The main contractors for the Academy project are Balfour Beatty and they've subcontracted the demolition work to
P. P. O'Connor Ltd of Irlam. Their first job was to fence off the area within which demolition was to take place.
Early demolition and the
construction of the |
| The M.E.A. is constructed on the south-western corner of
the original Poundswick site (the corner bounded by Simonsway and Greenwood
Road). Before construction could start, the old Music and Arts Centre
and the caretaker's bungalow had to be demolished. Work started in
January 2009 by fencing off the demolition site. |
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1.2.09 The main contractors for the Academy project are Balfour Beatty and they've subcontracted the demolition work to P. P. O'Connor Ltd of Irlam. Their first job was to fence off the area within which demolition was to take place. |
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1.2.09 Here's the Music and Arts Centre just before the bulldozers went in. You won't see a more recent photo of it in one piece!
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1.2.09 The Caretaker's bungalow adjacent to the Greenwood Road entrance (don't tell me you don't remember it!) By 1st February the bungalow was empty and a few days later the windows and doors were boarded up, its fate unknown but can probably be guessed. |
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7.2.09 A week later the Music and Arts Centre was looking distinctly poorly. Only the weather was cheerful. |
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7.2.09 Here it is viewed from Greenwood Road. Nearly gone. |
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17.2.09 By 10th February Balfour Beatty had erected an eight-foot high fence round the entire demolition site, making photography distinctly difficult. By 17th February all that remained of the Music and Arts Centre was a large pile of bricks . . . . . |
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17.2.09 . . . .and here it is viewed from just inside the Greenwood Road entrance. |
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17.2.09 Now here's a really sad photo. Better get your hanky out. The last time I was inside the Music and Arts centre was in 2001 and I noted then that it contained the piano that had been in Mr. Welton's top-floor music room in the early days. On 17th February there was a pile of junk, obviously removed from the M&A centre, dumped in the old staff car park at the back of the handicraft block. Amongst it were the remains of his piano. |
| My next visit to Manchester wasn't until Tuesday 12th May. By then things had progressed apace. The caretaker's bungalow had, as anticipated, been confined to history, and the huge 3-storey steel frame of the new Academy building was well under way, courtesy of an enormous mobile crane . . . . |
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12.5.09 The steel framework of the new Academy building viewed from the park on the southern side of Simonsway. It's like a big Meccano set, but this is only the start; it will be much bigger when it's complete. You can just make out the dark outline of the Science Block behind the tree on the right. |
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12.5.09 Here's the view from the Simonsway / Greenwood Road junction. The bit of 'old' building visible on the left is the top of the Gym block. |
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12.5.09 Here's the back of the Meccano set viewed from the Greenwood Road entrance. |
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12.5.09 Scroll up the page a bit and take a look at the photo of the Caretaker's bungalow taken on 1.2.09 Here's the view from the same spot on 12.5.09 The dark outline on the left is the Science Block. |
 Balfour Beatty plc |
12.6.09 On 12th June 2009 Balfour Beatty arranged a 'Beam signing ceremony' at which local dignitaries, school staff, Balfour Beatty reps and a selected bunch of schoolchildren signed their names on one of the structural beams before it was covered with concrete. What a nice idea! Here's the introduction being given by one of the Balfour Beatty staff. |
 Peter Massey |
September 2009 The next few photos were sent in by Peter Massey, an ex-Poundswick pupil who still lives on Foxlair Road. Here's the view looking down Foxlair Road towards Greenwood Road. Big, isn't it? |
 Peter Massey |
September 2009 The front of the building viewed from across Simonsway. |
 Peter Massey |
September 2009 Balfour Beatty have recently installed a gate in the Simonsway fence, towards the Greenwood Road end. Here's the view of the end of the building i.e. the side that faces Greenwood Road, from the gate. |
 Peter Massey |
September 2009 The back of the building from the Greenwood Road entrance. Compare this with the photo taken on 12th May; there's much more of it! |
 wythenshawehistory.btik.com |
November 2009 A plethora of large MEA publicity signs have appeared on the boundary fence. Here's one of them. |
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15.12.09 The Meccano frame now has most of its brick cladding, and it looks almost finished externally. Here's how the whole site looks from across Simonsway. |
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15.12.09 Here's the view from a bit further down the road, just opposite Poundswick's main gate. Note the Science Block dwarfed by the new building. |
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15.12.09 They do signs BIG these days. |
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15.12.09 The main school (sorry, Academy) entrance, sporting another new name; its fourth in 53 years. |
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Here's how it used to look in 1965. 'P.G.S.' it says. Ah yes! I remember it well! |
 Peter Massey |
September 2010 In the first week of September 2010 the new Academy building opened for business and returning Academy students, who for the previous year had been using the old Poundswick buildings, moved in. Here's the front view from across Simonsway. |
 Peter Massey |
September 2010 Approaching the MEA entrance along the Simonsway footpath. |
 Peter Massey |
September 2010 A side view of the MEA from Greenwood Road. |
 Peter Massey |
September 2010 The MEA from the corner of Greenwood Road and Simonsway. |
 Peter Massey |
September 2010 The MEA from Foxlair Road. |
| Return to 'The end of Poundswick' |
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