It's all go!

I have been keeping an eye on developments, or the lack thereof, on the large site down Court Lane for some months now. See reference 1.

Visiting today, I find that the developer has finally got around to demolishing the old buildings, slighted (to use a term from our civil war) some time ago. With this snap taken through the chain hole cut into the (shut) gate and with the right side of the hole visible right.

We can only suppose that the developer, Zestan, have come to some deal with the council (and their heritage people) which let them knock down the slighted old buildings in favour of more new flats. We wonder what the deal says, if anything, about affordable units - with the material posted at reference 1 not suggesting much, if anything, in that department. Perhaps Zestan are paying into the communal pot in some other way.

However, turning up their website again (reference 2), I find it much improved . I also find that they got themselves onto page 45 of something called the 2016-2017 Parliamentary Review, complete with forewords by the Rt. Hon. Theresa May M.P., the Rt. Hon. Philip Hammond M.P. and one Melanie Leech, no less than the Chief Executive of the British Property Federation. Lots of good words about the need for lots more housing. And where, possibly concerning this development, there is also talk of bats. So maybe there was no deal, just a wait while the bats to be sorted out. Rehoused?

Getting enthusiastic about the whole business I try http://www.parliamentaryreview.co.uk/, said to be the publisher of this review, to be told that access is forbidden. In any event, one can only suppose Zestan to be reasonably well connected to get themselves into such a magazine. Rather more prestigious than paying your subs. to the Federation of Master Builders.

PS: the Google spotter plane has not been this way for a little while, as the satellite view at reference 51.3354892,-0.2756819 is a little out of date. But you can see the two old buildings at the bottom of the site, and the white footprint of phase 1 of the new buildings at the top. Court Rec. to the immediate east.

Reference 1: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/more-progress.html.

Reference 2: https://www.zestanltd.co.uk/.

Planners

Foundation and ground floor plan

I noticed the demise of Alio's at reference 1, and yesterday I got around to taking a look at Epsom council's excellent planning application portal at reference 2.

The documents there, one of which is illustrated left, suggested to my untutored eye that what was essentially a residential development was retaining a retail unit in the front part of what used to be the delicatessen. Which, given the location struck me as silly.

So this morning I call in at the Zestan offices down Blenheim Road to get the full story, where I am taken in charge by a pleasant and helpful young lady who provides said story - and would no doubt have provided coffee had I shown any interest in that sort of thing.

It seems that the rule says that the shop has to be empty for two years before the council will consider an application for change of use. Which means that Zestan have to retain a shop in this small redevelopment, scratch around for a few years, maybe losing a fair bit of rental income along the way, then try again. Against a background of the retail industry generally struggling against a tidal wave of change, it seems perverse to waste resources on preserving this outlier, on not taking this opportunity to tidy it away. It is not as if there are not other convenience stores a few hundred yards away, in the various parades north, east, south and west.

The sort of thing which brings town planning and town planners into disrepute.

PS: this afternoon saw the first sit out in the sun, on what was once the site of our garden shed. Regular sun trap on a good day, as it was today.

Reference 1: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2018/03/sicilian-convenience.html.

Reference 2: http://eplanning.epsom-ewell.gov.uk/online-applications/.

Crane action

Crane action a couple of days ago on the Zestan site in Court Lane, next to Court Rec., noticed at reference 1 and elsewhere. It seems that phase 2 of this project, unlike phase 1, needs a small tower crane, the like of which has never, in our leafy suburb, been seen before.

On the laptop on which I am working, the reinforcing panels, the cranes and their cables all bring out all kinds of interesting image artefacts. Maybe clicking them to enlarge will bring them up for you. Cranes from Baldwins.

Figure 2

A third of the jib coming down from on high. Perhaps the drill is to try it for size before you have the whole of the jib swinging around in the breeze.

Sticking the bits together. With the crane erectors sounding as if they were from somewhere north of Watford, maybe the midlands. Maybe nearer town they would have closed the whole road down.

Fully up by the time we passed by yesterday morning, that is to say Sunday. Snapped this morning.

View of completed crane over said leafy suburb. The roundabout used to contain rose bushes, but the residents round about were far too busy to help the council with their maintenance, so the bushes have now given way to grass, although one can still see where the beds had been. The sign in the middle is surprisingly heavy, but is regularly heaved over by returning drunks and youth. Returning, one can only suppose, to the other side of Hook Road.

The view from the west. Note how the crane leans right, while the lamppost right leans left. A consequence, I suppose, of the wide angle lens. Something of the same sort happens with the snaps of the aloe vera inflorescence, albeit taking a different direction. See reference 3.

The view from the east. Now clear that the suggestion about trying for size under Figure 2 above is quite wrong, as the section that was swinging was the distal rather than the proximal end. Perhaps the heap of sections had just been dropped off by the transporter on the wrong side of the site.

An impressive pile of concrete blocks holding the tower in place but no sign of any sign for Baldwins. And I remember that when I was long, it was an accepted wheeze for the tower crane driver to get paid double time to spend his Sunday doing something called greasing the cables. No sign of anything of that sort either.

PS: a few minutes later: I see that the rendering or whatever applied to the first snap by the blogger people has ironed out most of the interesting artefacts. Less resolution is perhaps more in this sort of case.

Reference 1: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/its-all-go.html.

Reference 2: http://baldwinscranehire.co.uk/. This morning at least, showcasing a rather grander crane than ours.

Reference 3: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2018/05/week-six.html.

More progress

I have been worrying about the stop-start progress on the site at the back of Court Lane for some months now, worrying noticed, for example, at reference 1.

But I am pleased to be able to report that there is now some life, even if the flats involved are some way off being completed. The other day we had a respectable crane, quite a good size for the edge of the Chase Estate, and several diggers parked up around the site. The diggers might have been parked up, but the crane must have been active: day rate far too strong for even a careless builder to leave one lying around.

The bad news is that the flats, which look to be a bit more swanky looking than is usual around here (bottom left if you click to enlarge), come in at more than £400,000 for a one bedroom flat. Well over double what we paid for our three bedroom house 25 years ago.

Not having thought to make a note of the name of the developer, I try Cairds. No joy on their web site. Then I try google, which does not get me to the developer, but does get me to an application for parking restrictions, which leads me to Zestan, headquartered in our very own Longmead Industrial Estate, probably less than a hundred yards from the dump. They do appear to be the right people, as their web site sports some pictures of even larger cranes on what looks like this very site, but otherwise oddly badly designed and uninformative. Lots of tiresome glitter and gloss, but not much else. Perhaps I shall call in at their HQ on my of my morning strolls that way.

PS: google also turned up what looks like some ancient planning history. So perhaps there are problems in that department.

Reference 1: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/progress.html.

Reference 2: https://www.zestanltd.co.uk/.

Sicilian convenience

For many years we have had an Italian, possibly Sicilian, convenience store within easy range at the corner of Chase Road and Hook Road. Alio's Delicatassen. I did not make a lot of use of him, but have over the years bought bread, pasta, wine, sausage, cheese and sundries and he had a good line in small salamis, Neapolitan style, with big lumps. One sometimes met people there who had come a long way to stock up on speciality items for their dinner parties.

Sadly, he has now closed, possibly folding into the family's other shop in, I think, Thames Ditton.

The site has now been taken over by Zestan, the developer with attitude responsible for the much larger development noticed at reference 1. So we wait with interest to see what they have planned for this site. Is it just a filler for them or do they have something grand planned?

PS: for the moment Alio's is still to be seen on Google Street View at  51.336462,-0.2654613. Look for the bright blue awning.

Reference 1: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/its-all-go.html.

Reference 2: https://www.zestanltd.co.uk/.