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.

Atlantis & the silent site

 Atlantis

Atlantis site in Ettalong, 12th July 2018

The Atlantis resort at Ettalong, looking south at Sydney's Barrenjoey Head lighthouse and right opposite the beach on Ocean View Road.

This site was begun last year and now looks the right height that topping out will come very soon.

Atlantis site in Ettalong, 12th July 2018

Atlantis basking in a winter afternoon's sun. Work was going great guns. The access to this site is the old laneway running from the back corner of the site (left in photo) through to near the fresh fish kiosk beside the roundabout (traffic circle).


 Silent site

Beane Street East site silent again, 12th July 2018

I got to Gosford's Beane Street East site just after three yesterday and it was as silent as the grave again. True, it's higher than it was last time I snapped it (April 2018) but three on a sunny winter afternoon is a time when a site is usually busy so I'm not sure what's going on now.

Beane Street East site on a dark 3rd July 2018

As we can see, the same site was crawling with busy workers on the 3rd of July 2018, a dark damp winter's day.

Beane Street East site silent again, 12th July 2018

Yesterday (12th July 2018) the crane was still, the site was silent and the gate was shut.

Powerlines vanished, 12th July 2018

As for the problem in April of the powerlines being close enough to the site to light up the workers, that's clearly been solved by simply taking the powerlines away.


 Extra

Morris ute on Blackwall Road Woy Woy, 12th July 2018

Lovely old Morris ute, seen opposite Woy Woy police station on the 12th of July 2018. The front is old Morrie but the ute back, and that little modern window, look like a recent modification.

Singo workers, I'll be back to your site very soon and, Lynne Avenue, to you too. You're both either topping out now or I've just missed your topping out.

Forgotten photos

 Kendall Street

2 cranes same angle, 24th April 2018

A lucky snap showing both of Kendall Street's 2 cranes at the same angle, on the 24th of April 2018. We can also see in this photo how narrow this street is for deliveries to and taking away from 2 building sites so close together, and we can also see how little parking there is, on the right hand side of the road, for workers' cars. (But Batley Street in West Gosford still has the worst access.)

I'm showing you these photos now because I took them just before I succumbed to the flu and they're too good to leave mouldering on my computer.


 Icon

Heading back from lunch to 'Icon', 24th April 2018

2 workers returning from their lunchtime to 'Icon', the upper site on Kendall Street.


 Vue

Prepping deliveries to be lifted, 24th April 2018

Deliveries being prepped for lifting by the crane operator at the 'Vue' site on Kendall Street. In the background, we can clearly see the Gosford football stadium and, beyond that, the northern end of Brisbane Water.

Scaffolding tower at 'Vue' site, 24th April 2018

Scaffolding tower rising up from the basement carpark levels of the site to the height of the site office in the old 1940's house next door.

Cool shade hot sun, 24th April 2018

I'm not sure if I've put this one up on this blog already but I don't have time to check and it's an old favourite of mine so I'm taking the chance. It's an old favourite of mine for a couple of reasons: 1) it looked lovely and cool down there in the shade on what I remember as a rather hot day in April, and 2) I just like the big columns of concrete towering up with the bright fluoro of the visibility jackets against the cool grey of the concrete.


That's it for today. More photos, and fresher photos at that, later this week.

Hargraves & Kendall

Hargraves Street is the steepest site in Gosford, taken 3rd July 2018

The workers in tiny, tucked away Hargraves Street are still slogging through the digging out phase. It's the steepest site in Gosford so that must be making it extra tricky.

Worker at lunch & materials stacked at Hargraves Street, 3rd July 2018

The Hargraves Street site is in a tiny and narrow street with a very steep drop on the other side of the road. The drop is as steep and covered in trees as the drop in Kendall Street but the road is narrower and one way. So access and storage of materials is a bit tricky. There's level ground for spoil and delivery vehicles and pump trucks to park on but that's the only thing making access to this site the second worst. (The worst is still Batley Street up on the peak of the hill in West Gosford.)

'Skye' site in Hargaves Street, 3rd July 2018

"Sanctuary amongst the trees" it says and that's no exaggeration. The rear of the building will face the serenity of the tree-covered Presidents Hill.


 Kendall Street

 Vue

'Vue' in Kendall Street very close to topping out, 3rd July 2018

In the upper right of this photo, we can see a nice long concrete pouring hose sailing up into the cloudy sky to swing across into the top of the site

This site will very soon be topping out and work is going gangbusters inside, with kitchens and bathrooms going in on the lower floors as I type.


 Icon 

'Icon' in Kendall Street, 3rd July 2018

On a cold gloomy day, at lunchtime, workers have readied another load of materials to be lifted into the site. This site is going gangbusters too, despite all the interference from the weather this past month or so.

Lifting into the site at 'Icon' on Kendall Street, 3rd July 2018

I love a good sequence of photos, a crane sequence being my favourite. I'm old enough to remember seeing men riding the loads as they were lifted and lowered. There was very little OH&S in the sixties.


 Extra 

'Apex' site in Donnison Street East, 3rd July 2018

The still dormant 'Apex' site, on Donnison Street East, just near the railway line and around the corner from the stadium.

I've been told they're waiting for the building next door, which we can half of on the right edge of this photo, to be knocked down. Its upper facade has been squared off but the stepped outlines of the original facade can still be seen. Like Monti's fish and chip shop opposite the Gosford waterfront, it was built in the 1920's - 1930's and the stepped outline is Art Deco.

More again in a few days and another crane count this month.

White whale, Singo, Lynne Avenue & WWII

 The view from afar

6 of Gosford's cranes visible from Pt Clare station, 29th June 2018

Today we're starting with an overview of the town. In this photo, only 6 of Gosford's cranes visible but there are currently more than double that many cranes working in Gosford. The photo was taken on the 29th of June 2018 from beside Point Clare railway station.

The next Crane Count and map are coming in July 2018.


 Bonython Tower AKA Singo's tower

Bonython Tower from Mann St footbridge, 9th of June 2018

Between the flu and the weather, this is as good a photo of Mann Street as I've been able to snap recently. Taken on the 9th of June 2018.

The angle makes the Bonython Tower look quite small but it's at least twice the height of the building in the left foreground.

Bonython Tower from Mann St footbridge, 9th of March 2018

What a difference 3 months has made! In this photo, the tower was unnoticed by some people. Now, as it is in the photo above, everyone stops and stares at it every time they go into Gosford.

(Singo workers, I'll be back for my more usual snaps of your site when I've caught up with all the other Gosford sites.)


 Lynne Avenue

Lynne Avenue site nearing topping out, 25th June 2018

Not long now, gentlemen. The Lynne Avenue site was close to topping out on the 25th of June 2018. And the weather in this photo is the ideal weather for building site photography: nice and dry for both photographer and workers. Pity it's not the same again today.


 White whale sighted at last

Hospital site between Holden Street & Showground Road, 9th June 2018

The hospital's Beane Street West building site. The blue-metalled access lane stretching up from the foreground to the back of the site is where Beane Street West used to be.

In the middle of the photo, on the right, we can see the construction itself going gangbusters at last, after months of earthmoving and foundation work on this tricky hill site. Right up the top, up past the curve of white and orange barriers and the earthmover still hard at work, we can see the tops of existing hospital buildings, near the emergency entrance of the hospital on the western side of Holden Street.

Hospital site between Holden Street & Showground Road, 9th June 2018

Due to flu versus weather versus traffic, I had to take these 3 snaps of the hospital site on a Sunday. I prefer photos with workers in them but photo access to this site has been a photographer's nightmare.

Workers' access is not much better and, with so much equipment stored within the fence and the buildings going up starting to crowd the site, I think you're going to have an even bigger squeeze soon. Good luck with it.


 Extra

Old Nissen hut in Miller Street Ourimbah, 9th June 2018

And now for something completely different: an old world War II Nissen hut on the edge of the university campus in Mills Street Ourimbah.

During the war, the land the university now sits on was used as a military training ground and there are a few remnants of that military installation still to be seen. There is another Nissen hut nearby, in a side street on the other side of the railway line. I'll add it when I spot it.


Okay, that's it from me for today. There's a pile of work waiting on my desk for me. I'll put some more photos up later this week and the Crane Count and it's new map will come this month too.

Sites & views

The 32 Mann Street site, seen from Batley Street West Gosford. This site too is close to topping out and has just 2 or 3 pours left before that happens.

On its left, we can see the long-finished Australia Tax Office (ATO) building, with the orange-brown vertical slats. The light blue structure in front of them both is Grahame Park AKA Bluetongue Stadium AKA "the prettiest stadium in NSW" due to its views from the seats down the length of Brisbane Water.

Behind, up near the left top of the photo, we can see John Whiteway Drive snaking up through the trees and disappearing around the corner to pass the old Gosford quarry up there on the top of the hill. It was operational from the 1920's to 1974 and the overgrown remains of the quarry are still visible from the road.

The ridge on which the quarry sits is part of or on the edge of (some maps are unclear) Rumbalara Reserve. The ridge in the background looks like Kincumba Mountain at Green Point. (The Mountain is spelled Kincumba and the town Kincumber.)

While we're still up on the hill at Batley Street, this is a view of the 3 cranes currently visible from there. From left to right: 'Vue' at Kendall Street Gosford, Donnison Street West near the corner of St George Street and, away over on the right of the photo and halfway down, the 32 Mann Street site.

The 'Harbour View' site on Wilhelmina Street West Gosford has shot up another 2 or 3 stories since I last blogged it and is just as busy as ever.

As well as having had the biggest whole to dig for the foundations and the whole of that hole having been the hard yakka of sandstone all the way down, this site also wins the prize for the most languages spoken on site. Hello to you all.

'Acqua' is just one block downhill from 'Harbour View' on Wilhelmina Street and St George Street. It was cleared months ago and then sat idle for a while but, as we can see here, it's now active and roaring along with its foundations. It's a lot steeper than it looks in this photo and there's a lot of clay in it so it must be another very slippery worksite.

Donnison Street West site, near the corner of St George Street. Another big sandstone hole had to be dug for this site though, luckily for the workers, it was half the depth and half the width and length of the hole for 'Harbour View'.

The trees in the background are on Presidents Hill, which looks down into Gosford. Other sites backing onto Presidents Hills are the 2 sites on Kendall Street, the steep little site on Hargraves Street and the site on Faunce Street West, behind the hospital.

A closer view of the Donnison Street West site. The day I took this, the 20th of June 2018, this site and all the others I saw that day were crawling with workers making up for time lost to recent dark rainy days.


 Extra 

I've just noticed that I'm now over 100 articles, also known as posts, on this blog. In fact, this one makes 112. And I've had 4,336 page views and 4 spam comments. You know you're getting popular when you get spam comments.


More photos in a few days.

Back at last

I had the flu for 6 weeks, hence the long absence.

This is the Batley Street site, with Fagans Bay in the left background and West Gosford in the right background. This site had grown a couple of floors since I last saw it.

Fielder Street site from Batley Street. We can see a strip of the Batley site on the left edge of this photo. The road in the left background is the Central Coast highway. Locals know it as "the road coming up to the West Gosford lights. The buildings in the left background are the shops at the West Gosford lights. Along the front edge of the Fielder Street site, right there i the middle of the photo, we can see the yellow and black power line shields. The site is very close to the curb. The crane on the right side of the photo is also part of the Fielder Street site.

The Fielder Street site has come a long way too, despite all that mud and clay. This photo was taken 2 or 3 days after all that rain and there are still big puddles on the site and around it.

Batley Street and the 'Harbour View' site on Wilhelmina Street are clearly visible from Fielder Street. The suburban part of West Gosford, which they're all in, is very small.


Extra

A nod to the building boom by our local graffitists.

More in a few days.

My white whale

The hospital site at Beane Street West is very hard to photograph, 16th April 2018

Some of the building sites in Gosford, West Gosford and Point Frederick/East Gosford are tricky to photograph to my complete satisfaction due to being on one-lane streets (Lynn Avenue, Hargraves Street, Fielder Street) narrow two-lane streets (Kendall Avenue, Faunce St West, Donnison St West, Mann Street) or just tricky to photograph satisfactorily due to other reasons, like the Bonython Tower on Mann Street (too tall now) too much traffic (Kendall Street) or miles from the nearest parking space on a hot or cold day (all the hospital sites and 'Golf Heights').

The red arrow points to my great white whale, 4th May 2018

And then there's the trickiest site of all to photograph: my white whale, the Beane Street West hospital site, the one bordered by Holden Street and the railway line along Showground Road. Getting clear views of that site has proved almost impossible so far. Beane Street East shows the site from from front to back (Showground to Holden) but not from side to side. Down on Showground Road and up on Holden Street, traffic safety barriers and the mesh on the fence prevent decent views from being snapped, and there's no building I can get access to that overlooks the site.

When I've got a whole morning, sometime this month, I'm going to stalk and bag as much as I can of Beane Street West and all the other hospital sites. I'll have to park down in Baker Street and walk up hill and down dale to get to all the hospital sites in one go. I'll get plenty of exercise.

Come back in a few days for more building site snaps.

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 ---->