Work starts on the Pleasurama site and other reflections on building work

There is much activity in Ramsgate from the men in overalls with their Transit vans, I seemed to confront this wherever I went today.
Pugin looks out under a much scaffolded Granville, it would seem that the roof on the new bit has never been quite right.

There was early morning activity on the Pleasurama site, they appear to be clearing the ground prior to constructing the Royal Sands Development there.

The only place in Ramsgate that residential development has occurred in front of a cliff face in the past is Kent Terrace.

At the moment there is some sort of dialogue going on between the council and the residents there about who is responsible for repairing the cliff wall there.

This design of cliff wall in Ramsgate has given problems in the past, so it is an important dialogue, particularly if you live in front of one.

There were a – what is the collective noun for Transit vans – a taggle or perhaps an encumbrance, lot of them about as you can see.

The trouble in this case is that I don’t think any amount of rodding will stop the buildings there filling up with sewage when it rains hard.

There is a strange anachronism relating to environmental regulation here, it isn’t possible to put an emergency drain into the harbour although the sewage pours into there too, when it rains hard that is.

There was also much work going on the slipway that apparently we don’t need.

Where this work will take place when the slipway is built on is unclear, of course while a slipway isn’t economically viable while some sort of pub eatery would be, there is the question. Is the harbour viable if there isn’t anywhere for the windfarm vessels to be mended.

The pavilion is having much attention from the taggle, it is strange doing all this work on the outside of the building, without giving it a sea defence to protect it or resolving the problems inside.

Much activity around the new development in Kent Terrace too, it is very obviously about a metre shorter that it should be, just suppose you had to explain to your partner why the garden shed’s height was out by a metre.

Sorry I digress, some of the Pleasurama site clearance seems to be revelling some unusual aspects of the cliff façade, but I won’t say anything about that as I have done so enough before I think.

I think it’s time to look at the historical aspect here combined with today’s pictures.

The guys in the picture above are looking for people buried in the rubble when part of the cliff near the Pleasurama site collapsed in 1957.

The Brick pillar in the picture above is part of the structure that collapsed then.

The picture above is another one of this series of collapses, I say series as it collapsed again halfway through the rebuilding process, taking the new concrete support with it, a few hundred tons of chalk tends to get its own way.

Now most of these collapses are caused by water leaking in through the top surface, blocked drains, cracked surface, that sort of thing.

The clump of weeds growing by the fence in the picture above is all you can see of the drain that is completely blocked, next to the top of the brick pillar.

And the brick pillar is seventy feet high and twelve feet away from the new development that will have people living inside.

I have mentioned this today to both the council and the contractor who is going to build the development there, just in case you were wondering.

Oh the rest of today’s pictures are at http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/910/id4.htm and http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/910/id5.htm I nearly forgot.