History
Chelmsford is the county town of Essex; it was granted city status in 2012 and is now a key location for redevelopment. The City Park West site is one of those developments, located on the land that was home to the Anglia Ruskin University Central Campus. Most of the campus was demolished in 2010 and since then a number of residential and commercial buildings have begun to appear in its place. Three historic buildings still remain and have been completely refurbished: The Anne Knight, Frederick Chancellor and Law buildings. The site was specifically selected as it is adjacent to the train station, and reasonably close to the bus depot.
The company, Genesis, managed to obtain planning permission for the development. As far as their plans go, City Park West will be a contemporary mixed tenure build with one and two bedroom apartments on offer, along with three additional townhouses that will be available to rent. The company suggest that the ‘state-of-the-art’ apartments will feature all the style and quality customers are looking for. Some of these features include balconies, designer kitchens and dimmer lighting controls throughout each property. It is expected that over five hundred homes will be available when the project is finally complete. Additional office, retail and community units will be constructed in phase two of the development.
Our Version of Events
It was a mild night in the City of Chelmsford, just perfect for a spot of climbing. With a decent sized white crane in mind, we met up with Slayaaaa (and his friend), who we’d already arranged to meet up with a few days earlier, and made our way over to the City Park West construction site.
Without too much fucking around, we managed to get onto the site and were instantly greeted by thousands of tons of fresh concrete. We did our best to stick to the designated safety paths, but there may be an accidental footprint here and there. We apologise, Genesis, it was dark and we didn’t fancy shining our torches around for fear that you might try to stop us climbing your crane. If it’s any consolation it was a very deep wet patch, so the next day I woke up to find that my shoe had transformed into something that’s now pretty heavy duty. Anyway, after navigating our way through the concrete swamp, we finally managed to reach the base of the crane.
Looking at the tall structure close up, it became obvious quite quickly that this was one of the cheaper pieces of shit. The ladders were light and bendy, and once we began our ascent the entire structure felt as though it was moving ever so slightly. After a long, non-stop, climb upwards we emerged at the top, slightly breathless. I always forget about the problems a tripod can pose when trying to climb anything, and as usual it was a right bastard the entire way up, catching itself on every possible piece of metal there was to get caught on. Nonetheless, as we stood for a quick moment, looking over of Chelmsford as we caught our breath, we were greeted by fantastic views, so the all the problems on the ladder were instantly forgotten. All in all, it wasn’t the largest crane in the world, and it was a little cramped on top, but I guess that was to be expected.
We set about taking as many snaps as possible for the first fifteen minutes or so. After that we pissed about a bit on the rear ballast (it functioned well as a decent seat) and main jib, and spent a fair amount of time just taking in the view. As always, it didn’t take too long to get back down. Even the concrete swamp seemed easier to traverse as we were making our exit.
Explored with Slayaaaa.
Chelmsford is the county town of Essex; it was granted city status in 2012 and is now a key location for redevelopment. The City Park West site is one of those developments, located on the land that was home to the Anglia Ruskin University Central Campus. Most of the campus was demolished in 2010 and since then a number of residential and commercial buildings have begun to appear in its place. Three historic buildings still remain and have been completely refurbished: The Anne Knight, Frederick Chancellor and Law buildings. The site was specifically selected as it is adjacent to the train station, and reasonably close to the bus depot.
The company, Genesis, managed to obtain planning permission for the development. As far as their plans go, City Park West will be a contemporary mixed tenure build with one and two bedroom apartments on offer, along with three additional townhouses that will be available to rent. The company suggest that the ‘state-of-the-art’ apartments will feature all the style and quality customers are looking for. Some of these features include balconies, designer kitchens and dimmer lighting controls throughout each property. It is expected that over five hundred homes will be available when the project is finally complete. Additional office, retail and community units will be constructed in phase two of the development.
Our Version of Events
It was a mild night in the City of Chelmsford, just perfect for a spot of climbing. With a decent sized white crane in mind, we met up with Slayaaaa (and his friend), who we’d already arranged to meet up with a few days earlier, and made our way over to the City Park West construction site.
Without too much fucking around, we managed to get onto the site and were instantly greeted by thousands of tons of fresh concrete. We did our best to stick to the designated safety paths, but there may be an accidental footprint here and there. We apologise, Genesis, it was dark and we didn’t fancy shining our torches around for fear that you might try to stop us climbing your crane. If it’s any consolation it was a very deep wet patch, so the next day I woke up to find that my shoe had transformed into something that’s now pretty heavy duty. Anyway, after navigating our way through the concrete swamp, we finally managed to reach the base of the crane.
Looking at the tall structure close up, it became obvious quite quickly that this was one of the cheaper pieces of shit. The ladders were light and bendy, and once we began our ascent the entire structure felt as though it was moving ever so slightly. After a long, non-stop, climb upwards we emerged at the top, slightly breathless. I always forget about the problems a tripod can pose when trying to climb anything, and as usual it was a right bastard the entire way up, catching itself on every possible piece of metal there was to get caught on. Nonetheless, as we stood for a quick moment, looking over of Chelmsford as we caught our breath, we were greeted by fantastic views, so the all the problems on the ladder were instantly forgotten. All in all, it wasn’t the largest crane in the world, and it was a little cramped on top, but I guess that was to be expected.
We set about taking as many snaps as possible for the first fifteen minutes or so. After that we pissed about a bit on the rear ballast (it functioned well as a decent seat) and main jib, and spent a fair amount of time just taking in the view. As always, it didn’t take too long to get back down. Even the concrete swamp seemed easier to traverse as we were making our exit.
Explored with Slayaaaa.
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