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"Safe as Houses" Part 1 (for information purposes only)
How does the old saying go? "All that glitters is not gold". Bear with me while I remember with a smile the last time I had seen this ancient proverb and it was down in my local pub in the form of a framed bank cheque above the bar cash register. It was fixed securely amid optics and greasy mirror tiles. The glass encasement held the document to the value of £23 bearing a stamp across it "return to drawer'. It was soon apparent that this cheque was made of the India rubber variety when the patron offered it. After he ascribed his worthless signature to it, lo, it was later seen to ricochet around the bar and orbit the earth eight times before fluttering to the ground where it was seized by the creditor and secured within this sarcophagus now attributed to bad debtors.
Three working days later this stark reminder warns those who may suddenly be declined and thus, very disappointed if they are refused a 'tab' at this hostelry ever again.
Where in all logic does this tale take us?
It is extraordinary that for £23 a whole drinking community is penalised and mistrusted by the actions of one man. It is the incredulous suggestion that a man will sacrifice his own self-respect for the price of a beer.
Well, we may excuse him for poor budgeting or being 'the worse for wear' but even the most unscrupulous of people do not risk their reputation for such a paltry sum.
What is the point of relating this experience?
I will now leave the comfort of this pub to tell you of people that are not only willing to sacrifice their reputations on the altar of 'good practice' but who have blatantly wasted millions of pounds of public money on a building that will be proved to be a 'timebomb'.
A building so impressive that it has been hailed as the biggest architectural project outside of London. It has boasted the design of one of the most renowned architects in the International realm of industrial engineering who were chief players in howling successes of technical and innovative construction that include the mammoth Eden project in Cornwall.
It's immense. It's innovative. It's the star in the heaven of the most exciting, state of the art building design.
Lets flag up a 'host of boasts' taken from the Internet.
- "A new destination for science, technology, learning and fun"
- "where you will find the world's oldest working steam engine and a car welding robot that can play the drums. It's where you can grab a handful of polar bear blubber, file a TV report from the scene of a car crash and shake hands with a boneless body."
- "A new city centre venue for meeting and greeting, with a stunning public mall, shops, cafes and bars - plus commercial office"
- "A landmark building completed on time and in budget (total cost £114 million, including £50 million of lottery funding and £25.6 million from the European Regional Development Fund)"
"on time and within budget"
- “Freely accessible, this social centrepiece is a place where visitors can meet, eat, drink and shop. Its dramatic concourses, glass lifts and escalators offer easy access to the visitor attractions, cafes and bars."
- "It's also a great environment to do business in, with a selection of prime office space for businesses who relish working in a dynamic environment."
- "Educating and engaging children and young"
- "a landscaped garden and children's play area"
- "designed to promote greater understanding of science and technology. It will thrill, engage and entertain all ages by providing a learning experience that is both challenging and fun."
- "The first IMAX® Theatre allows you to take an amazing journey without even leaving your seat. For sheer sensory overload, the screen in the 385 seat arena is the width of four buses placed nose to tail, and more than five storeys high. The projector is so powerful that if it were mounted on a satellite you would be able to see its beam from earth. 2D and 3D action allow the viewer to travel through space, swim with swordfish, dine with dinosaurs and journey through the human body. Don't come to the IMAX® for escapism - here you're right at the centre of the action."
- "Get to grips with the fast-moving changes in the world of technology at the Technology Innovation Centre."
- "A revolutionary combination of museum, science centre and visitor attraction, Thinktank boasts ten themed galleries, a café and shop, set on four floors of purpose-built space."
The accolade is endless. Crowing indeed. The final fluff of feathers seduces us by saying this grandiose building is….
"Designed to educate, inspire and entertain."
I will tell now begin to tell you from hard evidence exactly what that building is 'designed' for in the following three parts this bloodcurdling report.
Like my little analogy at the start, "All that glitters is not gold" the architect of this illustrious epicentre of construction will soon find himself in the eye of a storm to answer criminal charges varying from 'negligence' to deliberate 'disregard for health and safety' and possibly 'manslaughter'.
The Dome and its notorious glitches now appear as merely a pimple on the backside of a sore-headed 'bear'. A bear of this new Millennium age, so riddled with potential danger that my source believes a tragic outcome is inevitable. He has proof that the hidden threats to public health are undeniable and must be exposed.
The whistling and shoulder bearing praise must stop here. Generous approval ceases. Gushing commendation silenced.
Instead of a salute to industrial technology this is example is a demonstration of a glaring and flagrant disregard to public safety. My source suggests it stands as a nihilistic contempt for standard good practice for the sake of financial gain and "on time, on budget" death-ethics.
The scale of this project covers 41,000 square meters. The concealed danger is in direct contravention of basic health and safety regulations. This building is a house of cards that is already defying gravity. The black clouds of degrading structural problems are gathering and spell nothing more than impending disaster.
Forewarnings were ignored by all the contractors and governing bodies over a period of four months during construction. My source did everything in his professional capacity to dissuade the chief designers and engineers to suspend construction. He pointed out stresses on the existing erected materials were too great to comply by any safety standards.
How dangerous? My source has drawings plans, faxes, personal correspondence, minutes of meetings and his personal testimony to prove that this structure was unsafe. He has got admissions of anxiety from leading professionals integral to the site project. The wealth of evidence is overwhelming. So damning is it that he literally wishes to protect his identity to shield he and innocent colleagues from blame to prevent further damage to their reputations. He approached me under strict confidentiality not to reveal his name or whereabouts.
The magnitude of the possible risk to the public is astounding. Parts of this structure are so dangerous that they cannot be dismissed as imperfections or a few rash shortcuts to save time and money. Not just the odd hazard or oversight. This is calculated peril where leading designers and engineers, household names threw caution to the wind and ignored the warnings, broke the law, and proceeded to construct a 'death trap'.
My source pleaded and begged the perpetrators to this looming huge threat of tottering liability to recognise the obvious dangers. He was advised to be discreet and keep quiet.
How forbidding is this unsafe structure?
This building was quite simply left 'in the balance' because of a time constraint and penalty clauses that deemed that the sponsors and local council wanted it to finish "on budget, and on time." The 'feet of clay' element to this building was a conundrum and such a miscalculation that if the health and safety executive were alerted it would have closed the project down and have the entire façade dismantled for remedial work.
The site would be off limits for up to another six months. The whole construction of the project involving thousands of workmen and professional contractors would be sent home.
This was not just a sticky car on the London Eye. This was the largest project in this country outside of London. To take remedial action would mean a costly loss of time and funding. The whole front of the building would have to be 'chain-sawed down' and rebuilt to safety regulations.
It did not happen.
Accusation followed complaint by my source, but it fell on deaf ears. The hard-hatted 'grunts' on the ground' (as my source describes them) expressed their anxieties and suspicion too, but a completion date was not inhibited.
This cooperative group action of reckless neglect by leading architects and five of the largest construction companies in the country at a cost of over £40,000,000 of commissioned public sponsorship and lottery money has driven those who are aware of this outrage to ground, but my source has asked me to bring it to your attention.
This huge complex will cause fatal injury. It is not a matter of where or how it is a matter of exactly.. when? It is a 'freewheeling man-made disaster waiting to snare its victims.'
Worst scenario?
My source has absolute indisputable evidence that there has been foulplay. A deliberate collusion of eminent men who have produced an invention that because of fatigue and weather elements will cause it to tumble to the ground in full or partial collapse of the huge glass facade.
Should this happen, millions of visitors are at risk. They may be looking up and see one or more (there are 165 in all) boxed sections of glass hurtling towards them weighing in excess of 200kilos and measuring three metres in size.
Why is that individual dead?
Because the framework to the front of this building is bigger a full sized football pitch! It has lost a giant frontal section through one gust of wind that has dislodged a box of plate glass bigger than a double door on a domestic garage! It is heavier than a dozen cement bags! It has now fallen from sixty feet into the car park below on top of him/her/them!!
What is more frightening is that each of these huge prisms of commercial glass is held in place by just a 14mm shoulder surround that is bearing down its full weight on unstrengthened, soft aluminium! As I write this it is already bending and twisting out of shape from the combined weight of not just one but up to fourteen other boxed units from top to bottom. That means that the width of you thumbnail is holding the front of this building in place and withstanding the force pressure at its highest stress point of nearly 3000kilos of downward load per section, top to bottom.
The overall weight of this façade is equivalent to a JCB!
All solid glass!
Part 2&3 of 'Safe as Houses' to follow. Please read below.
I would like to divulge more of the story and provide independent technical advice, submit all the evidence along with video footage and stills of what is claimed and information my source can support. At this stage I have signed a sworn statement to protect the anonymity of my source and all dialogue, correspondence and arrangements to assemble or dispense further information will be done via myself. I will surrender more details by negotiation.
The upshot of this information will hopefully spark an independent enquiry with the health and safety executive and the local council. All those involved with this cover-up will be brought to book and most importantly the defect of the building rectified before someone is fatally injured or seriously hurt.
If you would like more information including the remaining two parts to this article and visual and audio evidence please contact me stating your interest and any offer you are willing to negotiate.
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