THING OF THE WEEK

GOLD FOR POOLEY… Pooley Bridge is set to land a major international award and we couldn’t be more excited for it. The Lake District National Park structure is up for the People’s Choice award from the Institution of Civil Engineers. And it’s no surprise why – Pooley Bridge is the UK’s first stainless steel road traffic bridge and it just looks plain cool. We’re pretty sure Knight Architects, Eric Wright Civil Engineering, GHD and Mott MacDonald deserve all the awards for their work on the project, which Cumbria Cllr Keith Little described as an “iconic landmark”. You can give the bridge your vote at ice.org.uk/peopleschoice.


ROADBLOCKS… Having installed some strange and definitely-not-inconspicuous boxes around the city, Manchester City Council has been forced to explain itself through a series of uninspiring street art installations. The boxes are temporary features that form part of the installation of upgraded digital advertising displays in the city. They take up an unreasonable amount of pavement space and commentators have expressed their distaste since their arrival a couple of weeks ago. Happily, the boxes won’t be around forever, though. They are soon to be replaced by “state-of-the-art 86″ digital screens”, which hopefully will take up a bit less space than their clunky placeholders.


Padel, Credit, Unsplash

Credit: @thomasworks

BAT AND BALL… Knees too sore for squash? Bored of spending more time locating wayward tennis balls than hitting backhand winners? Fear not. Padel, a sport that originated in Acapulco and is widely played in Western Europe, is a hybrid of squash and tennis that combines the best bits of each. There are only a handful of padel courts in the UK but its popularity is growing, as evidenced in Warrington. Grappenhall Sports Club has recognised the growing demand for the sport and has applied for planning permission to build a pair of courts. The padel revolution is upon us. 


PORTRAIT… Liverpool’s Lib Dem leader Cllr Richard Kemp made a strange discovery in a cupboard in the Cunard Building this week and it has raised a number of questions: Who did this? When? And most importantly, why? 


Transmission House, Fabrix, C Fabrix

Vurger is the second commercial arrival at Transmission House Credit: Fabrix

PLANT-BASED… Following the arrival of piano manufacturer C. Bechstein to Transmission House last month, Fabrix Capital is due to welcome another tenant to its ground floor commercial space. The Vurger Co, a vegan burger restaurant, has applied for a licence to open with a 2,000 sq ft unit at the Manchester residential scheme. Elsewhere, CBD brand Love Hemp has taken 1,800 sq ft at Allied London’s Bonded Warehouse – a good week for all things plant-based in Manchester.


Bolesworth Castle, Bolesworth Estate, P Simon Kennish

You could be the new caretaker at the Bolesworth Estate. Credit: via Simon Kennish

CASTLE KEEPER… The impressive Bolesworth Castle estate is on the lookout for a new caretaker. One of the big perks of the job? Having two-bedroom accommodation on the estate. In return for that and a regular paycheck, all you have to do is carry out general handyman tasks like keeping the outside areas of the castle tidy, testing fire alarms, managing the estate’s vehicle fleet. You’ll also be responsible for putting the bins out because, yes, even castles have bins. 

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