Keel Square Hotel

Hank Scorpio said:
The sheer ignorance and stupidity of the Echo clan at times is breathtaking. I haven’t checked the page yet, but I’m willing to bet the following has been mentioned despite the fact it is a private investment:

- An Ice rink/leisure centre is needed
- the new civic centre is a waste of money
- we need to sort out the bins
- what about home repairs?
- Councillors and expenses
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All of them were mentioned haha. The ignorance of people worries me. The call for a leisure is ridiculous, I'm sure loads of people have fond memories of Crowtree but that time is gone.

I particularly love the people who see themselves as experts in the occupancy rates of the hotels in Sunderland city centre.
 


Hank Scorpio said:
The sheer ignorance and stupidity of the Echo clan at times is breathtaking. I haven’t checked the page yet, but I’m willing to bet the following has been mentioned despite the fact it is a private investment:

- An Ice rink/leisure centre is needed
- the new civic centre is a waste of money
- we need to sort out the bins
- what about home repairs?
- Councillors and expenses
Click to expand...
Seems Gary Ablett is doing a fine job of putting people right on the FaceBook page, if he posts on here, well done Sir!
 
Hank Scorpio said:
The sheer ignorance and stupidity of the Echo clan at times is breathtaking. I haven’t checked the page yet, but I’m willing to bet the following has been mentioned despite the fact it is a private investment:

- An Ice rink/leisure centre is needed
- the new civic centre is a waste of money
- we need to sort out the bins
- what about home repairs?
- Councillors and expenses
Click to expand...
Have they mentioned that EVERYTHING is the Council's fault?
 
The Ram said:
All of them were mentioned haha. The ignorance of people worries me. The call for a leisure is ridiculous, I'm sure loads of people have fond memories of Crowtree but that time is gone.

I particularly love the people who see themselves as experts in the occupancy rates of the hotels in Sunderland city centre.
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don’t forget adult soft play, council houses not being refurbed, redevelopment of Holmeside and construction a new shopping mall before this hotel is built!

I Appreciate architecture is very subjective but surely people must realise a square box is the common form of architecture and most economical especially for a hotel!

in fairness even if demand is low for hotel rooms in Sunderland and one or more of the current hotels closes, if hope the ones that survive are of a better quality then that should be ok anyway, but as you say I’m sure theyve done their homework.
 
Osklen said:
don’t forget adult soft play, council houses not being refurbed, redevelopment of Holmeside and construction a new shopping mall before this hotel is built!

I Appreciate architecture is very subjective but surely people must realise a square box is the common form of architecture and most economical especially for a hotel!

in fairness even if demand is low for hotel rooms in Sunderland and one or more of the current hotels closes, if hope the ones that survive are of a better quality then that should be ok anyway, but as you say I’m sure theyve done their homework.
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I love the architectural experts of Sunderland like. They think we should be building a f***ing shard or gherkin here. That design is very much 'in style' at the moment. Newcastle has The Lumen and its almost identical but I'm not aware of the locals kicking off about that.I

They're f***ing morons on there.

Edit: I'm talking about the city hall.
 
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I give you the Hilton Hotel, Blackpool. ANYTHING would be better than that, it's like a prison block!

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I'm so pleased that Sunderland has come out of this latest (global) setback on the front foot, too many times developments have been stopped in their tracks by things out of our control, this time things are actually going ahead.
 
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Bob Fleming said:
I love the architectural experts of Sunderland like. They think we should be building a f***ing shard or gherkin here. That design is very much 'in style' at the moment. Newcastle has The Lumen and its almost identical but I'm not aware of the locals kicking off about that.I

They're f***ing morons on there.

Edit: I'm talking about the city hall.
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I’d love to know what building they do like? Unless you have a great architect and a huge budget not square / cuboid buildings tend to age really badly...

notably non cuboid buildings which look good in the NE currently are The Word in shields and the Catalyst at Helix (newcastle), beyond that I can’t think of many but sure there are more.
 
Osklen said:
I’d love to know what building they do like? Unless you have a great architect and a huge budget not square / cuboid buildings tend to age really badly...

notably non cuboid buildings which look good in the NE currently are The Word in shields and the Catalyst at Helix (newcastle), beyond that I can’t think of many but sure there are more.
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The catalyst does look good, especially the joinery work inside. It cost £50m iirc and isn’t actually very big.
 
Wilfy said:
The catalyst does look good, especially the joinery work inside. It cost £50m iirc and isn’t actually very big.
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exactly that’s kind of my point. That is an international innovation centre funded I assume from government grant and borrowing against future uni student fee’s and cost a small fortune to make it look good. I don’t think people appreciate the cost of a curved building or certain materials/workmanship.
 
The Ram said:
All of them were mentioned haha. The ignorance of people worries me. The call for a leisure is ridiculous, I'm sure loads of people have fond memories of Crowtree but that time is gone.

I particularly love the people who see themselves as experts in the occupancy rates of the hotels in Sunderland city centre.
Click to expand...
Aye, Sharon from Hylton castle knows more about the likelihood of a hotel being full than a team of market researchers from an international hotel group.
 
Some idiot thinks that because they have got planning permission from the council and they own the Vaux site, that the company has been sold the land on the cheap by the council and someone has been given a brown envelope, Jesus wept we have no chance of improving as a city if people constantly think the council is on the bung. Does anyone know Loopy Lens views on this....
 
Chunk Love Sloth said:
Some idiot thinks that because they have got planning permission from the council and they own the Vaux site, that the company has been sold the land on the cheap by the council and someone has been given a brown envelope, Jesus wept we have no chance of improving as a city if people constantly think the council is on the bung. Does anyone know Loopy Lens views on this....
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I think when it was originally announced a couple of years back, the council were retaining the freehold & land was being sold as leasehold. What that has to do with vaux site I'll never know.
 
Chunk Love Sloth said:
Some idiot thinks that because they have got planning permission from the council and they own the Vaux site, that the company has been sold the land on the cheap by the council and someone has been given a brown envelope, Jesus wept we have no chance of improving as a city if people constantly think the council is on the bung. Does anyone know Loopy Lens views on this....
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the problem is often that the general public tend to think that all Buildings and land is worth a small fortune however the residual land value of a development in Sunderland at this moment in time is likely to be negligible, with probably the exception of residential development on green belt.
 
Watched a programme on the Dorchester in London. Built in the 30's its basically a large concrete box. Now I know its in Park Lane and will have had a fortune making inside look fantastic but if Park Lane can have a concrete box Sunderland can too, albeit a Holiday Inn :oops:
 
EDGE said:
What do we want? A Leisure Centre.
When do we want it? Now!
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It would be a interesting question to ask kids 16 and under in the City what they would want to see as most of those who want a leisure centre seem to be the more mature person with the occasional exception. I’m not saying one wouldn’t be welcomed but how could they justify that in the current economic climate with two leisure centres within possibly no more than a mile from the city centre (aquatic centre and roach carter). I appreciate neither are a leisure pool but i can’t see how one of those is viable in the city.

A big problem with development and town planning is older people telling younger people what they want and how they’ll use it.
 

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