paulb Posted October 19, 2008 Report Share Posted October 19, 2008 odd ist it that they always have to be in lerwick. of course i assume that thats were the demand is. ive not seen many empty council houses in the country except firth and thats down to bad disign and construction. and if they do build them please no more clamped concrete boxes. why must they always be on top of each other. its not as thou we dont have enough land. lets have some good design and thought put into them and who knows the people may like them and even build a community spirt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snow Posted October 20, 2008 Report Share Posted October 20, 2008 I agree that the houses in Firth are of a bad design...I had to pay Council £200.. to have my sitting room window removed so as to get my furniture... The design fault made it impossole to get and reasonable size furniture in as the hallways are too narrow and small.. It is such a shame that Firth always seems to be the area that comes under the most criticisim as there are lots of really lovely friendly people live here....People that really care ..It semms to be that the council are the ones who continue to allow this idea that Firth is a last resort and do not do anything possitive to promote living here... It is only my opinion but maybe if they whitewashed the houses they woukd not look so dull and dismal ..even when the sun is shining.... And of course if Scottish Water had not renaged on their promise to repair the sewage system ( they pulled out without a bye or leave )It might be a more attactive place to want to move to I love my life here in Shetland and feel that if the powers that be would only come and go just a little bit folks might feel a lot happier about moving here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulb Posted October 20, 2008 Report Share Posted October 20, 2008 i agree what would it cost to paint them in some nice shades of colours. its typical that the water board have not do what they have a legal obligation to do so. they have spent a fortune on the houses at mossbank doing them up. it would have been cheaper and better to demolish and rebuild with better built housing. i was never keen on the house as it used to sway in the wind when it got stormy. firth and mossbank are just unlucky that they are very isolated from the other parts of shetland. apart from the shop who i really liked very nice staff. and the post office there is nothing there. the bus service stops to soon so your stuck without a car. think what could have been built there was loads of land and a beach to if the planners had just spent a little time on it they could have had a very well planned and thought out village. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MitzyMu Posted October 20, 2008 Report Share Posted October 20, 2008 I wonder how many women were consulted in the design of housing? not many I think. I agree with Snow that the access to the houses in Firth are not user freindly for getting furniture in we recently changed our suite and despite measuring very carefully we had to remove the front, vestibule and sitting room doors plus door frame in the sitting room and the help of two kind neighbours to get the settee in. Also why does all council property have to be in varying shades of grey ? On a dull day all the houses merge into one another, whereas if the walls were painted cream or white it would certainly make the outward appearance of the property look more attractive. And what about our sewage problem in Firth and Mossbank which has suddenly ground to a halt when Scottish Water had promised the work was vital and all of a sudden when they realised the situation was bigger than thought have pulled out of repairing a system that was intended to last 15 years and has now been in use some 33 years!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Bridgman-Elliot Posted October 21, 2008 Report Share Posted October 21, 2008 I'm always amazed the width of doorways being so small, at least when I moved from down south to up north the doorways got wider! When I did my last building I made sure it had 5ft wide doors for ease of access, and in my new home design, I'm looking at 10ft wide doors so I can drive something like a bradshaw electric vehicle for moving furniture around! What is the sewage problem ? > I can't really understand why the waiting list has grown to the size> it is when the population seems to be decreasing If I've understand correctly looking at the stats it appears more single person dwellings are in demand than before, its not clear if this is due to people leaving their parents homes, or relationship breakups. (Down here in London/South East its due to relationship breakups.) So perhaps one solution is to force everyone with a spare bedroom to fill it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJ of Hildisvik Posted October 21, 2008 Report Share Posted October 21, 2008 It's no fault of anybody living in Firth, or other places where there are pug ugly 1970s grey harled grandiose disasters, they're a disgrace.If any of you have travelled across Dartmoor and gazed upon Princeton Prison, well, say no more! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulb Posted October 21, 2008 Report Share Posted October 21, 2008 Nigel the problem with the bad design is serious. to start with the sewage system has failed its been leaking raw sewage into the voe there has been problems for years. now as you have never been up here its only fare that you dont know that the construction standards of a lot of 1970s council houses is very poor. the houses themselves are of a good sizes just badly built. the council tried to put as many houses into a very small area. the access to a lot of the houses in firth is up passage ways and sets of steps ask the removal company how they enjoy moving people in and out of the estate. you know when your near a council estate they are mainly one style and are all grey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAStewart Posted October 21, 2008 Report Share Posted October 21, 2008 you know when your near a council estate they are mainly one style and are all grey. I know what you're saying, but isn't that only because thats the cheapest way to build houses? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohanofNess Posted October 21, 2008 Report Share Posted October 21, 2008 you know when your near a council estate they are mainly one style and are all grey. I know what you're saying, but isn't that only because thats the cheapest way to build houses? Well it is and it isn't when you want to keep construction costs down you want to keep the materials involved as standard and as same spec as you can between each house. My experience of working with one of the bigge developers in Scotland shows the only real difference in construction is the number of rooms in the building a bungalow would be their cheap house and their two storey was the more exclusive one although if you looked at the footprint they were almost identical in area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pleepsie Posted October 21, 2008 Report Share Posted October 21, 2008 i agree what would it cost to paint them in some nice shades of colours. The trouble is once you start painting them, you have to keep on doing it every couple of years. The weather and salt soon take their toll and that is when the costs start to add up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Bridgman-Elliot Posted October 21, 2008 Report Share Posted October 21, 2008 Perhaps clad them in local stone, or fake concrete stone, then they wouldn't need painting every year. A picture I took of an example of fake concrete rock over hundred years old in Kent: http://www.nanos.org.uk/downloads/rock2.jpg Its the kind of thing I had in mind for my own home, any exposed bits, make it look natural. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khitajrah Posted October 21, 2008 Report Share Posted October 21, 2008 ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross Posted October 21, 2008 Report Share Posted October 21, 2008 http://www.nanos.org.uk/downloads/rock2.jpg Looks like Disneyland rock. Not nice or natural at all IMHO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Bridgman-Elliot Posted October 21, 2008 Report Share Posted October 21, 2008 Perhaps we could find some better looking fake rock, after all they manage to do it in the movies, perhaps something like these; http://www.rockandwater.com/catalog.html http://www.artificialrock.com.au http://www.globalthemingproducts.com/gallery/Fgallery2-2.JPG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sassermaet Posted October 21, 2008 Report Share Posted October 21, 2008 More places than Firth have terrible council houses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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