'Constructed City' 4: More Material

All Images: West Leicester, October 2019

In a sudden, climatic turnaround - the day following that described in my last post, was clear, bright and dry.  Slowly, Leicester began to dehydrate - as I ventured out with bike and  camera, to document the latest building progress, over the way.

The two main buildings which first triggered my 'Constructed City' thoughts, are all but complete now - leaving this immense, emerging structure, on the bank of the River Soar, as the current main event.  It's an absolute monster, but is progressing rapidly all the same.  It feels like only a few short weeks since I first photographed skeletal steel-frame girders being bolted together, but already, one end is extensively glazed - and acquiring its first and second layers of skin.  My challenge will clearly be to negotiate extreme weather events, in order to keep up with developments, as Winter draws in.  Luckily, I can be there within minutes of leaving my own door - making short, regular forays, around other commitments, pretty achievable.

This site should continue to supply plentiful visual material for a while yet, but will inevitably reach a state of less-inspiring completion, all too soon.  From a purely visual point of view - it's all those complex, interlocking grids, meshes, patterns, and overlaid planes that really interest me.  In comparison - once sealed, the completed building, however sleek or monumental, will almost inevitably present a disappointingly bland face to the world.  This project feels like it's more about urban mutability, and active processes of transformation, than a celebration of the results.

And this building certainly doesn't represent the end of the story, in any case.  It's actually just another piece of a much larger jigsaw.  A massive swathe of the surrounding Great Central/St. Augustine's/Frog Island region of the city will undergo 'renewal' in the near future - meaning there's plenty more construction work to come.  Indeed, as I cycled around the main site - I noticed tell-tale signs of the large, cleared and fenced-off plot opposite, beginning to wake up.  A tower crane is already erected, some big plant is appearing, and the inevitable, lone Security Jobsworth got out of his car to glare at me - as I pointed my lens in their direction.

I guess I should just be grateful that all this time, effort and manpower is being devoted to  building my subject matter around me.