THING OF THE WEEK

SIDEWAYS MOVE… Willy Wonka’s all-directions Great Glass Elevator could now be a reality of sorts, with the world’s first horizontal-vertical, ropeless elevator system being trialled in Germany. Created by German manufacturer ThyssenKrupp, ‘Multi’ uses multiple magnetised cabins which operate on an electromagnetic track. The elevator has been installed in the manufacturer’s 240m-high testing tower in Rottweil. ThyssenKrupp hopes that Multi will allow shorter waiting times, increase capacity and reduce elevator weight and mass. Not to mention it’ll be a talking point during those awkward lift moments.


GOING GOING GONE… While campaigners were cheered to hear that the Abercromby pub and Bootle Street Police Station would be saved as part of the St Michael’s redevelopment, other old buildings in the city haven’t been as lucky. Lovers of the Art Deco former Odeon on Oxford Street have watched it get torn apart over the last few weeks, to make way for the long-awaited Landmark office. Not too surprising though, as even most fans admit that they hadn’t been in the venue since a sticky-floored first date in the 1980s…


LAKE LOVE… Following the Lake District’s listing as a Unesco World Heritage Site earlier this week, locals and visitors are being invited to celebrate this weekend with a ‘Picnic in the Park’. Lovers of the Lake District are encouraged to take a trip to their favourite picnic spot, café, garden, fell or view in the National Park and share their photos using #WeAreTheLakes, which will appear on the World Heritage website. For ideas on where to go this weekend, visit lakesworldheritage.co.uk/picnic


MO MO MO… Mobike has made a splash in Manchester over the last couple of weeks, at times unfortunately literally as vandals proved the bikes aren’t really vandal-proof by throwing them in the canal. However, property professionals and locals alike have taken the app-rental scheme to their hearts, including Urban Splash boss Tom Bloxham, seen here merrily riding around Castlefield. Not sure Birkenstocks are the best cycling footwear though, Tom…


BEST LAID PLANS… Garden designs for the Royal Horticultural Society’s Flower Show have now been revealed, ahead of the opening next week at Tatton Park in Cheshire. Designs include a dystopian garden imagining how our outdoor spaces will look in the year 2101 with a 7 degree rise in temperature (clue: spiky!) and a garden designed to show techniques for capturing and slowing the flow of rainfall. See all of the designs here.


Slight Uncertainty Mayfield U+I

IT’S RAINING MAYFIELD… Created in 2012 by acclaimed Czech artist Michal Trpak, Slight Uncertainty, features 16 sculpted polyester ‘umbrella people’ of different sizes, suspended over the recently-opened street food market and community garden at Mayfield. Slight Uncertainty is owned by U+I, the regeneration and property company and part of the Mayfield Development Partnership, which is leading the revival of the historic 24-acre site next to Manchester Piccadilly Station. Appropriate, as U+I director James Heather noted, “given Manchester’s reputation for rain”, though you might argue there’s more than ‘slight uncertainty’ when it comes to Manchester’s weather.


OUTSTANDING IN THE FIELD… Wilmslow Scarecrow Festival ended this week, after weeks of local businesses and schools having a hay-bale of a time making and exhibiting scare-people throughout June and early July. Here are some favourites, by straw poll

 

 


Johnny Vegas Onsite Clatterbridge

STAR BUILDER…  St Helens-born comedian Johnny Vegas donned hi-vis and got stuck in onsite in Liverpool with Laing O’Rourke at the Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, to celebrate work getting underway at the Knowledge Quarter site. With planning approved in June, the centre is expected to be completed in spring 2020, and ready for patients later that year.

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