The post you are reporting:
QUOTE: I believe the Maison Dieu site is the best option based purely on it's accessability for all and I agree that the corner nearest to the footbridge can be prone to a little flooding, but I am assured that the Riverside Centre has never been innaccesible due to flooding in all the years its been there; because it was built above the highest known level of flooding on a concrete raft. As the meerkat says''simples''. UNQUOTE
I think the Environment Agency has to play it safe. Everybody everywhere is carrying on building on flood plains and the EA would be failing in their duty if they did not point out that this is not a good idea, particularly since we are assured by all and sundry that flooding is going to be much more common in years to come if the global warming scenario is to be believed.
Vic is usually right on these matters, speaking from the voice of experience in matters pertaining to building. I suspect that he is correct in saying that an enormous amount of underpinning would be required and would be prohibitively expensive. The concrete raft mentioned above would need an extra deck to meet tomorrow's predictions. Perhaps we should ask advice from the meerkat who says "simples".
QUOTE: Howard, When the landownership issues have been been resolved (hopefully not too long, but I am not a Cabinet Member, nor do I make the big decisions), phase one will be the corner of TownWall Street and Woolcomber Street where the Hotel and Tower will be erected; the telecommunications masts will be put on top and so BH can be demolished. UNQUOTE
There has been much talk of the mobile phone masts on top of Burlington House but I have always felt this problem to be greatly exaggerated. To my eyes, there is a very thin sprinkling of masts up there. I have no knowledge of what service contracts have been entered into but, technically speaking, I am quite sure that the mobile phone companies could transfer the masts in a jiffy. They have erected thousands of masts all over the country and these would present not the slightest problem.
If it were desired to demolish Burlington House tomorrow, then all that would be necessary would be to erect a temporary lattice tower where the future position at the junction of Woolcomber and Townwall is to be and to run feeds to that. I imagine that coax or fibre optic cables run under the pavement to Burlington House and then up to transceiver cabinets near the base of the aerials. Extend these round to the temporary tower or mount microwave dishes on the tower to relay the signals from existing landlines at Guston or elsewhere. Or transfer them permanently to the Gateway flats with the permission of the residents and a useful annual fee. Contrary to popular belief, there are no signals radiated directly down so the Gateway residents would have no need to fear irradiation. All in a day's work for a mobile phone company. As the meerkat says "simples".