Shoddy building work on The Moor

[Robin-H 11]

I'd like to complain that the eyesore that Sheffield University sees fit to call The Diamond falls below my standards! Please flatten it and try again - matching it to the beautiful old building standing in its shadow would be ideal!

 

Like the beautiful old building they demolished to build it you mean..

[ormester 11]

I'd like to complain that the eyesore that Sheffield University sees fit to call The Diamond falls below my standards! Please flatten it and try again - matching it to the beautiful old building standing in its shadow would be ideal!

 

diamond is amazing building

[bullerboY 10]

Alcoblog,your posts used to be so funny to read and i did enjoy them but now you are doing yourself no favours at all.Please enlighten us all to your Qualifications as a building examiner and as you would have us think a highly Qualified Architect,please stick to your original format and make us laugh with your antics in Area 51and half much more your style.

[Alcoblog 10]

Alcoblog,your posts used to be so funny to read and i did enjoy them but now you are doing yourself no favours at all.Please enlighten us all to your Qualifications as a building examiner and as you would have us think a highly Qualified Architect,please stick to your original format and make us laugh with your antics in Area 51and half much more your style.

 

Profuse apologies … I totally forgot that you needed to be a qualified architect to discern if something was out of square based on sight alone. Tapered and mis-matching joints merely a cunning nanometrically perfect optical illusion, intentionally incorporated into the design as a means by which to fool the eye of the ignorant by the more than capable builders/magicians.

 

I hang my head in shame.

[Padders 2,849]

thats more like it..alcoblog.

[Guest busdriver1]

I think it looks great. Not been a statement retail building built in years in Sheffield - which is why the town centre can't attract big retailers.

 

Couple more of similar buildings in town would be great.

 

Really? If I were looking to re-locate a business to any area the first and major consideration would be the volume of sales I would be likely to achieve in that area, not if it was a "statement" building.

[Mr Bloke 1,445]

Profuse apologies … I totally forgot that you needed to be a qualified architect to discern if something was out of square based on sight alone. Tapered and mis-matching joints merely a cunning nanometrically perfect optical illusion, intentionally incorporated into the design as a means by which to fool the eye of the ignorant by the more than capable builders/magicians.

 

I hang my head in shame.

I think I can help you here Mr Alco.

 

Like many of it's loyal council tax payers, you can be forgiven for being unaware of the council's latest ideas to drag Sheffield into the gutter 21st century.

 

In collaboration with those very clever people at the Uni, they are quite literally paving the way with their ground-breaking plans to promote their very own 'shabby chic' school of architecture (patent pending).

 

Perfectly functionable buildings that not even the (not so recent) attention of Mr Herr H could flatten are being systematically torn down and replaced by a disjointed (not literally obviously, that would be dangerous!) mass of new erections that have been thrown together thoughtfully planned and designed to look like they are immediately going to fall down...

 

... in an attempt to further encourage all those delightfully talented (yet, surprisingly still unemployed) scrotes artistes to take pride in their surroundings and to turn up with their aerosols and make their own individual mark (tag) on history...

[Guest makapaka]

Really? If I were looking to re-locate a business to any area the first and major consideration would be the volume of sales I would be likely to achieve in that area, not if it was a "statement" building.

 

Yes but to achieve that you need to have a floor space and layout to generate those sales.

 

You won't attract big retailers to cities when there are inadequate buildings for them to trade out of - which amongst other things is why our town centre has a poor retail provision.

 

---------- Post added 17-10-2016 at 11:23 ----------

 

Profuse apologies … I totally forgot that you needed to be a qualified architect to discern if something was out of square based on sight alone. Tapered and mis-matching joints merely a cunning nanometrically perfect optical illusion, intentionally incorporated into the design as a means by which to fool the eye of the ignorant by the more than capable builders/magicians.

 

I hang my head in shame.

 

So you're not qualified to judge on building quality?

 

Best leave it to the experts then.

[Alcoblog 10]

 

So you're not qualified to judge on building quality?

 

Best leave it to the experts then.

 

Have you just not bothered to read and look at the photos in my opening post?

To reiterate … the photos were taken a couple of months ago as I was curious about how the presumably not finished panels would be adjusted (I'm genuinely interested in stuff like this).

 

I now notice that the panels have not been adjusted for correct fit, and the tapered joints have now been filled in leaving tapered and ill fitting gaps all over the place. You do not have to be an expert on building quality to see this, merely having a modicum of common sense and eye to brain connection will amply suffice. To argue otherwise is plainly stupid.

 

However, as most people on here seem deliriously happy with the substandard building work, to the point of arguing with anyone who questions it, maybe I'll just keep quiet.

 

Although I have no 'qualifications' to comment on build quality, I have in the past been commissioned by English Heritage to do substantial work on timber framed buildings in Lavenham (Suffolk), as well as work for Burleigh House which included repair work and reproduction of a couple of museum quality pieces of furniture. Not to mention work for King's College in Cambridge. This is where my eye for detail came in fairly handy.

 

Bearing in mind that a timber framed building and a steel framed one, as well as a piece of traditional furniture share the same basic construction techniques, I'd say that my observations as to quality are valid. Having said that, I'm self taught with no qualifications … just experience and a good eye.

[Sheff2006 10]

What we have ended up with is a nicer, more modern looking building than what was there before.

[chriscalcite 10]

I now notice that the panels have not been adjusted for correct fit, and the tapered joints have now been filled in leaving tapered and ill fitting gaps all over the place.

 

I've just had a look at this at dinnertime. The pointing in the gaps does improve the look IMO, but they've not gone away. I think it's just curtain wall cladding so purely cosmetic. You'd think the client would want them to get that bit bang on, wouldn't you? I am wondering whether uneven gaps are due to variations in the underlying steel structure or just poor fitting/lack of time on behalf of the fitters?

 

I remember Kevin McCloud saying one time that architects and engineers work in tolerances of a few mm at worst, whereas the average builder still works to the nearest inch at best.

[hackey lad 3,949]

I'd like to complain that the eyesore that Sheffield University sees fit to call The Diamond falls below my standards! Please flatten it and try again - matching it to the beautiful old building standing in its shadow would be ideal!

 

I had the misfortune of seeing this monstrosity last week . its awful and I noticed all the lower level windows were filthy . you would have thought that with all the brains at the university ,that someone would have thought to employ a window cleaner