Quantum weep
Car parking and public conveniences for Shrewsbury ….? No , a useless piece of concrete
Those that commissioned it should pay for it themselves.

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Quantum Weep-
price too steep.

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I think it looks quite good at the moment but it’s a shame it wasn’t made out of a more sustainable material such as wood. The concrete will tire in a few years and it will probably look rather unsightly. When that time comes people will start asking for it to be removed just as they have with other large concrete buildings and objects. Nice concept and design but wrong materials and poor project management for it to cost this much.

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Due to the increasing taxes imposed upon Shropshire residents, and the DECREASING levels of service to the community, it really isn’t a surprise that such a grotesque ‘monument’ is considered a good investment by the Council.

It’s about as wise a use of our money as the recent ‘iPads for All’ announcement. Speaking as someone who has been using Apple products in a ‘Windows World’ for 20+ years, I can tell you for a fact that the cost of the iPads alone will be nominal compared to the costs of integration, training, accessories and additional software/hardware required to integrate the iPads into the current setup.
Again, wasting our money.

It’s about time the Council realised that although to them it may seem like Monopoly Money, it is very real, very hard-to-come-by money which we—the residents of Shropshire—seem to hand them on a plate.

I’m far too cynical to believe that the Council has our interests at heart. I’m also far too scientific and methodical to believe that the councillors themselves are convinced that they have our best interests at heart.

So… we now have money being haemorrhaged from the Theatre, ‘Quantum Leap’, and goodness knows elsewhere… so when are we having something useful like having our wheelie bins emptied weekly instead of leaving them to fester for two weeks?

In the short term, and in light of recent events in the area, would it be cheaper to demolish the Quantum Leap and put a lifeguard shack in it’s place?

Or perhaps use the money to subsidise car parking in the centre of town? Surely we can partly blame the Council for the growing number of vacant shop units around Shrewsbury?

Reality and truth hurts. Unless you’re a councillor, in which case you just brush it under the carpet and whitewash it with something ‘positive’.

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could it be moved next to the river then build 12 more and the fencing is solved

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PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE READ THE ARTICLE!!!

The Darwin sculpture was commissioned by SABC and dumped in Shropshire Councils lap when they disbanded. This has very little to do with the current Shropshire Council so stop making connections where there aren’t any!!!

In fairness to Shropshire Council, what were they supposed to do with it? The options were to continue or to knock it down, thus wasting all the money that had already been spent on it and then adding demolition costs on top of that. So whichever way you look at it, it is really a no win situation for them.

And to add my opinion, I happen to like it, but its not worth 1 million.

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a serious round of applause to those who pulled this off

in the old days you would consider a bank job or heist, now its conning government officers out of payments

I know some sculptures who would have hacked away at some stone for less than half a million or some funky people who could have made some resin sculptures… quite simply why with all the amazing artists in the town, why commission people to pour concerete in East Anglia?

can I have my poll tax back please

disgruntled lifetime town resident seriously thinking of going to prison for a holiday in a one man bid to make a stance against the awful people who run a town I love

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Who keeps voting this usless lot back in every time ,not me.

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meanwhile

wakeman school in shrewsbury, popular, successful, conveniently located in town

is closed down to save about £1 m!

what would you rather have in the town, school or lump of concrete?

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well i actually really like it!

its nice looking and it will help the town attract visitors and we should do more for darwin so it in principle is a good thing

BUT… I could have built that for about £25,000 I reckon. Its financially unacceptable and an enquiry should be held into the project management and financing of this because £1,000,000 for a sculpture takes the micky really

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Commisioned by SABC maybe but if shropshire council hadnt bulldozerd their way into power and then oversaw the project,it might have come in on budget.Shropshire council are blaming sabc because they are now defunct and cant defend themselves.I bit like a works colleague who has left for another job,they always get the blame.easy isnt it?

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#32 Andrew:
The Victorian Market hall was built of quality materials as were many buildings of that era. We had no problem obtaining such materials with our hugeempire and colonies and then building them with very cheap labour.
Design wise however it was a typical Victorian OTT job. There are many many examples in other cities, Nottingham for instance, of similar decaying edifices where every bit of Victorian bling was applied.
It also became incredibly impractical and it’s importance in the town at that time demanded a building that was fit for purpose.

The sad thing about the present 1960s building was that it was built in such a manner not to be accessed from street level. This would have been much better. Nevertheless it is a good example of a quality 1960′s design which has been recently blighted by a silly attempt to ceate a Victorian ambience to the interior, instead of celebrating and enhancing the what is now popular with the younger generation, genuine 1960′s design.
Still, the young people who have revived a new vitality to the market hall have not let that stifle their interest and attraction to retro vintage which includes 1960s and 1970s items.

With regard to the Quantum Leap the sculpture was also partly funded by the celebrations at the time commemorating Charles Darwin who as you probably know was born in Shrewsbury, had a miserable experience of school but loved his hunting and shooting. To actually achieve anything intellectually however, he had to move away from Shrewsbury.
The Victorians were wary of concrete, they saw it as a material with endless possibilities so therefore maybe uncontrollable. So much as though it was widely used, in general it had to be covered (like at that time did the possibly arousing shapely legs of a table!) The Liver building in Liverpool was the first concrete reinforced building which it was demanded had to be then clad in stone.
We do have some late Victorian structures that are wholly concrete, mainly bridges, but including a concrete house! Some are listed as architecturally important.

Darwin, who’s theories challenged the very core of our existence was not afraid of uncovering layers of myth and dogma and he wanted to expose his studies before many others who were also coming the same views and conclusions.

By the sculpture being created from concrete a mainly ulitarian material, it shows that though religion may have created a more fanciful and palatable view of evolution, even the very basic core of our planet, the material it is made from and has layered over millions of years can be revealed in a beautiful manner and manipulated by the skill of us clever creatures who inhabit this world.
You may not agree but IMHO the shape could also imply a dinosaur’s spine so the abstact nature is far more deep and thought provoking than a statue of a fat old bearded guy with a bird poopor traffic cone on his head!

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Surprised nobody has pointed out that a big chunk of the £1m was private funding and grants.

That said, the money could have been much better spent.

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That may be so Andrew but…

Today, despite the lack of evidence, it is still “common knowledge” that Victorians were feverishly hiding anything curved from impressionable eyes.

SOURCE/FURTHER READING: Matthew Sweet, Inventing the Victorians, (London, 2001); Wilson, A.N. The Victorians, (London, 2002).

{By the 1890s, concrete was being used extensively for engineering projects such as bridges, docks, riverbanks but it was the material’s intrinsic qualities that were causing something of a moral dilemma. Concrete was considered pagan(given its Roman heritage) and so unsuitable as a construction material for gothic Revival Christian buildings. As it had no natural form of its own, concrete was viewed as a material lacking in moral fibre, without character, and, if used at all, it should be faced with a more “moral” material, such as stone.]
From
‘Concrete Design’ a very informative and interesting book by Sarh Gaventa.

Concrete isn’t a cheap building material-infact, well crafted concrete can be very expensive- but it is a more environmentally sustainable construction matrial than, for the sake of argument, natural stone or wood. It can be restored, repolished, and revarnished and if well maintained, concrete can last for hundreds,if not thousands of years.

The pantheon, Rome (AD127) has a lightweight concrete dome in which crushed pumice was used as an aggregate. It is one of the few buildings to survive intact after the decline of the Roman Empire. With a diameter of over 43 metres(141 feet) it is a testament to the durability of concrete (and the skill of Roman engineers) and was the largest dome in the world until the 20th century.
I really think if people really understood why concrete was the material of choice for this sculpture, ie: the geological link and a bit more about it as a material it could be seen as something rather special, albeit like the theatre in the wrong place which added to the costs of both projects considerably.

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Shropshrie Council is clearly completely incompetent, every day i hear or see something about the latest blunder, i pad fiasco, new office for the managers, losing money in iceland, closing schools, incinerators paid for on PFI being imposed on the county town, cheif executive paid more than the prime minister, blunders on collecting council tax, paying for councillors to have lunch in the flower show, gold plated pensions, striking staff furious with poor leadership, reputation ruined, generally over paid under worked over managed beurocratic waste of money couldnt organise a drinking session in a brewery SHAME ON YOU shropshire council

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this is a disgrace

in my line of business some one would get shot for this mismanagement

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In the Shropshire Council school of finance – its a good investmnet – How about put some solar panles on it?? cherry on the cake

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you would have to be mad to think this is a worthwhile project, i totally have no problem in principle with the idea of a statue for darwin in his anniversary year, i would suggest a large bust in the town square or by his house in frankwell – would have cost ca £25,000 MAX, would have been more appreciated locally and by the tourists me thinks…

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it’s disgusting that this has been so haplessly mismanaged by both councils in the past few years, the ongoing saga just highlights how bad the public sector are at project management, financial management and building things generally and yet they insist on still having a huge capital programme building insanely expensive things like incinerators which no one wants – its just a disaster waiting to happen – they must learn they are just not fit to build things and leave this to the private sector who have the expertise and skill to do things on time and to budget

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yet another PR disaster from the same people who bought you the I-Pad Fiasco, the smithfield trafficjam, the Unitary debace, the complete lack of bin collection over winter, the expenses scandal etc etc

When will they learn?

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