Jump to content

Newcastle arsonist?


peasepud
 Share

Recommended Posts

Inferno

Apr 10 2007

 

By Paul James and Jane Caine, The Journal

 

Hundred foot high flames last night engulfed the £100m new flagship university campus in Newcastle City Centre.

 

The towering blaze, described by witnesses as "a volcano", ripped through the development, on the site of the former Manors cinema, and flaming debris set fire to at least three other buildings nearby.

 

Twenty fire crews from across Tyneside were scrambled to the scene at 9.45pm, as an explosion was heard from miles around.

 

Residents in nearby Shieldfield, including a women's hostel, were evacuated from their homes as police sealed off surrounding streets.

 

Within minutes 68 firefighters were battling to stop the blaze from spreading to the main building alongside the Central Motorway.

 

Flying timber from the fire sparked scores of fires in trees and bushes, including a tree next to the East Coast Main Line and Metro tracks, which fire crews sped to extinguish.

 

 

David Jobe, 34, a security officer from Walker, said: "It was like a volcano watching all the hot rocks coming down.

 

 

"It was unbelievable. I've never seen anything like it. That's a brand new building. You'd think it would be fire-proof."

 

 

Carl Thomson, 27, from Walker, said: "It was like a load of little fires all in the sky. They were starting new fires all over the place.

 

 

"You could hear the explosion. The flames were about 100ft in the air."

 

 

About seven women and five children - some still wearing pyjamas and dressing gowns - were evacuated from a women's hostel.

 

 

Kelly Jobson, 27, of Lemington, said: "I was just playing cards with the kids at about 9.30pm when I heard a big bang, so I ran downstairs." The mother-of-two fled the hostel clutching sons John, 10, and Jack, six.

 

 

Hostel-worker Charlotte Addai, 48, who led residents to safety, said: "It is the most frightening thing I have ever seen in my whole life."

 

 

The Northumbria University City Campus East development will include a new footbridge to link the university's City Campus with the new site.

 

 

Newcastle Business School, the School of Law and the School of Design will move from the City Campus site to the new site, and students were due to begin their studies there in September.

 

 

The construction, by Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd, comprises two buildings providing 24,000 square metres of purpose designed academic accommodation for the three schools and was due to be handed over in June.

 

 

Firefighters from Newcastle West End, West Denton, Gosforth, Byker, Gateshead, Hebburn and Swalwell were all sent to the scene.

 

 

Ambulance crews said last night they were on standby but nobody had been reported injured.

 

 

A police spokesman said: "This is a construction site and a large blaze has broken out. Officers attended and made the area secure and fire services are fighting the fire. It's a large scale fire."

 

 

Investment of hope

 

 

Northumbria University is investing £50m in City Campus East - which it expected to be open to students later this year.

 

 

The project is part of a £100m investment - the biggest ever made by the university - in modern facilities to benefit staff, students and the wider community.

 

 

The two modernistic buildings on the site of the old Warner Brothers Cinema opposite Manors Metro Station are planned to host the Newcastle Business School and the schools of Law and Design.

 

 

These schools were chosen because of their potential for future growth and strong student demand. They will be connected to the rest of the campus by way of a new bridge under construction over the Central Motorway.

 

 

University vice-chancellor Professor Kel Fidler said recently: "These developments are about providing state of the art facilities on an integrated city centre campus for all staff and students."

 

 

He said the intention was to provide staff and students - who are drawn from around the globe - with a green and friendly environment fit for a world-class learning community.

 

 

"Northumbria staff and students of today, tomorrow, next year and each year after that will be part of a learning community in a rapidly improving environment. These are exciting times for the university and its neighbours."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd not seen this new building, but check out our new library in Sheffield. Opens today I think, fucking horrible. Whats the deal with the different shades of green, looks dirty

 

homepage_2007.jpg

Edited by Ally
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd not seen this new building, but check out our new library in Sheffield. Opens today I think, fucking horrible. Whats the deal with the different shades of green, looks dirty

 

homepage_2007.jpg

 

Bltantly designed by an ex-student on the cheap.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tragically, there were no students in the building at the time.

 

Oh god nooooo! imagine the conversations in Starbucks today.

 

"Yea oh well I was like sooooooooooooo hot..."

 

"oh god yeaaaa I soo know what you mean, I was like well burning..."

 

ad lib to fade.....

 

 

Best bit of the story though was ....

 

Armiger Joinery Limited was contracted to build the frame of the building and said the job would have been finished today. Stuart Armiger, who owns the firm, said: "The first thing I knew was when we were driving over the Tyne Bridge and couldn't see the building. We've been working for five weeks on this and we brought 10 lads down here today to finish it off. We're gutted."

 

You can just imagine the conversation.....

 

"well lads here we go, put in a days graft and then we're finished"

 

"errrr boss..."

 

"yes Micky"

 

"where exactly is it again???"

 

"just over there maaan ye daft twat, look just behind the big new one righ th....OH FUCK!!!"

 

 

:D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd not seen this new building, but check out our new library in Sheffield. Opens today I think, fucking horrible. Whats the deal with the different shades of green, looks dirty

 

homepage_2007.jpg

It's Sheffield man what do you expect.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd not seen this new building, but check out our new library in Sheffield. Opens today I think, fucking horrible. Whats the deal with the different shades of green, looks dirty

 

homepage_2007.jpg

It's Sheffield man what do you expect.

 

My tuition fees to go to better uses. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd not seen this new building, but check out our new library in Sheffield. Opens today I think, fucking horrible. Whats the deal with the different shades of green, looks dirty

 

homepage_2007.jpg

Not too keen on that thing that they have put up outside the train station in Sheffield either. Looks bloody hideous when you walk up the road.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tragically, there were no students in the building at the time.

 

Oh god nooooo! imagine the conversations in Starbucks today.

 

"Yea oh well I was like sooooooooooooo hot..."

 

"oh god yeaaaa I soo know what you mean, I was like well burning..."

 

 

Nah, it was a Northumbria Uni one, not Newcastle Uni

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Must be a University thing for green, makes it look like a 70s church hall. Looks a bit like the stupidly-named (blame Cisco Systems) InfoLab21 at Lancaster, a hideous lump that can be seen from a distance down the M6.

lancaster.jpg

Edited by Matt
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tragically, there were no students in the building at the time.

 

Oh god nooooo! imagine the conversations in Starbucks today.

 

"Yea oh well I was like sooooooooooooo hot..."

 

"oh god yeaaaa I soo know what you mean, I was like well burning..."

 

 

Nah, it was a Northumbria Uni one, not Newcastle Uni

 

Aye you're right, probably went something a bit more like this:

 

"Dime bar."

 

"Arrrrmadillo!"

 

:D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tragically, there were no students in the building at the time.

 

Oh god nooooo! imagine the conversations in Starbucks today.

 

"Yea oh well I was like sooooooooooooo hot..."

 

"oh god yeaaaa I soo know what you mean, I was like well burning..."

 

 

Nah, it was a Northumbria Uni one, not Newcastle Uni

 

Aye you're right, probably went something a bit more like this:

 

"Dime bar."

 

"Arrrrmadillo!"

 

:D

 

Aye, after all if they're in accomodation blocks they're not the locals.

Edited by Tom_NUFC
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd not seen this new building, but check out our new library in Sheffield. Opens today I think, fucking horrible. Whats the deal with the different shades of green, looks dirty

 

homepage_2007.jpg

Not too keen on that thing that they have put up outside the train station in Sheffield either. Looks bloody hideous when you walk up the road.

 

What, that great big wall? Yeh i'm not too keen either, they've tried to be really cool and modern but its fallen a bit flat really. The fountains are nice though, and like it or not its a whole lot better than it used to be round there pre-work.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd not seen this new building, but check out our new library in Sheffield. Opens today I think, fucking horrible. Whats the deal with the different shades of green, looks dirty

 

homepage_2007.jpg

 

 

Quite like it actually. :panic:

 

You can see where they tried to incorporate a book theme :D

 

I take it the green colour isn't copper oxide?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.