Sky Watch Friday

Normally, I just post one pic for Sky Watch Friday, and very few words. But today, I bring you three images - and a rant! Take a good look at the horrid structure in these images - this is just a small section of it. I call it Nightmare Towers. Why? Well, when it's completed, the focal point of this development will be a huge skyscraper, 330 feet tall. If this was being built in central London, or down-town Manhattan, it would fit in perfectly. But it's not. It's being built right on the seafront at Swansea Marina. Some poor people, who have had privacy for years, will have new apartment blocks literally a metre or two from their windows. Even now, the residents of the existing apartments will have had much of their natural light cut off by this vile structure.



One poor man has already lost his life to this structure, after falling from it, whilst helping to construct it. I just hope it claims no more lives. This is a petty and insignificant gripe in comparison to the loss of a man's life, but when this ugly thing's completed, despite the fact that I live on a steep hillside, some 650-700 feet above the bay, I will lose a fair chunk of my sea view. People on lower ground will totally lose their sea view to this hideous monstrosity. Why the council gave planning permission for it, I really don't know. It's being plonked on our lovely seafront by a Dublin property development company. If they like their design that much - why not dump it on Dublin's seafront?



I also think this thing is a security risk. We have no local buildings anywhere near the height that this monster will be. These cranes are probably about a third of the monster's eventual height - and I felt sick just looking up at them to take this shot. Our local fire fighters have probably had no training in how to evacuate a skyscraper, or how to contain a blaze in one. That's not because our local fire service is in anyway inept. They're far from it. But we have no other comparable buildings in the area. The highest buildings we have are a number of high-rise blocks of flats (apartments) and the BT Tower - all of which must only be a third of the intended height of this nasty thing. If anything goes wrong at this new tower, the fact that our fire fighters will lack experience in tackling blazes in such buildings, will put them and anyone working and living in the tower, at great risk. And I know this will probably make me sound like a scaremongering alarmist, but - what if terrorists target it? Swansea may not be New York, but terrorists will attack anywhere where they can cause major loss of life. The very fact that the council is hailing it as such a wonderful new development, could make it a target.


I've been against this horrid thing since I first heard about plans to build it. I'm so shocked that local people have allowed it to go ahead. This really can be an apathetic city on times. I'm all for development and improvement. But not development causing disfigurement of a perfectly good landscape. Oh well, I guess I'll have to accept it, and watch the ships docking in the harbour from my lounge window while I can. Once this thing is completed - I'll have to head to the beach to see the ships dock. Anyway, sorry for the rant, and thanks for visiting my Sky Watch. Happy Friday!