Catch Up (2nd half)

It’s not really the second half of the post-Christmas catch-up because there’s another third to go. None of which adds up but just hang in there. It’ll make more sense when I’ve finished catching up next week.


 'Bonython Tower' AKA Singo’s tower Mann Street

There’s a fence and a mesh screen up around the top of this site now, which makes photography rather tricky and it’s why some of my photos today have tilted horizons. But the screen protects the public from anything that might accidentally fly off the site, though that rarely happens.

Bonython Tower site now level with neighbours, January 2018

The top of the site, right above the residents’ carpark, brings work up level with the neighbouring buildings. Quick work on a fast, neat and efficient site.

The whole of the Bonython Tower site, January 2018

In the middle we can see the orange timber beams and on the left we can see how close they are to the top of the brick wall of the arcade next door. Photos below show just how close the top floor of work is to the rooftop carpark of the Imperial Centre.

We can see only about half the workers on-site on Thursday (17th January 2018). Most of the other half are blocked from view at this angle by the blue mesh around the access staircase on the right of the photo.

The concrete floor at this end of the site is the residents’ carpark floor and the concrete structure, to the left of the middle, is the car-lift that will bring residents’ cars up, from the ground floor entry in Paul Lane, to the carpark floor. Above the carpark, at the level of the orange timber beams, is the garden level and the first of the apartment floors.

Bonython Tower's car elevator, January 2018

A closer look at the car-lift. We can see its two exits/entrances where lifted cars drive into or out of the lift on their way in and out of the building. A car-lift takes up a lot less floor-space than the average 2-storey ramp.

Climbing & waving, January 2018

This waving worker (hello) has one hand of the roof of the arcade next door to the site and his lower foot (hidden) is standing on the current top floor of the site which is the garden level. The garden will be quite large, landscaped and for the use of residents. A nice sky garden in the middle of what is becoming a small city of skyscrapers.

Camera shy worker wrangling re-bars, January 2018

This photo, of a camera-shy worker, shows how close to the level of the rooftop carpark the current top floor is. He is inserting his re-bar into the wall of the Singo tower and the white wall in the foreground is the low wall of the rooftop carpark.

The cool darkness of the loading bay, January 2018

Down below, at ground level at the Paul Lane end of the site, it’s nice and dark and (probably) cool in the loading dock, where the storage tank is. If I’m remembering correctly, and I think I am, this tank holds run-off water and pumped out water from the rain when it falls on the site. We haven’t had much in the past 10 months but we’ve had enough to make a few ponds on the local building sites.

There's not much shade at the top of a building site, January 2018

Up top, the heat was setting in and some workers were battling on through while other workers were taking quick breathers. There’s not a lot of shade on a building site in a heatwave.

Wonky camera work caused by stretching over the screens, January 2018

I’m not a midget but I’m not a giant either so I had to stand on my toes to get my camera over the top of the mesh screen to take my photos. The first few were of the floor or the sky and this one was the most level and least wonky of the 7 tries I had at a getting a level photo from this angle.

In it, we can see on the far side of the site, the waving worker with his elbow resting on the roof of the arcade next door. In the middle of the site a worker is laying down the first layer of the current top floor’s actual floor and, below, we can see the carpark level with its concrete floor poured and awaiting interior finishing when it’s weather-tight.

The crane in the distance is on the site behind the ATO building on Georgiana Terrace.

Working up high on the southern wall of the site, January 2018

I was lucky enough to be passing the Bonython Tower site when the cage was dangling over it. They were working on the wall against the arcade building on the south side of the site. I have no idea what they were doing but I bet there was more breeze up there than down on the ground.

The crane operator taking them up higher, January 2018

And up they go, up above the rooftops.

High in the sky on a hot summer's day, January 2018

Way up in the hot summer sky. It won’t be more than a few months before the site is halfway up and all the workers on-site can photograph the view from up there.

‘Golf Heights’ Racecourse Road

Gosford's new building site, January 2018

This is a brand new site. It’s behind Gosford Hospital, tucked into a tiny offshoot of racecourse Road, running off Beane Street West. (Beane Street West is in 2 parts, the other part being at the eastern side of the hospital. I’ll do another map soon.)
It's six floors literally right across the road from the golf course, about 100 metres from the golf club itself and across the road from the hospital. Ideal for golf-playing hospital workers who like a short commute.

Old fibro house on the brand new 'Golf Heights' site, January 2018

The old house in this photo, due for demolition, is clad in fibro. Fibro is asbestos and has to be removed by a hazmat crew. Asbestos removal has slowed the demolition of the Froggy’s ice-rink site on Baker Street and Georgiana Terrace but there’s a lot more demolition there than there is to be done here, a lot more. This demolition should be speedy enough.

The 2nd house on the 'Golf Heights site out for the count, January 2018

The other house is half-demolished already. The fibro one is visible behind it.

I was lucky enough to run into the project manager for this site and he told me expected finish time is 16 months. That’s March 2019. Pretty quick for such a tricky site to get trucks into and out of. It’s a high traffic area.



 ‘Icon’ Kendall Street

The concrete pouring arm stretched over the 'Icon' site in Kendall Street, January 2018

The concrete-pouring arm stretching right out across the site on Thursday. I think there’s another floor on this site, put up whole I was taking my time coming back from the Christmas holidays. This site is pretty fast too, and another very organised site.

It and its sister site 3 or 4 doors down the street are in a very tricky spot for deliveries of materials, for room to stabilise concrete-pouring arms, for concrete trucks and for everything really. The road is used by the remaining houses in the street, by ambulances going to and from the hospital further along the road, by visitors to the hospital and by residents closer to the hospital. I’ve learned to park elsewhere and walk up the hill to take my photos.

Getting flow, January 2018

Good old-fashioned glove work getting the concrete flowing smoothly from the delivery truck to the pouring arm.

The frown of focus, January 2018

If that box at this worker’s waist is the pouring arm’s controls, that would make him the pouring arm’s operator.

It’s very hard to see much of this site now it’s rising up. When it was at the basement carpark pouring stage, it was easy to photograph but there’s no building overlooking this site and on the other side the road, where a photographer would normally be looking for something to step up onto for a better angle, there is nothing but a steep plunge down a tree-covered slope to the roofs below on Riou Street. It’s a site that was chosen for its views of the water and the stadium rather than to accommodate local blogging photographers.

 ‘Vue’ Kendall Street

The judderer at work on the north retaining wall, January 2018

The judderer at work on the north retaining wall, January 2018

I don’t know what this piece of machinery is called. I call it the judderer because it judders as it works, scraping and drilling away the excess sandstone and clay around the big retaining wall pylons, making them ready for the concrete-sprayers.

Sanstone & red clay & a pile of small rubble, January 2018

I wouldn't call any of the sites easy to clear, there's always something tricky on every site, but this site has been harder to clear than the sandy sites. It’s mostly sandstone and red clay, plus the little bit of lovely golden yellow clay I was lucky enough to get a lump of.
(From I can make out, the hardest Gosford site to clear so far has been the deep sandstone hole that had to be dug for 'Harbour View' in Wilhelmina Street West Gosford.)

Rubble scooping at 'Vue' on Kendall Street, January 2018

Scooping rubble into a neat pile for taking away. Behind the scoop, we can see more of the red clay that will have to be scraped away from the big concrete pylons, drilled and poured into the ground a couple of months ago, that are the meat of the retaining walls around the sides and across the back of this sloping site. Once the scraping away is done, the concreter sprayers will come back and cover them in concrete and smooth is off, as they did to the parts of the wall above the red clay.

Once they’re finished, buildings look pretty simple but watching Gosford’s new buildings going up stage by stage is showing me just how complex a modern building really is.

 'Grand Horizon' Watt Street

Patch painting via abseil, January 2018

An abseiling painter putting the finishing touches on the north wall of the Grand Horizon.

More finishing touches on the 'Grand Horizon', January 2018

I’m not sure exactly what the yellow machine and its worker were doing but the workers on the left were rendering colour onto the walls of the balconies. So this building must be very nearly finished at last.


 Who’s watching the watcher?

So far, most of the people who look at this website are the construction workers and site managers, a few apartment buyers I’ve run into while they’re having a look at the site of their new apartment and a few of my friends. We’ll see who else comes to watch over time. Despite all the work that’s gone on since April/May 2017, it’s early days yet in the transformation of Gosford from small town to small highrise city.

Come back next week for the 3rd half of this ill-planned catch-up series :)

Oh by the way, it's not just you, no-one can get their comment into the comments below. Some sort of Blogger glitch. I hope it clears up very soon.