markb wrote:
Its just frustrating pope as every time anyone asks about the park we hear 'its coming, its on the way', whereas every few months a new park down south pops up (like this one, athlone, the plaza one in dublin) it seems with no 30 years in the making. Im not meaning to have a pop at BUS, just airing my opinion...

Popé wrote:
yeah man i understand frustration, seriously i do... but you might not be aware of the processes involved in getting a park. There are so many goals and for each goal there are numerous tasks, which all take time.Paper work flowing back and fourth , corrections and amendments, meetings upon meetings to discuss direction tasks achieved and tasks to do, problems from landlords, tennets, complaints from teenagers about why are wasting money on a skate park(i kid you not, i couldnt believe what i was reading), so plus setting up the tender and meeting european standards.earth tests, polution tests, feasability studies,securing all the funding which we had issues with,..dude i could go on and on honestly...but trust me when i say the designs WILL be up in 3 to 4 weeks time for your viewing and comments...so long as there are no compliants/changes to be made..just bare in mind the speed from a 3d drawing on a screen to digging will shock you..the 30 years in the making was when the very first application for a skatepark in Belfast was made..it was declined obviously...the council still have the application and were showing it to us..you'd be surprised how much hadnt changed in the way of information.. just a little more patience is all that is required..were not talking months down the line before anything happens, were talking weeks... thats why you keep hearing "it's coming"

Some background to what has happened so far...



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<font size="5">UNIT13 started so we can get statistics,somewhere to skate and justify having an outdoor skatepark from those stats.Also a Training facility for teaching and head quatrers for B.U.S.</font>

<b>MORE RECENTLY</b>these are the restrictions on the site where we CANT build(smooth flat ground only), the cross hatched sections meet uk and euro health and saftey standards and HAVE to be adhered to.Pish that we are losing so much space but thats just the way it has to be......
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Here are pictures from the site:
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</a>http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h121/pope_acute/DSC00193.jpg </a>http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h121/pope_acute/DSC00194.jpg </a>http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h121/pope_acute/DSC00195.jpg </a>http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h121/pope_acute/DSC00197.jpg </a>http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h121/pope_acute/DSC00198.jpg </a>http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h121/pope_acute/DSC00201.jpg </a>http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h121/pope_acute/DSC00203.jpg</a>

<iframe width="425" height="350" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?hl=en&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;msa=0&amp;msid=102248213494953830481.0004711a2e6022802d87c&amp;ll=54.604752,-5.924322&amp;spn=0.001058,0&amp;t=h&amp;output=embed"></iframe><br <small>View <a href="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?hl=en&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;msa=0&amp;msid=102248213494953830481.0004711a2e6022802d87c&amp;ll=54.604752,-5.924322&amp;spn=0.001058,0&amp;t=h&amp;source=embed" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">Belfast Skatepark</a> in a larger map</small>>

im not even from belfast and im excited! you boys must be stoked to the teeth ya lucky bastards.
that says that yous have 370k and the council are giving a further 130k, so yous have half a million pound for a park!!!! fuck i might have to move up there lol

keep up the good work lads, perserverance is the name of the game.

i hope it happens like but the belfast council are ballbags its all about the football pitches lol ill keep my fingers crossed

next big update will be after a crucial meeting on the 30th...should have a projected date for the diggers moving in, designs all being well...whoo hoo!!

WEll big meeting today, everyone involved was there. BUS,COUNCIL,FREESTYLE..
Lots issues sorted out, questions answered, essential to do list. Ok 3.5 weeks from now designs will be up for viewing, 9(tolerence of a week or two either side) weeks from now diggers move in...So in 3.5 weeks time there will be a viewing session up at unit13 (date unconfirmed yet) for all to come and see,and give feed back.Following that it will be up online for all to see...so to conclude all being well with no drainage hich-ups,funding hoops to jump through,electrical delays, in 7(at best) WEEKS TIME diggers will be scooping!!! (to give you an idea of time scale, 12week build,4week cure) total 16weeks from now say 1st april(no fools here) looking to open for riding, start of august...but more likely to be end of August

P.S with all projects there are usually some sort of delays so the timescales quoted above are a reasonable guide line, and are certainly achievable.

sick

skateparks?? - dont want em dont need em

THE SIX BELLIES THAT DREW BLOOD!!!!!!

There's always one.

we'll leave the design in your capable hands, have a good holiday....

banging

anyone looking a job?

http://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/jobs/jobdetail.asp?ID=1527

doesnt sound like a bad job, 28k a year, plus car allowence.

That would be ideal, its not like you d be based in an office all the time , you d be constantly out to meet people most of which would be B.U.S, guys youd already know and get on with. .....

fuck i m starting to talk myself into applying lol

I would do it but I m going to law college in Newcastle in September to qualify. It’s only for a year and the job says there may be opportunity for further posts, so I may apply then, would love to see a skater get this position.

With all the work B.U.S has done, a skater running the council side of things would be the perfect partnership.

Kellz you’d be the man for this with all your children/ community/ social work stuff.

paddy apply for that shit! won't have to work with anymore leapin smicker plasterers!

yeah i mite marc sounds gud enuff lol

no news for a while, is everythin still sweet Popé?

thats cool, a well thought out park that takes a bit longer is better than a flawed one thrown up in a hurry anyday.

as posted previously designs are close to being finalised, once we have the final design it will be posted everywhere, boggin, bus site, council, unit13 for all to see.

tonight's telegraph is saying xmas 09 completion date. any truth?

well kinda, if digging starts in 4 weeks time, then its 16 week build and cure..that does put you into december, its unfortunate but projects as big as this always slip time, plus the re-design delays did not help either but were nesscessary.If things were to run ultra smooth and no issues arise during the build(they always do though), it could be ready for start of november, but i doubt that. On the design front, things are near finished, some little tweaks here and there needed but majority of it done.So finalised design should be on show very very soon.

set backs :(

yeah thats looks amazing they have been campaigning on this park for a long time. I remember when i first heard it was starting when i was still working in the Effective Edge board shop in Dundee. Fair play to them for sticking with it...

But i would say that our park is not gonna look like that, unfortunately, a qtr of the space and a qtr of the budget is what we have compared to that, plus an awkward shape with retrictions, nightmare really.... but the design we have is looking great, getting priced up at the moment to get the exact cost of the build.