Silly House Problems

[Bill Posters]

I know people who are perfectly happy living in them.

Some of them are really nice inside. (The flats, that is)

[Rog]

It's a community and they're peoples homes.

 

Break up the community and you break older people.

 

I'll just bet that the land would be put to 'better use' as well.

[joeyconcrete]

I think they'd be pretty classy looking if they were refurbished. Like Simon, I do kinda like the look of them (through squinted eyes). Personally I think they have more character than the Heritage home stuff that's going up. If I think a shared garden/park would be a nice addition though - somewhere for the kids to play. They'd have to make sure the guy with the dog that craps all the way along Lord Street (who lives in those flats) doesnt get in the garden though.

[Declan]

That character is actually called damp. Give it a few years and all the Heritage Homes buildings will have character too.

[monkey_magic]

The character of a drunken tramp.

[Deejay Denzel]

have they not got pvc windows now though? no chance of rotting frames now, that'll keep the damp within.

[Tempus Fugit]

I also thought that the old Douglas bus station was a classic structure which could have been refurbished for modern use.

 

 

hang on a cotton-pickin mo, some of us remember them BUILDING the 'OLD' bus station after they removed the old blue wooden hut they used for the air terminal on the harbour side of the car park.

 

I would have thought the fabric of the Lord St flats would be sound for refurbishment for young singles/couples better than the converted houses which are often exorbatant 'slums', and they would be handy for town and work too, whilst they are saving for a first time buyer deposit. Refurbishment would be practical if the whole block was vacant.

 

There's too little accomodation in town centres which leaves the town centres deserted and means more traffic problems with commuters rather than just walking down the road to work.

 

 

But, there again, 'youngsters' these days don't save, they spend every penny, get everything on the 'never never', have to have the best, most expensive houses, furniture, cars, huge mortgages and overdrafts, don't 'make do' until they can afford better, - do they, silly me

[monkey_magic]

Youngsters eh?

 

Nothing but the best Dandara flats will do.

[Bill Posters]

....best Dandara ..........

 

Two words you don't see together very often.

[Tempus Fugit]

....best Dandara ..........

 

Two words you don't see together very often.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

any particular reason behind that scoff ?, maybe you prefer old cold stone to a modern efficient insulated building

[crumlin]

I know a lad that lives in one and the kitchen is that small he has a choice, full size cooker, no fridge or washing machine or the way he has it is a fridge with a baby belling cooker on top and a washing machine in the bathroom, but noe he cant use the bathroom sink. Every time it rains the flat is soaking wet, they have bricked up thr fire place to stop the drafts and used more room up putting a gas boiler in that he cant afford to use.

 

Now thats what I call modern living, would you live that way, I dont think so

[ans]

Forced to buy it with a shotgun was he?

[Addie]

How about this as a plan for Lord Street flats?

 

I know of a very young and immature single mother who was stuck in a 3 bed house at the Strang. She felt - and was - totally isolated.

 

She didn't drive - well couldn't afford a car anyway as she survived totally on benefits. She hadn't much clue as to bringing up baby either. It was a sad and negative situation.

 

How about Lord Street being turned into young single mum and baby hostel?

 

There could be a creche on site, classes on mothering and basic medical skills etc. No upkeep, others around to care and advise, no car required to access Douglas and potential work. Easier access to college or school or whatever?

[Stavros]

Why not just turn them into a "Capsule Hotel" a design based on Japan’s capsule hotels.

 

Stav.

[Lonan3]

I know a lad that lives in one and the kitchen is that small he has a choice, full size cooker, no fridge or washing machine or the way he has it is a fridge with a baby belling cooker on top and a washing machine in the bathroom, but noe he cant use the bathroom sink. Every time it rains the flat is soaking wet, they have bricked up thr fire place to stop the drafts and used more room up putting a gas boiler in that he cant afford to use.

 

Now thats what I call modern living, would you live that way, I dont think so

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

I was brought up in Old Pulrose, in the days when they still had outside toilets (although there was a place to store the coal inside the house!). Until they were finally pulled down, I hadn't given much credence to the story that they were also built without any real foundations. The evidence for that is now, however, quite visible. God knows how they remained standing for almost eighty years!

 

There may have been some fine buildings constructed in the past but most of the local govt housing doesn't seem to fall into that category. The Lord Street flats are unsightly (the only German architecture they remind me of is the kind you find falling apart in the old Eastern Bloc) and their specifications simply don't meet with reasonable, modern standards.

 

It's time to replace - not renovate them. Renovations are usually a waste of money in the long term.