Alcatraz Island (1941)

BWTAS member, David Blackburn, has sent in these photographs of the water tower on the Alcatraz Island, taken from a tourist boat by a friend (click on images to reveal full size). The island has had many uses during its history, but it was during the period when it was being used as a federal prison, that the water tower was built in 1940/41. The tower consists of steel tank of 208,710 gallons (250,650 U.S. gallons) supported by six columns secured to concrete footings. The structure is 93 feet tall and is the only elevated fresh water storage facility on the island. The location is 37 degrees, 49 minutes, 34.18 seconds North, 122 degrees, 25 minutes and 19.56 seconds West.

Water Tower Development Diss-regarded

The Diss Mercury reports the Diss water tower plans reported here have been withdrawn.

Applicant AWG Land Holdings had submitted its second application to change the landmark 192 tower in Louie's Lane into two maisonettes.

But the plans, which would have also seen the construction five homes on the site, were withdrawn before a South Norfolk Council planning meeting last week.

The scheme had been recommended for refusal by officers because of the cramped design, lack of parking spaces, and impact on neighbours of the “overbearing” development.

Water tower that makes its own rain!

From http://webecoist.com/2010/06/02/make-it-rain-precipitation-producing-water-tower/

Water towers are necessary parts of the landscape, but they aren’t often thought of as positive features of the towns they’re in. This water tower design was created by French firm Atelier Ramdam Architects for Latina, Italy; it is as much a public space as it is a water storage facility. Meant to act as a center for ecological and water management issues, the dream-like “Castle in the Sky” would both blend with the environment and enhance its surroundings.

The Castle in the Sky design consists of a ground-level park and pond, a mirror-clad shaft, and a large platform atop the shaft. Coating the central tower in reflective material makes it almost disappear, enabling the structure to be a part of the landscape without dominating it.

One of the most striking features of the Castle in the Sky is the fact that it makes its own rain. The tower uses the pond at the bottom of the structure as its reservoir. Water is pulled up through the tower, then vaporized on the rooftop platform, which doubles as a recreational space. The precipitation falls on the rooftop park as well as the ground-level park, cooling and hydrating the vegetation and visitors in the immediate area.

Vegetation at the ground level helps to filter the water after it rains down and before it runs back into the reservoir. The entire structure can be used for educational purposes or simply as a unique and beautiful gathering space for the entire town.

The power of pencil and paint...

This is not exactly a water tower subject but posted as an example of something BWTAS understands: the power structures have in our physical and emotional landscapes and the influence artists have on our experience of this.


From the EDP 21/5/10

New weapons have been unveiled in the fight to restore and save Great Yarmouth's dilapidated Vauxhall Bridge - a sketch pad and artist's palette.

Yarmouth-based industrial landscape artist Katarzyna Coleman has been called in to sketch and then paint the 19th century bridge to help raise the profile of a campaign to breathe fresh into the gateway of the town.

Ms Coleman is sketching the bridge from the comfort of the neighbouring Seafood Restaurant, which is owned by bridge campaigner Miriam Kikis.

Mrs Kikis is hoping that grants can be found to restore the Fairbarn box girder bridge, but fears that the possibility of it being knocked down remains an outside option.

Once Ms Coleman has produced her set of Vauxhall bridge paintings in several months' time, Ms Kikis hopes she can use prints of them to use as cards to hand out to customers to promote her campaign.

It is also hoped that Ms Coleman's creation will end up in Yarmouth Library - prompting visitors to wonder what will happen if the bride is lost forever.

Ms Coleman said: “The bridge is a beautiful structure, although at the moment it is not pretty to look at. It is part of Yarmouth's unique industrial landscape and I am glad I can help Miriam.”

A major feasibility study is to be launched in to the bridge's future by Norfolk County Council, which hopes to seek outside funding from agencies such as the lottery grants. Urban regeneration company 1st East is supporting the study.


Image of Vauxhall Bridge by Pete Sturman found on Flickr.


Scan of original cutting 

BWTAS event: Carshalton Water Tower Visit

Images have been removed from this posting

BWTAS members are planning to meet at Carshalton Water Tower on Saturday 26th June, 12.00 midday. The entry fee has been discounted to £1.

CarshaltonWater Tower is a unique Grade II listed early 18th century garden building sited in the grounds of Carshalton House in Surrey.  In addition to the Water Tower, there is the surrounding garden including the Hermitage and Folly Bridge.

Info and map at www.carshaltonwatertower.co.uk

The Carshalton water tower is one of the finest estate towers in existence and thankfully one of the most accessible. The water tower constructed 1719 is unique in that it contains a suite of rooms that serve a range of domestic functions. There is a deep plunge bath with exquisite tiling, a formal saloon and a beautifully proportioned orangery. The remains of a water wheel can be seen in the pump chamber that lifted water into the cistern crowning the tower. It could be considered the equal of Houghton Hall, a 1732 example in Norfolk that supplied the home of Sir Robert Walpole.

The Carshalton Water Tower, Hermitage and Historic Gardens in Surrey are managed by a voluntary charitable trust. The tower and gardens are often hired for a wide range of purposes including filming.

Friends of Carshalton Water Tower have been granted associate membership of BWTAS.

For information about the friends, contact the secretary

Julia Gertz
136 West Street,
Carshalton
Surrey SM5 2NR Telephone: 0208 647 0984

A new Water Tower for Melton Mowbray

Following the successful campaign to get Melton Mowbray pies "Protected Geographical Indication" (PGI) status, the town is now to follow the Americans with a themed water tower. Inspired by the Peachoid water tower at Gaffney, they wanted a pork pie water tower! The design is quite traditional up to the tank: the supporting legs will be constructed off site - and then erected, while the service shaft will be cast in sections and then craned into position. Shuttering will then be placed upon the shaft and legs, before the hot-water concrete is poured - believed to be the first time this new waterproof hot-water concrete has been used for a water tower. Innovation does not stop there: Due to increasingly cold winters, the ever present risk of the water freezing has been reduced by floating a "Jelly" like blanket on the surface of the water. Not only does this provide an insulating layer, retaining heat, it also provides a sterile barrier between the treated water and air. The consulting engineers, Ebenezer Associates, have provided an artist’s impression:

© Copyright 2010, Ebenezer Associates

Tower of Bubble

Water towers are pretty simple right? A tank supplied by gravity or a pump, so what possibly could go wrong? Cornishman Denzil Bark relates...

Cornishman in Africa : Tower of Bubble.

Merchandise!

1/12/11 We're very sorry but all the BWTAS merchandise has now sold out. If we get 20 people to reserve the next edition, we can put another batch in production.




This is the official and extremely limited edition BWTAS mug.

Concrete conversion in Cambridgeshire

Seen in the Cambs Times*

Historic Disused Water Tower In Fenland Village Could Be Converted To Luxury 3 Bed Home

13:39 - 01 February 2010

Disused water tower at Welney

By John Elworthy

AN historic Fenland landmark - a disused concrete and steel water tower in the centre of Welney- could become a luxury three bedroom house.

The tower, built in the 1930s, has been bought by a businessman from Girton who paid £11,750 for it at an auction last year- more than double the expected sale price.

Stephen Drury, of GSM Ltd, has applied to West Norfolk Council for permission to convert the tower which he says has "clearly become an eyesore due to its dilapidated condition".

Artist's impression of the proposed elevations of water tower at Welney

But he says the tower, decommissioned in the mid 1990s, "is an historical piece of concrete work with significance" and he says water towers do not seem to attract the same hostility as radio masts, pylons and wind turbines.

Mr Drury says the overall design rationale "is one of honest conversion and correct choice of materials. Internal planning accepts the segmental nature of the space and uses its convenient module to produce internal spaces that work well".

The external framework will remain unaltered which ensures "the conversion doesn't simply mask the building and allows others to identify with its past use."

The existing concrete legs of the tower will remain visible and the emphasis will be to produce a design that has "a light and open feel to the area below the tank".

Mr Drury says the upper level will retain the concrete hand railing system as an historical note, and the level will be capped with a weathered zinc roof and cedar cladding to the walls.

"Positive feedback has been received from English Heritage on the proposal," he says.

On the ground floor will be a cloak room; n open plan kitchen and dining room on the first floor with a first floor mezzanine lounge; a second floor of shower room, bedroom, and the main bedroom at tank level. On the upper level will be a family room and terrace. 

BWTAS comment:

No doubt this proposal conversion has taken a leaf from the home of Jan Moreels and his much admired conversion of a concrete tower outside Antwerp. 

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*note: we have pasted the content of the Cambs Times here in its entirety because of the increasing frequency that links become broken when newspapers do not keep their stories online for more than a few months. If you are the copyright holder and you object to this "fair use" please contact BWTAS and it will be removed. Nat Bocking, Gen. Sec. BWTAS.

No business like snow business...

The freeze that has gripped Britain has dominated the media for the last four weeks and so can't be ignored by BWTAS. Our chairman Wil Harvey kindly sent in this winter scene from Southwold.


The practical problems of freezing are a concern to water tower engineers. Usually, such a large mass of water doesn't freeze entirely and the outlets are under the surface of any ice formed but on older towers with pumping engines underneath them, the designers would vent the smokestack or provide bleed pipes through the tank to utilise waste heat to prevent freezing, the Round House in Perth being an example. The main problem is the freezing of the pipework and this is why most towers that are supported on legged structures will have a central column enclosing the pipes and the stairway, as evident above.