As you can clearly see from my photo, the front apartment block at Hoose Court is currently being demolished.
I’d presume that by the end of next week the whole block will be no longer. Shame that they had to cut down a tree or two as well!
Just in case you’ve seen a chap hosing down the rubble and wondered why, it’s simply to keep the dust levels down.
I’m curious to see how the soon-to-be vacant site will be landscaped. It’ll be in front of the block that is remaining of course and I’ve not heard anything about there being a new public space. Any suggestions?
I could be mistaken but it doesn’t look like there is much recycling of building materials going on…window frames, flashing etc.
They have been recycling stuff as well as sorting out materials.
There has also been an illegal attempt at some metal work “recycling” on Wednesday night – strangely enough coinciding with the Apprentice scrap for cash episode…A white pick up was seen driving away very fast with the police on site 10 mins later…
…the cheeky so-and-so’s!
Very little was recycled compared to the demolition of the WPH West Kirby site. There they were allowing locals to take wood for re use and dismantled the buildings rather than just smashing them to pieces and picking the metal out later. Different contractors ways of doing things i’d guess !
Hiya Jai,
Funny you should say that . . . as it was the SAME contractor that did both jobs…LOL
Our neighbour got quite a lot of wood from the site before the CRuSHeRs came in
And [ED: someone] had a go at getting SOME of the steel…but local FuZZ turned up pretty quick that evening
Looking at how the contractor worked they did do a lot of dismantling BEFORE the CRuSHeRs came in, Taking out all the stainless steel kitchen sinks and all the baths. There was a stack of those on one of the rear balconies for a few weeks that looked quite comical!
The contractor even separated out the re-bar from the crushed up concrete floor slabs to put that steel bar into a skip for the metal scrap.
Just a shame they didn’t think about all those polystyrene beads that were loose in the cavity wall before they smashed things up! As the beads are not biodegradable I’m guessing we’ll be seeing the remnants of those blowing around the local area for years to come!!
Hoose Court was always a welcome break in winter when I would enjoy a few minutes shelter from the weather whilst delivering news papers. On the other hand, it was always a bit of a rabbit warren inside.
My mum Jean Thompson,was one of the first people to live in Hoose Court.I think it is so sad that they had to pull it down, I guess it is all down to money.
I daresay I have missed somethng elsewhere on this website, if so I apologise, but meanwhile can someone tell me why they ahve demolished Hoose Court and what is scheduled to happen to the site ?
I *think* it’s because the flats in the front block were below current standards with shared bathroom facilities. The rear block is to remain.
Who knows what’ll happen to the area fronting Market Street – I presume it’ll be flagged or grassed at least.
Is it just me or is anyone else experiencing vibrations from the Hoose Court demolition? You can hear the noise of an hydraulic hammer followed by low level vibrations in the house. Or should I just take more water with it?
Well that is the joy of having houses built on sand I’m afraid
At least ours is an 1880 terrace built with lime mortar so it can flex with the vibrations and not crack up like sand cement mortar built dwellings
I have seen this week in the weekly freebie throw away papers there was an article stating that Wirral Partnership Homes “is planning to ask local people how they would like the block’s fomer site to be ‘soft-landscaped’ â€
So I guess it is time to get our thinking caps on . . .
To me a landscaped ared that could also be used as a temporary ‘Market Square’ for farmer’s markets or similar events to the very successful Food Fayres they have had at the Parade [local community centre] would add something positive to the district. The site is on Market Street afterall ! and a focus point at this end of the main high street that is also directly opposite an existing car park could help increase ‘footfall’ for the local retail businesses
I suspect the Council will sell the land for big bucks for flats or Retail, certainly not for the residents of Hoylakes enjoyment.
Hi,
My mum lives in one of the flats that are to remain, the council have just replaced the boiler / hot water system in them, at considerable expense I would imagine.
The flats are being demolished because as you say John the residents had to share a bathroom (my mum has her own) I presume it is cheaper to demolish that revamp.
The idea of a farmers market / landscaped area sounds good but we will see.
cheers
The land is no longer council owned.
It got transferred over to Wirral Partnership Homes [WPH] ownership when the council got shot of all its council house stock. I dare say that once the housing market gets back up on its feet WPH will look to sell the site to some housing developer or other, with WPH pocketing a king’s ransom for selling land that was originally in ‘public’ ownership
It would be nice to WPH actually build something themselves!
Such as affordable housing for local youngsters, maybe on a shared ownership scheme, or even housing association rental properties for the likes of local key workers on low pay. I guess I can live in hope!
But in the meantime we have an opportunity to put forward ideas for some useful green space directly off the high street.
I had thought previously about part of the area being used for a Skate/BMX Park for local youngsters. But I had not mentioned it on here for fear of that being too contentious.
Then only last night while walking the dog past the demolition site I got chatting to a local youngster on a BMX who without prompting expressed a wish to see a skate/BMX park there but was down beat about it on the basis that a group of about 20 of this mates had got together and mentioned a wish to see a local skate/BMX facility to various people/agencies and seemingly hit a dead end.
Now to my mind if I was a youngster this is what I would want to see, I used to skate and ‘trail’ bike [pre BMX or Mountain biking], something different for the local kids.
Some of the usual complaints about skate/BMX parks is noise and nuisance. But where better to place such a thing as just off the high street. The site is noisy because of traffic in any case. Then the fact it is clearly open and visible to all and sundry of the local public/residents means the overlooked nature of the site goes a considerable way to stopping any anti social behaviour. There is a great example of this in Southport, right next to the pier. So before you shoot my idea down in flames or dismiss it off hand have a thought for our local youngsters and perhaps go have a look at the successful Skate/BMX park in Southport . . . .
http://chrisroutledge.co.uk/2009/08/04/kid-on-bmx-at-southport-skate-park/
Julian,
I too this evening have been speaking to some skaters in Grove Park about similar issues. I think your suggestion about a temporary facility is interesting and definitely worth exploring. I am aware of the site in Southport and it does work well and there are many similarities to the Hoose Court site. It would undoubtedly be contraversial but that doesn’t mean that an idea shouldn’t at least be explored. I am sure there are a considerable amount of people in Hoylake who do consider and have thought for the facilities for youngsters.
I thought of you Mandy when the topic of the use of the site came up – a Grove Park Mark 2!!
So I guess we need to start a pressure group to make it happen…LOL!
Hi Julian ! With Rampworx opening offices up in Hoylake, all the help needed would be on our doorstep. Personally i think the old tennis courts or basketball court would be a suitable space for a skatepark. The tennis courts occassionally look thriving but the basketball court not so much.
Hiya Jai
Yeah I saw that when we came back from holiday last week.
Perhaps we should get the local cycle shops involved as well 😛
Speak to you soon . . .
I’m a parent and am think Hoylake should definitely have a skate park. I even set up a Facebook page some time ago ‘ramp sports for hoylake’ but don’t have much time to do anymore about it except gather support and contacts. I’ve spoken to the guys in bikes and boards and although they are not hopeful, they did say there was another mum who had campaigned for a skate park as well. Maybe all it needs is for all these factions to join forces and put some people power behind the cause. Like someone else said, there is a designated area for sports on the prom yet the area is under used because those sports are a bit out of date and not nearly as popular as BMX, skating, inlining and free running. I think the Hoose court site is too small but anything would be better than nothing. A Ranpworx office in Hoylake will be a great focal point as they have also been campaigning. Hopefully the council will start listening!
Has anybody else noticed that NorthWest Construction have started building a hoarding around the old Hoose Court Flats Demolition Site?
So this potential local amenity land will end up looking like the ‘eyesore’ that is the other Wirral Partnership Homes [WPH] Demolition Site in West Kirby!….
So what happened to the local resident consultation and soft landscaping works at the site that WPH said would happen??
Leaflet from WPH
————————————–
You are invited to attend a
Hoose Court redevelopment consultation
drop in event, in front of the empty site, in
Market Street, Hoylake
on
Tuesday 11th October 2011
any time between 2pm and 7pm
Come along and tell us your views on the
redevelopment proposals consisting of modern
new homes and share your ideas on the
landscaping proposals for the area.
If you would like any further information contact
Steve Eaves at Wirral Partnership Homes on
(0151) 666 7001
——————————————-
I’ve heard on the local email grapevine that WPH have a proposal for a new 4 storey block of flats to be built on the site next year……
I worked on the construction oh Hoose court as well, the local building inspector was a bit of a demon and wouldn’t pass any work unless it was up to his rigid standards.
Lets hope that the current redevelopment is as strictly controlled in this time of council staffing cuts!
it is interesting to see that the original blocks where built on a simple concrete raft foundation
Whereas this new one has 143 percussion piles [concrete nails] being bashed into the ground….luckily all our old 1880’s houses are built with lime mortar so are relatively ‘flexible’ to the effects of the vibration through the sand we all sit on. Though it is not that nice sitting in your house watching it shake rattle ‘n’ roll..LOL