Buildings Old And New

We wanted a closer look at the new development at the bottom of Mayfield Road, where the Braidburn Inn and a 1930's built garage, J C Todd, stood until recently. 

The Braid Burn runs through a culvert beneath a major water pipe to the rear of the site and Mr Flum, a civil engineer who retired from the Water Authority was interested to see how the plans coped with this.

On seeing us peer through the security fencing, we were greeted by a member of staff, seemingly appointed for such a task, who answered many questions, providing specialist information (much of which went over my head). He told us, and we could see, that the burn has been piped and that sheet piles have been added to control the water table, which was in the habit of rising with consequent flooding in heavy rain. It proved an interesting conversation covering many topics.

My focus was on the building at the top of my photo, behind some of the piles that will form part of the foundation of the new build, to the 1960's built Darwin Building, due for demolition but frozen in time due to the presence of asbestos. It was a grand place to work, with superb views from the upper floors - if only we'd known what a problem it would cause in the future.

We took a stroll around that part of the Kings Buildings and found an overview of the site and the nearby busy road junction from the perimeter wall. However, I fear that this view will be completely obscured once the construction is complete.