Now I never knew the old Pomona, but like so many areas left empty by the retreat of traditional industries, the land that was once Dock 4 is about to get a new lease of life.
Not that we should be surprised, for across the twin cities any brown site is being earmarked for development.
And with each of them, young Andy Robertson is on hand to record the changing landscape.
In the course of the last few years, he has patiently photographed the two Owen Street towers, wandered across Salford recording the demise of old buildings and everywhere taking pictures of cranes, building sites and near completed blocks of apartments and offices.
This week he was back on one of his favourite places which is the area around Pomona. The pictures speak for themselves.
And as ever they raise questions about the flurry of new developments which some people complain about, bewailing the demise of old Pomona, old Salford and old Hulme.
To a degree they have a point, but the question that hangs in the air, is what should happen to brown sites?
The obvious answer is social housing and lots of it, but behind that solution is the assumption that any old bit of land is OK for social housing however industrialized the sites had been.
But money and nature abhor a vacuum and so we have private developments in abundance.
And before we all shudder at that, it is well to remember that rightly or wrongly much of the “old places” were built in the 19th century by property speculators, businessmen and industrialists with an eye on profit above anything else.
So while some of our great warehouses and factories were built with beautiful and intriguing features, the rows of terraced housing that went up beside them, were basic, and in the early 19th century pretty low on quality.
Well rant over, apologies to Andy for hijacking his pictures and I await the next stage.
Location; Pomona
Pictures; Pomona, 2018 from the collection of Andy Robertson
And with each of them, young Andy Robertson is on hand to record the changing landscape.
In the course of the last few years, he has patiently photographed the two Owen Street towers, wandered across Salford recording the demise of old buildings and everywhere taking pictures of cranes, building sites and near completed blocks of apartments and offices.
And as ever they raise questions about the flurry of new developments which some people complain about, bewailing the demise of old Pomona, old Salford and old Hulme.
To a degree they have a point, but the question that hangs in the air, is what should happen to brown sites?
The obvious answer is social housing and lots of it, but behind that solution is the assumption that any old bit of land is OK for social housing however industrialized the sites had been.
But money and nature abhor a vacuum and so we have private developments in abundance.
So while some of our great warehouses and factories were built with beautiful and intriguing features, the rows of terraced housing that went up beside them, were basic, and in the early 19th century pretty low on quality.
Well rant over, apologies to Andy for hijacking his pictures and I await the next stage.
Location; Pomona
Pictures; Pomona, 2018 from the collection of Andy Robertson
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