Singo's tower AKA Bonython Tower



On 16th July 2018, the penthouse was not yet visible

On 16th July 2018, the penthouse was not yet visible but the kids enjoying the ice rink in Kibble Park didn't care.

Look at the size of it now, 18th August 2018

Look at the size of it compared to the little old shops of quiet old Gosford. (British readers should note that by 'old' I mean Gosford was founded by white people in the 1830's. So it's not really very old.)

This has to be the penthouse appearing, 18th August 2018

This narrower part at the top of the residential part of Bonython Tower must be the penthouse and its nice big terrace veranda. What else could it be, right up there? It's too big to be the elevator super-structure. Gentlemen, I'll come and get the answer from you some time over the next week, when my current blizzard of work allows me the leisure.

Penthouse not visible from Paul Lane, 18th August 2018

No, the penthouse is not visible from the William Street end of Paul Lane.

Work goes on inside despite the gusty wind's we've had recently, 18th August 2018



The wind's work & an interior worker just visible, 18th August 2018



I used to be able to get such lovely images of the workers at this site, back when the tower was low enough that I could photograph from the roof carpark of the Imperial Centre. Now I have to stand further and further away and hope I don't get too much camera shake when I zoom right in.

The good news for those who visit this site just to see Gosford grow is that I can still get lovely clear photos of workers on some of the other sites and new sites will be breaking ground for a few years yet.

 Extra

7 cranes visible from the West Gosford lights, 18th August 2018

As I waited at the West Gosford lights, taken on the 18th of August 2018, I could see 7 of Gosford's 14 cranes. 2 of the cranes are only partly visible so finding them all will give you a warm glow of satisfaction. (If the photo won't enlarge on your mobile, you'll be able to see the partial cranes on a home computer.)

From left to right, the cranes are at: Fielder Street (red & white) Kendall Street, Batley Street (red & white) Donnison Street West, Mann Street (Singo's tower) uncertain location and Wilhelmina Street (Harbour View).

I'm going to have to track down that uncertain location on foot on the weekend. I'll put the location in the comments below.

More sites soon.

Singo's tower AKA Bonython Tower

Towering over the Winter In The Park festival, 16th July 2018

It's cold enough for Kibble Park, in the green heart of Gosford, to host an ice rink and cold enough that our local building sites workers have to scrape ice off their windscreens to drive to work. And that's why I come late with my camera in winter!

Bonython Tower from Gosford railway station, 3rd July 2018

From the railway station, on the 3rd of July 2018, we can see the Bonython Tower is higher than the ridge behind it, Rumbalara Reserve. What a difference all these towers will make to our little valley town!

Singo's tower towering over Mann Street, 16th July 2018

As you walk along Mann Street, the main street of Gosford, you need to dodge the people just stopped staring up at the tower and speculating about when it will be finished and the scaffolding off, who's going to live there, how many more towers there will be and so on. Locals wonder, Sydneysiders up for a holiday wonder, foreign and interstate tourists wonder.

And I wonder how many or how few years it will be before there are no more of the little old 2-storey shopfronts along Mann Street and in the other dozen streets that make up downtown Gosford. Because Gosford is so physiclly small a town, squashed into the narrow mouth of the Narara Valley, the change in the look and feel of it will be enormous.

Exterior finishes in Paul Lane, 16th July 2018

Down in Paul Lane, at the back of the site, exterior work is finished on the residents' carpark level while it still goes on inside the loading bay on the office level and workers are still hard at it on the ground floor's restaurant level, in the cold afternoon shade.

Close to topping out, 16th July 2018

One whole worker and another worker's head, just visible through the blue safety mesh, right up at the top of the site on a cold breezy winter's afternoon. Topping out is very close now. I hope I'm there with my camera when it happens.

More sites coming later this week.


 Extra

Donnison Street overpass upgraded, taken 3rd July 2018

And it's not just new buildings towering over us. With the increase in population and the massive increase in building site trucks on Gosford's roads, there's been a lot of road upgrading going on too.

This particular upgrade and its workers were rained on almost non-stop and in winter too. Brrr.

From what I can make out, this overpass hadn't been upgraded since the 1970's. It was starting to show its age, as all things do, and the upgrade widened the pavement to take more traffic, added the railing to keep pedestrians safer and upgraded the road. Road workers, if I've left any upgrades etc. out, feel free to add them to the comments box. I always welcome more and better info.

On a purely personal note, I always appreciate road workers out there doing there job in all weathers and in the face of abuse from some members of the public. I know how well our roads in Australia are maintained compared to some parts of the work. There are some places in this world where the main streets of towns the size and busyness of Gosford are dust in summer and mud in winter.

So thank you, road workers and bridge builders. And thank you all workers who keep our streets and houses and businesses lit and supplied with electricity, thank you all workers who keep clean water flowing into our homes and businesses, thank you to all workers who keep our toilets and gutters functioning and, last but hardly least, thank you to those streeet sweepers I see on Gosford's streets sweeping up the discarded and windblown lolly wrappers and cigarette butts and worse things in our gutters and on our footpaths.

If I've left out any group of workers who daily keep Gosford's and the rest of Australia's streets and buildings functioning, forgive me and feel free to mention your group in the comments box at the end of this post.

Bonython Tower AKA Singo's Tower

Concrete cladding on the south side, 1st May 2018

A big panel of concrete cladding on the south side, the water view side, of the residential tower. In the background is Rumbalara Reserve, the ridge running along the east side of Gosford.

The site as seen from Paul Lane, 1st May 2018

First up this time is the Paul Lane view of the whole site.

The residential tower from the Imperial Centre's roof, 1st May 2018

Then up to the view from right above Paul Lane, from the rooftop carpark of the Imperial shopping centre. In the background on the right in Presidents Hill.

Workers in loading bay, 1st May 2018

Back down to Paul Lane again where a trio of workers are hard at it in the loading bay at the back of the site. There's still plenty of work to be done inside down the bottom and on other lower floors, while work continues on the outside as the residential tower keeps climbing.

Working on the inside, 1st May 2018

Another worker doing work on the inside, this time on a floor about halfway up the tower and level with the rooftop carpark of the Imperial Shopping Centre. We can see some of the parked cars on that rooftop on the right-hand edge of this photo.

Prepping another crane-load, 1st May 2018

Getting another load ready for lifting by the crane. on one of those handy decks that stick out from the side of the building.

 The load rising into the autumn sky, 1st May 2018

The load rising into the autumn sky, 1st May 2018

And up it goes into the blue autumn sky, right up to the top of the site, by the look of it.

With so many sites active at the same time now, I'm now getting to most sites once a month. So I'll be back at the Bonython Tower site in about 4 weeks. See you then. Future residents, site workers, locals and others can add this website to their Favourites, look it up in their History. If you're reading this on a desktop or laptop, you'll be able to see the email inbox notifications form in the sidebar on the right ---->

What's up today?

 Crane Count

Some of you have seen it and some of you haven't. It's at Crane Count. 


 Singo's tower AKA Bonython Tower

Latest crop of photos from this speedy site.


 Tomorrow or Thursday

West Gosford.


See you in a day or two.

Singo's tower AKA Bonython Tower

Mann Street frontage, 7th April 2018

The Mann Street frontage of the Bonython Tower, AKA Singo's tower, from the council carpark, one of the few good photo spots left for this site.

Work on the residential tower, 7th April 2018

A few of the workers up on the residential tower, against the backdrop of trees on Rumbalara Reserve.

Putting up safe sturdy access stairs, 7th April 2018

Safe sturdy access stairs being set up on the Mann Street frontage.

Seen from the end of Paul Lane, 4th April 2018

Some locals watch from the footpath at the end of Paul Lane. The green crane's operator at lunch at the site end of Paul Lane.

Seen from Kibble Park, 4th April 2018

Some locals watch from Kibble Park in their lunch hour.

Sky-high confab in Paul Lane, 27th March 2018

Fluoro vests and scaffolding against a clear autumn sky. The photo angles in Paul Lane make some nice arty but butch snaps.

Workers level with Imperial Centre's rooftop carpark, 7th April 2018

Planning the next move, on the garden level of the residential tower.
 


 Crane count

Last week I put up a map of all the cranes in the Gosford area. Have a look and see which ones you can see from where you are.



 Locally Owned Locally Made Gosford

This is a call for local tradies, contractors, supplies, other businesses and makers and growers to email me their work contact details and what sort of work they do for a free listing on this website and, when I get the time to add to it again, on my other site: Locally Owned Locally Made Gosford.

Email me your work contact details and a bit about your work or business or agri-business. Tell me as much as you can and I'll edit it down so everyone gets around the same amount of screen space as everyone else.

It's FREE but it's for small and medium sized LOCALS ONLY. None with ownership outside the NSW Central Coast and its hinterland suppliers.

Crane Count April 2018

Marked in blue are Gosford's building sites for late March 2018

15 cranes counted on the 14th of April 2018

From top to bottom & left to right:

Racecourse Rd - small crane, 'Golf Heights' apartments, just back from the road behind some small trees.

Tiny houses - NO crane, site included on the map because it's so unusual and so tiny in comparison to every other build in and around Gosford.

Range Rd - small crane, an awkward house site on a steep hillside, off Henry Parry Drive North Gosford and around the corner from Ormond Street.

Ormond Street - biggish yellow crane, low-rise units on another fairly tricky site just off Henry Parry Drive.

Beane St West (2 dots) - big crane, a large steep site between the hospital on Holden Street and Showground Road along the railway line, this site is the largest in and around Gosford, is still undergoing foundation work and is an expansion of the hospital and will have various clinics, teaching facilities and parking.

Beane St East, on the corner of Hills Street - medium-sized grey crane, steep-ish site, low/medium rise apartments, like Kendall Street and Lynn Avenue, a tricky site to work on due to access issues.

Faunce St West, Gosford, this big yellow crane sat idle for months but now the two old houses on the site (opposite Cape Street North) have been demolished so this sloping site's foundations should be finished in a few months.

Hargraves St - small crane tucked away in the front left corner of the site, this street runs off Kendall Street near Ward Street, the site is the steepest I've seen so far, the foundation work is obviously heavy-going but seems to be about halfway through now.

Bately St - big red, white and blue crane, on the corner of Donnison Street in West Gosford, a 7 or 8 storey apartment tower right on the peak of a hill so its top floor will effectively be about 25 storeys above Mann Street.

Wilhelmina St - big yellow crane, West Gosford, 'Harbour View' apartment tower, so far the biggest hole that's had to be dug down into the sandstone but now going along at a good pace since the foundations were poured, barely 50 metres from Bately Street site.

Donnison St West - biggish yellow crane, near the corner of St George Street and about 200 metres from Wilhelmina St, a smallish apartment block, also going along at a fair clip now its big hole down into the sandstone has been dug and its foundations laid. This site's sandstone hole was about the same size at the one at Lynn Avenue.

Kendall St (2 dots) - big yellow crane on 'Icon' site and another big yellow crane on 'Vue' site, both apartment towers, both going ahead at a good pace but 'Icon' (upper site) is very difficult to photograph well now, due to the narrowness of the street and the fact that the opposite side of the road is a dangerously steep slope covered in trees and a tangle of undergrowth.

'Bonython Tower' AKA Singo's tower - biggest and first crane in Gosf's current building boom, yellow and visible from most parts of Gosford and even from the Woy Woy end of Brisbane Water Drive, the site is on Mann Street (main street) right next to Gosford's only shopping centre, the Imperial Centre, a neat quick site going along at a cracking pace.

'32 Mann St' - big yellow crane, Mann Street Gosford, just near the corner with Georgiana Terrace and, from its website, for "commercial building with a mixed use ground floor...retail uses [and]...Department of Finance, Services and Innovation", moving along at a fair clip.

Lynn Avenue - medium-sized yellow crane, site is in Point Frederick just behind the yacht club and is to be a medium-sized apartment tower overlooking the Gosford Broadwater, despite the narrowness of its street this site going along at a good pace now the big hole has been dug down into the sandstone and the foundations laid.



 Locally Owned Locally Made Gosford

For the last couple of weeks I've been putting out the call for local tradies to email me their work contact details and what sort of work they do for a free listing on this website and, when I get the time to add to it again, on my other site: Locally Owned Locally Made Gosford.

And I've just realised I left out a whole slab of local contractors and businesses and makers and growers by just calling for tradies. So any locally owned business or any local maker or grower can send me their work contact details and a bit about their work or business or agri-business. Tell me as much as you can and I'll edit it down so everyone gets around the same amount of screen space as everyone else.

It's FREE but it's for small and medium sized LOCALS ONLY. None with ownership outside the NSW Central Coast and its hinterland suppliers. Have a look at what's already there: Locally Owned Locally Made Gosford

Beane Street East

Beane Street East site, 24th March 2018

The apartment building site on the corner of Beane Street East and Hills Street. This site, like Grand Horizon seen here behind it, are a short 10 minutes walk from the railway station and an even shorter 5 minutes walk to the shopping centre on Gosford's main street: Mann Street. It's a small town, even though it's getting taller.

Grand Horizon on Hills Street, 24th March 2018

The Grand Horizon building has its hordings off the bottom of the facade at last and it looks like only the apartments on the very right end need to be finished.

View from corner Beane Street East & Hills Street, 24th March 2018

The view north and north-west from the Beane Street/Hills Street site to North Gosford, Narara and Palm Grove.


 Extra

The view south from Grand Horizon on Hills Street, 24th March 2018

A little old cottage around 80 - 100 years old on the left of this photo, on the corner of Bent Street (which is straight). At the end of the street down the middle of the photo (Hills Street) we can see the Imperial Centre shopping centre, at March 2018 Gosford's only shopping centre. Behind it, the 1970's apartment tower at the southern end of Mann Street and, closer to us, the Gosford branch of the Central Coast Council, also a 1970's building.

The taller crane is the closer one, on the Bonython Tower AKA "Singo's tower" site. Grand Horizon's sister building on the right edge of the photo and, in the distance, the ridge above Point Clare, Tascott and Koolewong and then, most distant, the ridge along the back of Umina on the Woy Woy Peninsula.


 Locally Owned Locally Made Gosford

For the last couple of weeks I've been putting out the call for local tradies to email me their work contact details and what sort of work they do for a free listing on this website and, when I get the time to add to it again, on my other site: Locally Owned Locally Made Gosford.

And I've just realised I left out a whole slab of local contractors and businesses and suppliers and carters and makers and growers by just calling for tradies. So any locally owned business or any local maker or grower can send me their work contact details and a bit about their work or business or agri-business. Tell me as much as you can and I'll edit it down so everyone gets around the same amount of screen space as everyone else.

It's FREE but it's for small and medium sized LOCALS ONLY. None with ownership outside the NSW Central Coast and its hinterland suppliers.

Singo's tower AKA Bonython Tower

All photos on this page taken Saturday 17th of March 2018.

The residential tower clad in blue, the Mann Street frontage in the red circle.

The Bonython Tower site, Singo's tower, from Showground Road, right next to the railway station.

There was a much better photo to be had from this photo spot about a week ago. It would have shown a clear shot of the workers preparing for a concrete pour but I missed the narrow window of opportunity for that photo. Only the crane operator and passing aircraft will get that view from now on, now the tower's so high.

It was not very long ago, perhaps only a month ago, that I was taking my photos from the rooftop carpark of the Imperial shopping centre and looking straight across to the workers at the same level. The 3 floors after that have gone up so quickly. Another couple of months and the construction crew will have done their bit and will be moving on to the next building site, wherever that may be.

Part of the reason they're getting the floors up so fast now is that there's little variation in the floors of the residential tower, whereas each floor below it was different and was wider and longer too.

This is the first time I've seen one of these decks on the Bonython Tower site. The Batley Road site, on the corner of Donnison Street East in West Gosford, has had them for a couple of months.

They look very handy for holding smaller materials for those working on the insides of buildings. I noticed work starting on the inside of the Bonython Tower on the 7th of March, when the blue mesh came off the Mann Street front of the building.

What's been going on inside the lower floors since the blue mesh came off the Mann Street frontage. The ground floor, this one we see here, is the restaurant level. Above it an office level and above it, immediately below the residential tower, is the residents' carpark level. Access to the carpark will be through Paul Lane, at the back of the site, and via a car-carrying elevator.

This site has become very hard to photograph since the residential tower started to rise and it will only get harder to photograph. That means very few more opportunities to photograph anyone but the scaffold-builder at work. I'll miss all those great photos of fluoro work shirts against the grey concrete and Gosford's blue skies. It's been great photographing you, gentlemen, and I hope to see some of you on other local sites soon, including Elysium at Terrigal. Meanwhile, I'll keep snapping away at the Singo tower until you've topped out and then until the fitters-out have finished inside and the residents move in.

 Locally Owned Locally Made Gosford

For the last couple of weeks I've been putting out the call for local tradies to email me their work contact details and what sort of work they do for a free listing on this website and, when I get the time to add to it again, on my other site: Locally Owned Locally Made Gosford.

And I've just realised I left out a whole slab of local contractors and businesses and makers and growers by just calling for tradies. So any locally owned business or any local maker or grower can send me their work contact details and a bit about their work or business or agri-business. Tell me as much as you can and I'll edit it down so everyone gets around the same amount of screen space as everyone else.

It's FREE but it's for small and medium sized LOCALS ONLY. None with ownership outside the NSW Central Coast and its hinterland suppliers.

Bonython Tower AKA Singo's tower

Across the old low rooftops to the Bonython Tower site, 7th March 2018

Bonython Tower on Mann Street Gosford. All photos on this page taken 7th of March 2018.
Few words this week. Today is just all the best photos with their captions. With more building sites becoming active in this last couple of weeks, I may have to be very brief with the words for all sites in future. We’re still in the very early stages of this big change to our little old town and it can only get busier for this photographer.

Blue mesh gone from Mann Street's lower frontage, 7th March 2018

Residential tower in blue mesh rising above its neighbours, 7th March 2018

 

Health & Safety checks on the street, 7th March 2018

Strategy meeting before harness work, 7th March 2018

Harness worker checking before doing, 7th March 2018

Hooked on & climbing through, 7th March 2018

Many locals watch site progress from Kibble Park, 7th March 2018

William Street overflow of deliveries, 7th March 2018

One day I saw 4 or 5 concrete delivery trucks lined up waiting in William Street. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a snap that day.

The gate giving onto Paul Lane is a safe niche to take photos from, 7th March 2018

Neat & busy in Paul Lane, 7th March 2018

Sometimes, when the Paul Lane traffic slows down, I can get further down the lane for a different angle, sometimes it's just too busy.

My favourite crane so far hard at work, 7th March 2018

Residential tower from Imperial Centre's roof carpark, 7th March 2018

5 cranes in one photo, 7th March 2018

Crane locations, from left to right:

Harbour View at Wilhelmina Street West Gosford (right on left edge of trees, biggest hole so far)

Batley Street, building name unknown (partly obscured, just below tiny red arrow)

Donnison Street West (small block, big hole)

Icon on Kendall Street (Vue site has no crane yet on 7th March 2018)

 
Photo uploading Blogger/blogspot glitches defeated for another week and all this week's Bonython Tower photos up at last! The font glitches remain and no amount of re-doing will fix them. I hope next Friday is when the next set of Bonython Tower photos go up. I want the glitches gone and my schedule back on track.


 Extra 

Yacht racing at Gosford, late February 2018

There's nothing like messing about in boats on a warm sunny day.

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