Latest news from Victoria Street

[ERinVA]

I think the point of this thread, however, is specifically to show what is going on around the VPT. It is amazing to me that they just keep right on performing the show in the midst of this absolute chaos, which is beginning to seem never ending, even though we know it isn't.

[kport]

I asked the manager whether the noise from the demolition affected the performances; he said there was an arrangement whereby noise would end during performances and, on the whole it was working well. That was back in May, when the old Stage Door pub facade came down.

It is certainly easy to find the VPT!

[StevenKing]

These are the latest shots of the Victoria Works on 8th August.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-KGk8LQEzQ

Pat

Holy Cow, theres a lot of stuff going on right there. Hopefully by next May when many of us will be there, much of it will be completed.

I think the completion date for all of it is around 2017 actually...and I bet it's later. I'd guess the tear down would be mostly over.

[tzwicky]

When it comes to massive civic improvements, it's safe to assume the farthest point out in time as possible.

When I went to High School (3 years since I completed year 9 in a middle school), the only real choice from our area to the school was under construction for the full 3 years, though it was slated for completion in just 2. So though school was fun and magic, I think part of the reason I don't remember those 3 years (OK, besides all the other reasons .....) was because each day started and then finished with a massive and time-consuming drive over a butter-brickle nightmare of unpaved road and potholes big enough to swallow a VW Beatle (it was what high school kids drove back in those times).

Up until a week ago BETM nutters from abroad could get a taste of the ongoing site from several BBC Jam Cams surrounding the Victoria Area. Unfortunately the BBC seems to be tinkering with their site and none of the cams have been available to see for about a week.

But "Three Cheers to Pat for the update by video!!!!"

"Magnificent desolation surrounding timeless artistry on stage at a truly historic (and listed) venue!"

tzwicky

[johnnyc]

We have sometimes speculated on what sort of buildings might be constructed on the ruins of Victoria Street near the VPT. A recent news story concerning a new London skyscraper melting automobiles might give a clue. Seems the concave shape of the glass building concentrates the sun's rays. According to a yahoo news story, "Angry local shopkeepers also say the so-called "death ray" has blistered their paintwork, singed holes in doormats and caused their tiles to smash."

http://news.yahoo.com/glare-london-skys ... 36022.html

So now I'm worried that if a similar structure is put up on Victoria Street, it might melt the statue of Anna Pavlova atop the VPT.

[Brad]

These are the latest shots of the Victoria Works on 8th August.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-KGk8LQEzQ

Pat

Holy Cow, theres a lot of stuff going on right there. Hopefully by next May when many of us will be there, much of it will be completed.

Wow - thanks for that. Only just watched it. The amount of work is amazing.

[patc]

Here are the latest shots of the works around the VPT:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zKZa-48mx4

Pat

[Westletonion]

Thanks Pat. It will certainly come as a shock to folks who haven't been to the VPT for a few years. However they should feel reassured that the show is as brilliant as ever and is like an oasis in an otherwise parched desert!

[tzwicky]

Pat,

Once again, you have achieved greatness with your "Selfless Videography for People in Recovery."

All Billy fans not inside the VPT are in recovery ... no doubt about it.

I'd be interested if a local fan might clue us "foreign fans" in to what exactly the huge area that contains the 4 construction cranes is going to result in, years from now. I didn't think to walk the perimeter of that huge area (I'll guess it was never in the cards for there to be a "new" pedestrian square in the Victoria area as the land right there must be unghodly expensive) when I was last there to look for signs that might contain the information or a website for whatever massive office space that the space must be birthing.

I recall watching the building there at the end of Westminster Bridge in front of Waterloo Station going from demolition, to clearing, to underground work and pilings, to a few stories up and then many stories tall, all unfolding 3 months or 6 months or a year apart in time from my various Billythons at The Mother Church. I am blanking at the moment and cannot recall what brand it is or the name, but I would think it's a hotel and it's open now. Funny, both Google Earth and MapQuest show a building that is half built at best.

Pat, you're a peach for keeping us up to date while we are in Billy DTs. It helps.

tzwicky

[kport]

What will be built above ground seems a doddle, compared to the complexity and scale of construction this massive development will require, on a very difficult site.

This project has a number of challenges; the first involves not upsetting the neighbours:

However, being in a crowded city, there are complications.
First of all, there are the neighbours. The Victoria Palace Theatre is a grade II listed building and the Apollo Victoria is grade II*. Both have regular stage performances – the Victoria Palace is currently staging the successful Billy Elliot musical while the Apollo is home to Wicked. These can’t be interrupted, so noisy works have to be scheduled to account for that.

This is one artistic image from the east side of the VPT, with Victoria Street on the left (and the McDonalds/Westminster Cathedral across the street (Cardinal Place). The VPT is clearly seen.

http://www.vinciconstruction.co.uk/imag ... tation.jpg

The west side of the theatre looks as though it will have a mixture of office/retail space from street level up, but what is being built underground is where the real stuff is going on:

http://www.ice.org.uk/ICE_Web_Portal/me ... image3.gif

http://www.ice.org.uk/ICE_Web_Portal/me ... image4.gif

This great view was taken about a year ago, after the majority of the demolition to the west had happened, but the walls across from the stage door (including the famous door to the Stage Door Pub) were still in place - now sadly gone:

http://tinyurl.com/mjyo4lh

In order to accommodate the weight of the massive structure to be built over a riddle of underground tubes and service passages, and a beach!, these huge pilings are being driven into that cleared area of land:

http://tinyurl.com/ldvsc4v

The second problem is the ground conditions. When the Victoria line was built in the 1960s, it was driven through London Clay with the crown of the tunnel around 14 metres below ground level. However, the cut-and-cover ticket halls will be at a much shallower level than that. A few hundred years ago, the area in front of Victoria station was a beach. A tributary of the Tyburn river, which is now buried as the Kings Scholars Pond Sewer, flowed past the spot. As a result, the ground is a mixture of sand and river gravels.
Being a well-developed part of the city, those sands and gravels are full of utilities. Sewers, power cables, telephone cables, gas pipes, water mains, internet links, CCTV feeds – the list is almost endless. And they all run under the roads and pavements in the area.

Here are the pilings being set in front of Victoria Station - we know this area well, dodging the traffic barriers and makeshift pedestrian crossings after a show:

http://tinyurl.com/kznuzvx

2,196 columns in all will be set in place across the entire site:

http://tinyurl.com/kpnfpr5

This is one of the 24m vertical shafts to reach the tube extension:

http://tinyurl.com/kcc5yo2

The North Ticket Hall will be at Cardinal Place/Bressendon Place, nearest the VPT. Once underground passengers will be transported by a moving platform to their train:

http://tinyurl.com/l7ogob5

Quite an undertaking; and, as far as I know, not one show has had to be cancelled due to it.