“Slag heap” or a great tourist attraction?

[welsh dragon]

It's very grey and that's about the only thing you can say about it. There are lots of grey places in Wales.

 

[yello]

Must admit, I can't quite see why. I'm sure it made sense to someone, somewhere, at some point... but I don't get it. I've no problems with creating tourist attractions but I don't know what this one offers. If you want to climb a hill that offers views of of London then there is Primrose Hill and Parliament Hill. Nope, doesn't make sense to me.

Edit: OK, I've just read there's an exhibition space planned inside of it. That makes a little more sense... a little.

 

[HMS_Dave]

If only the council bothered to conduct a survey. Looking on how the survey is going on CC, id say that approximately 0% of the British public wanted it!

 

[Edwardoka]

We're really not averse to horrid building projects that actively detract from their surroundings in this country, are we?

This doesn't appear to add anything. At least other eyesores such as the Millennium Dome or my personal favourite white elephant, The Big Idea were attempts at regeneration of brownfield sites.

I simply don't get it.

Then again, I don't get the point of the Marble Arch or 19th century triumphal arches in general either. Bit gross to try to invoke the spirit of the Roman Empire imo.

Wasn't the Marble Arch originally meant to be a front for Buckingham Palace or something? Whatever happened to that?

 

[lazybloke]

Well if it wasn't in the area I wouldn't be bothered but I quite like the idea of views of Hyde Park and a new perspective of the Marble Arch.
Or more generally, I like things which are a bit weird. This certainly ticks that box.

£4.50 for a work lunchbreak sounds fair. Less than a pint of beer.

I enjoyed the Millennium Dome experience too (maybe I'm not so discerning)!

 

[Cycleops]

Oh to have been a fly on the wall at the meeting when this idea was mooted. It might have gone something like this:

We need more attractions to bring tourists to London

These brilliant Dutch architects have suggested this, a mound of earth which people can climb and we can charge for, so that will offset the cost.

Fantastic, how much?

Only £2m

Where are we going to put it?

How about right next to Marble Arch on that roundabout? But might it not clash with or obscure the arch?

Great idea, who wants to see a pile of old stone blocks.

Khan is sure to love it.

 

[fossyant]

Londoners jealous we have real hills else where ? You could do some urban down hill MTB'ing on those steps.

 

[Saluki]

A big hill built for just 6 months?
Seems like a waste of time, effort and money to me.

 

[MichaelW2]

I can see why 2 Dutch architects might be fascinated by the concept of hills. It must sound really exotic to have more than one contour line.

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

So that'll be London off the UNESCO World Heritage Site list..........

 

[ClichéGuevara]

Well if it wasn't in the area I wouldn't be bothered but I quite like the idea of views of Hyde Park and a new perspective of the Marble Arch.
Or more generally, I like things which are a bit weird. This certainly ticks that box.

£4.50 for a work lunchbreak sounds fair. Less than a pint of beer.

I enjoyed the Millennium Dome experience too (maybe I'm not so discerning)!

At £4.50, it only needs about 5 people a minute, every minute, seven days of the week to start to make a profit. What's that, one person every 12 seconds?

 

[ClichéGuevara]

Apparently, according to some that it have visited, it smells like dustbins too.

Is it just a case of people making a mountain out of a molehill?

 

[Cycleops]

Apparently the idea was to get shoppers back into the area to “revitalise “ it. It’s adjacent to the once busy retail areas of Oxford St, Bond St and Regent St so the mound would hopefully pull people in. Doesn’t seem to have worked so far.

 

[HMS_Dave]

Apparently the idea was to get shoppers back into the area to “revitalise “ it. It’s adjacent to the once busy retail areas of Oxford St, Bond St and Regent St so the mound would hopefully pull people in. Doesn’t seem to have worked so far.

The solution seems obvious then. Build a Waitrose on top of it!

 

[Arrowfoot]

Funny thing I noticed is that people especially visitors will climb stairs, walk thru a maze that goes thru a gift shop etc. Even more if there is a fee.

After getting royally screwed by the World of Beatrix Porter in the Lake District nearly 18 years, never again. Or I thought. Sadly had to do same thing to see the Sistine Chapel.

Can't wait for St Peter (Rowan as we know him) to call out these operators on judgement day.