The Big Bang
Dang!
I’ve been waiting for months for the controlled explosion of the silos at the old Syrol site – I knew they were coming (though not exactly when) but I’ve had so much on my plate recently I clean forgot.
I didn’t even remember when Lucy asked yesterday if anyone had heard an explosion. It was just when finally getting to peruse some local blogs that I discovered this on the greenwich.co.uk site.
Sounds like there are still two to go – so maybe I won’t miss them…
The big one is still to come – I tried to find out the date yesterday but apparently there is nothing set yet.
Mary – if you hear anything wil you let us know?
Thanks for clearing that up,I was wondering if it was the factory and then started thinking – is there a strange smell? Not sure if that was paranoia, but I'm sure it probably does create one. And gives me a good excuse for why the house is so dusty! I'd like to see the next one too.
I didn't know anything about it but I happened to cycle along the path (about 2 o'clock) just before the demolition took place. There was a pink wire strung from the works over the path to a jetty almost opposite where the demolition contractors were gathered by a white van. I decided to hang around and watch from the foreshore. It took two attempts to blow it up, but it did seem to fall the right way!
you can follow the stages leading to the explosion from my photoblog, here:
http://kiddingthecity.org/
it happened to wonder around in the morning and workers told me the explosion would be at 2pm, so I rushed onto the Isle of Dog just a few seconds away from the best spot…nevertheless, I got it! The main sylos should come down sometimes this week, probably with the low tide…
Paolo
Afraid the big sylos coming down won't be nearly as exciting – they will be using a 62m long reach demoltion rig (eg big digger) to pull them down rather than exploding them in order to protect the foreshore. i think they're looking at doing it either thursday or friday….
a 62m long reach demolition rig pulling down the old sylos is definitely appealing from a photographic point of view. However, I want to stress also the drama unfolding brick by brick there!
Loss of landscape, character, maybe use-value of the riverside, and above all of industrial heritage….