"Hang On A Minute Lads, I've Got A Great Idea"

With Ken White snapping a picture on the left and artwork designer Mike Pringle in the red, the assembled crowd of officer workers, Alexander House tenants and BMW staff look on.

I like to think that Mike Pringle, the designer of the artwork that now adorns the side of Alexander House, said the above phrase before sketching the plan for the design!

The much talked about artwork was unveiled by a couple of abseilers in appropriately windy conditions just after 11am this morning. It was heartening to be amongst a big crowd, with media, councillors, office workers, the Mayor and Mayoress, the designer Mike Pringle, Swindon legend Ken White (had a great chat with him whilst we waited), plus a lot of passing shoppers down below in John Street, along with a few Community Support Officers. Everyone was snapping pictures.

The second mini can be seen in it's blue cover on the roof.

The artwork is easily the biggest piece of installation artwork in Swindon and is instantly recognisable. 

The question now, is what will be the next piece of public art in Swindon, and which building will it go?

Swindon's Regeneration : The Mary Celeste, Faded Glories & The Last Day

The perfect day to be up on the roof.

Today's visit to the former Swindon College site at Regent Circus was what we'd been waiting for. After painstaking work by the asbestos team, the main building is now safe to access and there was only one place to go when arriving, to the roof!

A perfect day and a great location gave a view for miles around. Back inside, we methodically went through each floor, working our way down. Any former students will remember the floor and room numbering system at Swindon College, for example, I had Environmental Science in 4.16, which was on the 3rd floor, as the ground floor were numbered '1'. Each floor had it's own colour too!

Room 4.9's room timetable from week commencing 3rd July 2006. Anyone recognise the staff names? Who took Entry English on Wednesday evening?

A few rooms had their classroom timetables still in place behind perspex on the room outside. Did you have a class in room 4.9 in that last week of it's use in July 2006?

On the stairwell, at each half-landing was a large piece of student-produced artwork, which are all intact and still in-situ! I did retrieve a piece of artwork on an office wall that was also remarkably undamaged, more of that in a later post!

The view towards the half-landing between the 3rd Level (2nd floor)  and the 4th Level (3rd floor). Do you remember the mural of the countryside? 

The library is much smaller than I remember, but the red carpet is still there and apart from some missing ceiling tiles, debris and graffiti, the structure looks solid enough.

The silent study area of the library.

Does anyone remember the careers library? That small room on the right when entering the library, it now has a grand view of the workshops demolition happening right outside.

Anyone need careers advice?

The main building is the eeriest of all to walk through, most likely because of it's size. We also got a look in the hall and Vincents Restaurant (the refractory). More pictures of those soon-to-disappear spaces in the next few days.

Swindon's Murals Make Right Royal Return

A new mural to Swindon's best-kept-art-secret collection has just appeared in the town centre! Above an office on the corner of Temple Street and Commercial Road, it's full of colour and has a royal theme.

In the sun, against a blue sky, the colours really stand out.

Swindon needs a new generation of murals, on houses, walls and offices. Who's with me?

Swindon's Regeneration : A Sign of the Times

Have you seen the time?

 For the first time in over 50 years, the residents of Edmund Street will be able to tell the time from the Town Hall clock.

Swindon's Regeneration : Victorian Glory

One of the two big decorative windows on the main staircases.

Tucked away at the edge of the Regent Circus site is the original Swindon Technical College building, next to Victoria Road. There's two great things about this building : It's not being demolished and, it's an absolute gem.

This is the view directly behind the big red doors that face out onto Victoria Road.

It's got some cracking features, including the main entrance doorway, the stained glass windows and the sweeping staircases. Plus, it's got all the signature pieces you'd expect in a Victorian building, gabled windows, high ceilings and decorative brickwork.

The spacious Burkhardt Hall, with it's grand wooden floor and views out over Swindon, did you have lectures here?

Home of BA Graphic Design Year 3.

The Victorian heating grates on the floor, with the 1960s door on the left and the 1990s white board on the right.

Right now, it's slowly faded into the background, with missing tiles, there's the constant drip-drip of water getting into the building. But out of all the buildings on the former Swindon College site, it's the single one which shall be restored for use.

The ground floor walkway between the Victorian building and the main 60's block was demolished this week.

Swindon's Regeneration : An Historical Document

When were you last asked to turn off your mobile phones and pagers?

This image I posted last week, from inside one of the workshops being demolished on the former Swindon College Regent Circus site, passed me by slightly.

I didn't read, or take any notice of the mention of 'and pagers' in the warning.

How quickly we forget old technology!

Swindon's Regeneration : You Are Starting Here

Demolition of the former Swindon College Regent Street site from Edmund Street.

For a world that's increasingly experienced online, with events seen through a glass-look screen, regeneration is refreshingly different.

The Swindon College sign clings to the wall for a short time longer.

You can produce shiny websites and exciting, eye-catching artist's impressions of grand plans, but you've still got to physically build the project.

For those residents of Edmund Street coming back from work tonight, their view and street has quickly changed.

Until that physical activity happens, all those expectations and plans mean little.

Bite-sized chunks taken out of the roof, with the town hall clock tower in the background.

The demolition of the former Swindon College began last week and the residents of Edmund Street are currently getting a grandstand view. The view of the workshop buildings will just be a memory in a few days, as they're the first structures on the site to come down with the demolition.

Our regeneration starts here, in unassuming Edmund Street.