue, 2nd September

Block of flats on Lynn Avenue Pt Frederick, just behind the yacht club. The outside of this apartment block has not changed in a couple of months. We can only assume there's a lot of work going on inside.

Lynn Avenue, 2nd September 2017

Two doors down is this cleared site, which goes all the way up to Albany Street, coming out two doors down from the photo at the top of this page.

This one is another of the luxury apartment blocks, not a very tall one but a mere one street back from the yacht club and, with a sea-going vessel of one's very own, one could quite easily commute to Sydney from this site. The views from the floors above the old trees at the yacht club will have lovely views down the length of Brisbane Water to Ettalong.


Come back again next week for more photos and chat and watch this small town grow.

Today's Pages

Neera Road Umina Beach is the second tiny house site in the Gosford area. You can find out what a "tiny house" is here: Tiny House Site

Gosford's skyline has subtly but changed: http://changinggosford.blogspot.com.au/2017/09/subtle-but-definite-skyline-change-in.html


Come back next week for more changes to the small town of Gosford, set on the edge of the sparkling Brisbane Water, just an hour from Sydney. Or get updates delivered to your inbox by typing your email address into the box in the sidebar to the right.

Subtle but Definite Skyline Change in Gosford

There has been a subtle but definite change in the Gosford skyline.

A tall yellow crane has been erected inside the Bonython Tower (Singo’s tower) building site and it now towers over Mann Street.

 

May 2017

30th August 2017

The crane is only just visible from a distance but its size gives us a hint of how much difference the tower will make to the Gosford skyline when it’s finished.

It was very tricky to get a photo of the crane. It was very busy swinging about picking up this and that and putting it down again and wasn't often side on as it is in this photo. But that busyness suggests the cracking pace this site as set so far will keep up and it won't be too long before the tower itself starts to show above the hoardings.

Come back next week for more updates on the numerous building sites we have in and around Gosford. Or pop over to Locally Owned Locally Made Gosford to avoid the Christmas rush.