Windrush Square, Brixton - news and discussion

[Rushy]

The real question should have been:
"Do you think the new square represents value for money given the £x millions spent on it?"
or...
"Do you think a better job could have been done for the £x million investment"?

It cost a fair bit less than doing up the house on the corner.

 

[editor]

I'm surpised you've forgotten the giant thread on which exactly that question was examined.

Funnily enough, you didn't seem inclined to start a poll on that issue.

 

[T & P]

The real question should have been:
"Do you think the new square represents value for money given the £x millions spent on it?"
or...
"Do you think a better job could have been done for the £x million investment"?

TBF that applies to many other works and redevelopments up and down the country. I'm still amazed that the Oxford Circus repainting and resurfacing job cost several million Pounds.

 

[editor]

TBF that applies to many other works and redevelopments up and down the country. I'm still amazed that the Oxford Circus repainting and resurfacing job cost several million Pounds.

Oh for sure, but it would have been interesting to see if people thought it represented good value for money or not.

 

[Crispy]

Funnily enough, you didn't seem inclined to start a poll on that issue.

http://www.urban75.net/forums/threa...quare-represents-good-value-for-money.255193/

Full of nuanced poll options

 

[editor]

http://www.urban75.net/forums/threa...quare-represents-good-value-for-money.255193/

Full of nuanced poll options

But seeing as the thread starter didn't bother to provide any actual information about how much the project cost, it attracted little interest with the most popular vote being, "I don't know how much it cost so I can't judge whether it represents good value for money."

 

[boohoo]

He did mention this in his op:

To clarify, when I say value for money, I mean:

Could the same amount of money have been spent on other improvements to the public spaces or buildings in central Brixton and resulted in a greater benefit?

Perhaps he needed to ask the question above and not whether it represented good value for money as a decent breakdown of costs would be needed.

 

[teuchter]

But seeing as the thread starter didn't bother to provide any actual information about how much the project cost, it attracted little interest with the most popular vote being, "I don't know how much it cost so I can't judge whether it represents good value for money."

First you complain that I should have started a thread asking if the project was value for money.

You are reminded that I did a thread on that very issue.

Then you complain that the thread should have had a poll.

It is pointed out that said thread did in fact have a poll.

Then you complain that the thread didn't open with full information on the cost of the project, when the whole point of the thread was that that information wasn't clearly available. And you moan about me not being bothered to provide that information even though in the course of the thread I went to quite considerable effort trying to pin it down including making two FOI requests, one to TfL and one to Lambeth.

What do you want next? The moon on a stick? I'll bring it to you and you'll tell me it's the wrong kind of stick, or you only wanted a half moon, or it's made of fancy posho cheese when you wanted cheddar from Iceland.

 

[editor]

First you complain that I should have started a thread asking if the project was value for money.

You started a poll asking people if something was value for money when you had no idea how much it actually cost. Great work, that. Marvellous.

 

[leanderman]

I wonder how many of the pavement-set strip lights still work?

The resurfaced and cobbled road is not exactly durable either

 

[Crispy]

I wonder how many of the pavement-set strip lights still work?

The resurfaced and cobbled road is not exactly durable either

They never are. I don't know why urban designers keeping using them.

 

[Manter]

They never are. I don't know why urban designers keeping using them.

whenever works are done they seem to end up with inserts of tarmac too- I'm surprised the gas, water etc people aren't required to replace the same surface, but some of them end up a real patchwork

 

[leanderman]

whenever works are done they seem to end up with inserts of tarmac too- I'm surprised the gas, water etc people aren't required to replace the same surface, but some of them end up a real patchwork

Our Victorian predecessors would never have been so shoddy

 

[Manter]

Our Victorians predecessors would never have been so shoddy

I feel I am skating v close to making some daily mail-esque point about the decline of craftsmanship

 

[editor]

Good to see that the fountain has finally got a bit of oomph to it.

 

[Dexter Deadwood]

We just need to get rid of those two hundred pigeons shitting all over the square and we are in business for the Summer.

 

[editor]

The 'before':

 

[editor]

Someone mailed me this:

Hello there,
Im trying to find out about opening times of the fountain at Windrush
square, Brixton Oval.
Can you please email me the details when they are surely on as we
would like to visit with an autistic boy and we need to make sure they
are switched on.

Does anyone know the answer?

 

[David Clapson]

Epic bump. Someone at Parks should know. Perhaps it depends on how hot the weather is?

 

[steeeve]

Does anyone know what species the big tree is?

 

[Rushy]

Does anyone know what species the big tree is?

London Plane.

 

[steeeve]

London Plane.

cheers, would have settled a bet but we were both wrong

 

[Rushy]

cheers, would have settled a bet but we were both wrong

What did you guys think it was?

 

[steeeve]

embarrassed to say but the bet was that I said it definitely wasn't a horse chesnut tree

 

[Rushy]

embarrassed to say but the bet was that I said it definitely wasn't a horse chesnut tree

Well you were right!

 

[steeeve]

Well you were right!

I decided on normal chestnut because the spores looked spikey from the ritzy, ridiculous in hind site, I'm normally good on trees, I don't think they grow in Yorkshire

ETA - that species not trees in general

 

[Rushy]

I decided on normal chestnut because the spores looked spikey from the ritzy, ridiculous in hind site, I'm normally good on trees, I don't think they grow in Yorkshire

ETA - that species not trees in general

Funnily enough, I have a chestnut grown from a Yorkshire conker in my garden in Brixton.

 

[boohoo]

I decided on normal chestnut because the spores looked spikey from the ritzy, ridiculous in hind site, I'm normally good on trees, I don't think they grow in Yorkshire

ETA - that species not trees in general

If it was a chesnut tree that size, it would be a very old one.

 

[steeeve]

Funnily enough, I have a chestnut grown from a Yorkshire conker in my garden in Brixton.

conkers are horsechestnuts!

The internet tells me that the London plane is part of the sycamore/maple family, both of which i'd discounted because of the spikey seeds/spores, ah well everyday's a school day!

 

[steeeve]

If it was a chesnut tree that size, it would be a very old one.

It must be pretty old, the conversation started by me only just noticing how massive it was despite passing it everyday for years