Imax demolition gets the go-ahead

9:21am Thursday 26th April 2012 in Opinion

Imax demolition gets the go-ahead Imax demolition gets the go-ahead

COUNCILLORS have unanimously backed plans to demolish Bournemouth’s controversial Imax building and create an outdoor events arena in its place.

Contractors will now be sought to demolish the Waterfront building.

An outdoor events and arts space will then be built in its place, which should be ready for use by the summer of 2013.

Cabinet members yesterday agreed to spend the remaining £2million of the original £8.5m Waterfront budget to demolish the building after hearing that there were no developers willing to take on the project in the current economic climate.

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Comments(19)

saynomore says...
9:35am Thu 26 Apr 12

Outdoor events?? What genius came up with that idea,this is England not some carribean island.Do they not remember what the last few summers have been like,I despair.

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oldgiraffe says...
9:37am Thu 26 Apr 12

saynomore wrote:
Outdoor events?? What genius came up with that idea,this is England not some carribean island.Do they not remember what the last few summers have been like,I despair.
If it's a park setting then that will be 'fine'.

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FedupTothehilt says...
9:42am Thu 26 Apr 12

if the council have anything to do with it, you can be sure it will be a complete waste of money.......

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penhale says...
9:45am Thu 26 Apr 12

FedupTothehilt wrote:
if the council have anything to do with it, you can be sure it will be a complete waste of money.......
Well said, this council haven't got the brains of a flea, anything they touch goes abysmally down the toilet.

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crispy_pants says...
9:54am Thu 26 Apr 12

Come on peep's. Everyone has been pushing to get this eysore demolished and at last it looks as though it will happen. Let's be grateful for that and look forward to the open space. Even if it's just somewhere to sit and enjoy the views.

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penhale says...
10:12am Thu 26 Apr 12

crispy_pants wrote:
Come on peep's. Everyone has been pushing to get this eysore demolished and at last it looks as though it will happen. Let's be grateful for that and look forward to the open space. Even if it's just somewhere to sit and enjoy the views.
Agreed, what gives the council a bad name is the amount of money wasted on hair brained schemes at the start only to waste more thousands on either putting it right of getting shot of it altogether.
If our council were a private company they would have gone bust years ago, but who cares, it's not their money that they waste, it's ours.
Demolishing the Imax is the first thing they've got right in years, dam thing shouldn't have been built in the first place, but hang on, lets see what mess they make of any replacement, according to the story an outdoor events and arts space will then be built in its place, which should be ready for use by the summer of 2013.
That's really an attraction for families, everybody will be coming from miles away to see that spectacle.

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old git 2 says...
10:13am Thu 26 Apr 12

yet more money wasted!!! its a perfectly sound building that is empty! rather than waste money demolishing it lets fill it and make money!

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saynomore says...
10:20am Thu 26 Apr 12

crispy_pants wrote:
Come on peep's. Everyone has been pushing to get this eysore demolished and at last it looks as though it will happen. Let's be grateful for that and look forward to the open space. Even if it's just somewhere to sit and enjoy the views.
Not everyone, just a number of blinkered moaners, if you sit on the site as you suggest you will get a good view of the pier head,the BIC,Hot rocks and the aquarium,is it worth £8 million?

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Gastines2 says...
11:21am Thu 26 Apr 12

After saying I wouldn't waste time and energy posting on the "Echo" site, I feel I must as a sign of desperation. If anyone in the Bournemouth Development or Bournemouth Vision Departments had any vision ,after ignoring all the uses that this building could have been put to at minimal expence,perhaps the Demolition contractors,finding themselves in possession of a huge amount of re-usable panels/steels/window
s etc.,perhaps they will have the vision to buy a plot on Kings park and erect a low level building to accommodate an Ice Rink/Bowling Alleys etc.. They will probably find they have plenty of carpet/signage and seating to do the job for pennies,especially after getting the amaxing £2million to take it apart.I doubt whether Bournemouth Councillors have got the brains to organise a public sale of the contents although we've paid for them.
P.S.I think a wise move might be to buy shares in Morgan Sindall if you live in the town?

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BmthNewshound says...
11:26am Thu 26 Apr 12

I thought that had been handed over to the Bournmeouth Development Company, so why does it seem that whenever costs are involved the tax payer has to pick up the tab, and its only when theres an opportunity to make money that Morgan Sindall get involved.......... perhaps Weasley Beesley can explain, or perhaps that in his opinion the public don't care about the smokes and mirrors policies that surround the Bournemouth Development Company.

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Bob49 says...
12:38pm Thu 26 Apr 12

It is pretty much a done deal - and has been for some while. The obvious contention would be, as Newshound states, the costs are all falling on us the taxpayers whereas future profits will go to an outside company.

The council has openly stated "the private sector will be involved in delivering a comprehensive redevelopment of the wider area". Note the word comprehensive. Compare it to "creating an events space as phase one of plans to redevelop the wider area", where the key words are phase one.

This has been a fairly open secret in 'certain circles' and is now completely open. Sadly even when it is this clear we will still have folk squeaking about it being a swimming pool or a cinema on ice.

It will be touted as "outdoor events and arts space" as there is no point building anything that will have to be torn down and built over in the near future. It is no concidence either that the Royal Bath Hotel has recently been sold.

Unlike the Boscombe seafront and the Kings Park 'shams' this one is there for everyone to see. Unfortunately it might be a bit too obvious for some and with yet another (not too in this case) sleight of hand another bit of Bournemouth is filched from under our noses.

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clowncillor-clott says...
1:13pm Thu 26 Apr 12

Why not spend another £30 million or so and convert it into a new Town Hall? The Bath Hill Car Park could be usurped to provide free parking for Council staff. The old Town Hall site could then be redeveloped into an all weather facility which would include a multi-screen cinema, a dozen or so restaurants and 300 flats.

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Gastines2 says...
1:18pm Thu 26 Apr 12

I note the Echo has been very quick to remove this item from it's site?Perhaps they choose what the locals should or shouldn't know?

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Bob49 says...
1:35pm Thu 26 Apr 12

Like the Imax it is still here - 'page 2' on the site

Maybe it was moved down the list to allow a better view, let's just hope that it isn't replaced by a story about an open arts arena

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lewisuk2004 says...
2:27pm Thu 26 Apr 12

Being a construction professional, I’m a little confused as to how it will cost £2 million, to demolish this building? Having worked on projects involving the council, it doesn’t surprise me they have projected such a wild estimate.

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Bob49 says...
2:37pm Thu 26 Apr 12

Have you factored in the high cost of palm grease ?

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glennzilla says...
4:37pm Thu 26 Apr 12

I have the ideal solution for the council to reclaim the ludicrous waste of money spent on this fiasco. They can charge a congestion fee!
Given the supposed thousands of residents calling for this building to be demolished to reinstate 'The View' (nice as the view was it's no Mount Rushmore, Luxor or Niagara Falls etc, i.e. views worth paying for) there will no doubt be endless queuing traffic down Bath Hill to the fly-over of people too idle to park up, go to the cliff top the other side of the Waterfront and savour the same view at their leisure!

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jinglebell says...
6:27pm Thu 26 Apr 12

Its only £2 million of taxpayers money...so what? It is being paid for by shutting day centres, reducing play areas for children etc. etc.- that's what we all want obviously.
Having worked in the building trade, it appears the demolition contractors will be working at a slower pace than the Reef non-construction crew to come up with a figure of £2 million.

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billythereb says...
1:29pm Mon 30 Apr 12

the town planner at that time should be ashamed,(not to mention it was voted the most ugliest building in Britain)u can see straight away it had no asthetic purpose,apart from a pretty little wave on top ughh and these folks get paid a top salary for this! AND the ilk that agreed to it !only to see it pulled down !!! WOT a complete waste of tax payers money it was shambolic from the start,i think when it is pulled down will serve as a blatent reminder to health & safty& planning over the so called rail where a young man lost his life,like i say lived here 30 odd yrs and it was to be a big blot on the landscape

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