Rendered

It is hard to keep up with the many significant building projects happeneing at the moment and that means that by the time that I get to post photos of construction works (which is usually a week or two after they are taken) things have changed again. At least the photos show what was theer even if that has gone by the time they are posted. 

A couple of weeks earlier the frontage of the former Royal Oak / Ham Institute site facing on to Ham Street was bright red thanks to the exposed bricks and now these have been rendered and the colour has gone.

Princess Alice Hospice has closed

Princess Alice Hospice still felt like a newcomer to Ham Parade but it was there for a little over ten years before leaving suddenly on 28 February. The Parade really must be struggling if even charity shops are not surviving.

There is talk, once again, of trying to revitalise the Parade but there was a very good opportunity to do that not long ago by reclaiming space on the east side for pedestrians but that was rejected for reasons that made no sense.

Green plastic

The lesson of the bright green cricket nets does not seem to have been learned and Ham Common has again been polluted by bright green plastic.

Extending 33 Ham Farm Road

Once most of 33 Ham Farm Road had been demolished work started on the extension and the new foundations start to give some idea of what the revised house will look like. 

The most obvious thing from this angle is that some of the rooms seem to be quite small and unusually shaped, but I guess that each has been deliberately designed that way for a reason.

Looking towards the back of the plot the size of the extension becomes apparent and, therefore, how small the remaining garden is, made even smaller by the recent out-house in the far corner.

Ham Brewery Tap

The former Ham Brewery Tap (like the forem Royal Oak along the road) is being converted and while the building will always look like it used to be a pub I presume that all the obvious pub trappings, like this window, will be removed so I took this photo as a memento. 

A different look at The Hive

I took a similar picture of The Hive, the new community centre on Ham Village Green, not that long ago but it has grown taller since then and it looks a little different from this angle, looking across Ashburnham Road.

Stokes House wall recovered

I was lucky to catch the walls to Stokes House in Ham Street when the old render had been removed and the lovely bricks were briefly exposed and thn, just a few days later, they looked like this.

Another section of the wall was only rendered in patches for reasons that I do not understand or care about, I just like the resultant pattern.

Mostly demolished

The extension of 33/35 Ham Farm Road includes the demolition of most of the previous building with just a few isolated walls from what was number 33 still standing.

Celebrating 20 Years

Petersham Nurseries started celebrating its 20 Years of operation last year with the large sign on the corner of the building and a now that message has been repeated between the elephant heads where there used to be a simple crest.