Kendall Street

 Vue

A very crowded Kendall Street, 9th February 2018

Kendall Street Gosford was very crowded on the 9th of February 2018. From left to right we can see: the cherrypickers of the power repair workers; behind them, the top edge of a spoil truck waiting to be filled up on the Vue site; below them, a traffic controller keeping everyone safe in such a crowded street; workers moving from one part of the job to another (or off for their morning tea); 1920’s – 1940’s houses between the Vue and Icon sites; more tradies’ vans and a truck; behind them the blue screens of the Icon site; cars making their way up to the hospital or to their houses further up the street; and, in the bottom righthand corner of the photo, a yellow car that’s one of a long line of workers’ cars lining the street while the sites are active.

A narrow digger for a narrow trench in a narrow spot, 9th February 2018

I think this worker in the earthmover was one of the power cable repair people. Certainly, the earthmover is the right size for the narrow trench (just behind him) the repairers had were working in.

The narrow power cable trench, 9th February 2018

The narrow trench of the power cable repairs. Tired twisted old cables (upper left) removed and shiny new ones going in. A very tricky job in a short street with two active building sites on it.

Plenty of spoil left to scoop up, 9th February 2018

Another spoil removal truck being loaded with big scoops of soil dug out of the site. It was a fairly steep site so there’s been a lot of spoil to remove before work can begin on the lowest level of the building.

Does this machine remove or deposit? 9th February 2018

I have no idea what this machine does. If I was told, I’ve forgotten. The front part looks a lot like a conveyor belt to me. Does that mean another machine scoops spoil onto the conveyor belt? Please enlighten me, gentlemen. I’m dying of curiosity.


 Icon

Go slow for cars passing through, 9th February 2018

In front of the Icon site on Kendall Street, another traffic controller was keeping us safe. It must be a bit unnerving to have an amateur photographer turn up to take snaps on what is already a crowded street full of cranes craning things high overhead, trucks loading and unloading, local residents’ cars queuing up to get through, workers loading and unloading on the side of the street and residents of the old houses coming and going.

Looking up at the load, 9th February 2018

Watching for wobble as the crane operator lifts another load of materials onto this busy site.

Backs of workers just visible against the blue mesh, 9th February 2018

A few workers backs visible, against the blue mesh, as they stay out of the way of the incoming load.

I hardly ever get to photograph workers on this site anymore, or at the Bonython Tower site. It’s a pity because those are the most interesting building site photos. But it will happen at every site that rises up high and it means those sites are well on their way to being finished.

And I’m going to get plenty more snaps of workers at work on the many sites yet to be opened in central Gosford and nearby.

Lovely views to be had from halfway up Icon, 9th February 2018

Looking back down Kendall Street from opposite the Icon site. Down at the bottom of the hill, near the bottom left of the photo, we can see the silvery water of Fagans Bay*. So, even though the building is only halfway to its full height, the views from up there must already be right down the length of the Brisbane Water estuary to Woy Woy and The Rip Bridge.

Just for pretty, 9th February 2018

Just for pretty. The crane, the scaffolding and the power lines made their own kind of art.


* Fagans Bay not Phegans Bay. Phegans is near Gosford, Fagans is a smaller bay you can see from the Gosford to WW cycleway or from the train just before it comes into Gosford.


 Extra 

I am slowly but surely putting together a list of all the locally owned businesses and locally made goods on the NSW Central Coast. Listings are free and will go online, on this website and on Locally Owned Locally Made Gosford.

By 'locally' I mean living locally, on the NSW Central Coast, if you are a tradie or business owner and made locally if you are supplying goods and/or services.

If you are a local tradie, local business owner, or supplier of locally made goods, please email me your business contact details to be included in my free listings. The only catch is that it's for LOCALS ONLY.

Lynn Avenue

Capri inhabited, 31st January 2018

Capri, in Lynn Avenue Point Frederick, a small peninsula right next to Gosford, is not only finished but that rug drying on the balcony railing tells me it’s now also occupied.

It’s only 6 storeys but that’s twice the height of most of the blocks of units around it and many of the blocks of units in Gosford itself. Not counting the active building sites, obviously.

Passing the board, 31st January 2018

It was a dark rainy day when I took these photos, on the 31st of January 2018. We can see that in the damp upper edges of the concrete wall behind the worker in the braces and a big umbrella in the top lefthand corner of the photo.

We can also see the bars of the mesh fence in the foreground of this photo. It was quite slippery on the clay ground just in front of the fence and I didn’t want to sprain my dignity by landing on my backside so I stayed back for this photo. The other photos were taken through the open gate.

Umbrella & earthmover, 31st January 2018

There’s that umbrella again, just visible under the arm of the earthmover. If you’re going to consult a set of paper plans on a building site on a rainy day, a nice big umbrella seems sensible.

This is one of the three Central Real sites in Point Frederick. This one is on Lynn Avenue and the other two are on Albany Street. You can almost see one of the other two in this photo. It’s directly behind that blue mesh fence at the back of this site.

Waiting to swing a new load over, 31st Janaury 2018

This is that other site, up the hill a little bit and directly behind the Lynn Avenue site. These two workers were waiting to swing that load of materials over the fence and down into the Lynn Avenue site. The puzzled expression on Green Shirt’s face is the usual one on the face of site workers who haven’t seen me before. Not a lot of people go about photographing building sites as a hobby.

I’ll be back to photograph the progress in Lynn Avenue very soon. Though it might be even soggier today than on January the 31st.


 Extra 

I am slowly but surely putting together a list of all the locally owned businesses and locally made goods on the NSW Central Coast. Listings are free and will go online, on this website and on Locally Owned Locally Made Gosford.

By 'locally' I mean living locally, on the NSW Central Coast, if you are a tradie or business owner and made locally if you are supplying goods and/or services.

If you are a local tradie, local business owner, or supplier of locally made goods, please email me your business contact details to be included in my free listings. The only catch is that it's for LOCALS ONLY.

Apex

Apex site clearance, 31st January 2018

This is the Apex site on Donnison Street East in Gosford, on the 31st of January 2018. The tiles are all that was left of the long narrow building demolished in December 2017.

Still clearing the site, 9th February 2018

The tiles were gone and the wall running backwards from the bottom of the photo was all that was left of the demolished building on the 9th of February 2018.

This has been another site that's slow to clear, like the Froggy's site on Mann Street South/Baker Street. The clearing has taken months because the asbestos in the roof had to be cleared away by specialists before the building could be demolished.

Apex will be 7 storeys high, 31st January 2018

Apex will be 7 storeys tall, counting the ground floor (US 1st floor) and will have a roof garden partway up, like the Bonython Tower in Mann Street. It looks like the upper half of the building will have views over the club and of Brisbane Water.

Now the site’s cleared, the foundations of this site should start going in soon, once the hole is dug for them.

I’ll be back to check on the progress at this site very soon.


 Extra 

I am slowly but surely putting together a list of all the locally owned businesses and locally made goods on the NSW Central Coast. Listings are free and will go online, on this website and on Locally Owned Locally Made Gosford.

By 'locally' I mean living locally, on the NSW Central Coast, if you are a tradie or business owner and made locally if you are supplying goods and/or services.

If you are a local tradie, local business owner, or supplier of locally made goods, please email me your business contact details to be included in my free listings. The only catch is that it's for LOCALS ONLY.

Singo’s tower AKA Bonython Tower

I’m back. I’ve taken a few snaps over the past few weeks but events on the home front have keep me away from putting them on the internet. So this is a big catch-up post with photos from a few different dates.


 The long arm of the pour

Pouring arm in action, 29th January 2018

This pour, on the 29th of January 2018, is the first time I actually saw the pouring arm in action. This pour is level with the rooftop carpark of the Imperial Centre.

Rooftop carpark of the Imperial Centre behind the site, 29th January 2018

It’s really clear in this photo how high the site was on the 29th of January.

Pouring again, 19th of February 2018

This pour seen on the 19th of February, 3 weeks later, is one floor above the rooftop carpark and one floor above the building to its right, which we can see across the bottom of the picture in white.


 Swarming with workers

Site swarming with workers as usual, 29th January 2018

This site is always swarming with workers but organised and calm too. That’ll be why it’s one of the fastest building sites in Gosford.

Step by step to get it right, 5th February 2018

Working things out first to get it right the first time, 5th of February 2018. These two workers were in a small enclosure in the rooftop carpark of the Imperial Centre. There wasn't enough room on the always-busy site itself for them to work.

Transporting re-bars, 5th February 2018

Moving materials around the site. 5th of February 2018.

Getting things done, 5th February 2018

It's always elbows and backs on this site. 5th of February 2018.

Come in spinner, 5th February 2018

Come in, spinner! One worker stands well back as the crane operator (looking up) guides another load of materials into place with the controls at his waist.

Preparing materials for lifting, 5th February 2018

Down at ground level, at the back of the site, another worker strips away packaging to ready another load of materials to be lifted to the top of the site. 5th of February 2018.

Up near the top, 13th February 2018

Workers amongst a forest of scaffolding near the top of the site on the 13th of February 2018. Not much wind that day, judging by the off-cut holding down the plans on the wall of the building next door.

Waiting to deliver, 29th January 2018

Another concrete delivery for the pour in the background, something in transit on the crane above and behind it and, in the foreground, another tradie waiting to get to work. 29th of January 2018.




That’s all for today, folks. A quick one to catch up. See you again next Friday, I expect.

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.