The Hive revealed

For many months the lower part of The Hive on Ham Village Green has been hidden behind boards so I was delighted to find it finally revealed. And the ground floor makes a big difference as it explains why there is a grey arch on the first floor, which had looked out of place.

The Hive sits very comfortably in its Village Green setting and is a welcome addition to the area.

Corner

I think that it is fair to say that The Hive (the new community centre being built on Ham Village Green) has provoked mixed reactions and while I am not a firm fan I can see nothing wrong with it either. This corner, pointing across the Green, is particularly good with its subtle details and use of colour.

The Hive from the south

As the scaffolding falls away, more of The Hive is revealed, this is the view from Ashburnham Road. The full impact will not be know until the hoardings have gone too but impressions are still good for all the reasons that I like the view from the north.

The Hive (partially) revealed

While the construction of The Hive is still very much in progress we can see what it looks like from the north looking across Ham Village Green, and it is ok as it is pretty unobtrusive. There are just enough features to prevent it from being a solid grey mass but not too many to draw attention away from the Green.

Apple trees

I have been so busy watching The Hive rising on Ham Village Green that I have overlooked the apple trees recently planted in the north-east corner along Woodville Road.

Every little improvement like this to Ham Village Green is a reminder of what could be done to Ham Common if it had the same attention.

Yellow barriers

The Hive (the new community centre being built on Ham Village Green) looks quite dramatic from Back Lane thanks to the ranks of yellow barriers and the framing yellow crane. There is also an early view of when the finished building will look like with the exposed wall on the right.

Crossing Ham Village Green

The hoardings around the emerging community centre on Ham Village Green have been blocking one of the two paths crossing the Green for several months and while this has not been that much of a problem thanks to the almost complete lack of rain, it is good to see a new path connecting to Ashburnham Road.

Filling the frame

Now that the concrete frame of The Hive (the new community centre being built on Ham Village Green) has been completed the walls are being filled in with breeze blocks and it is starting to look like a building.

The Hive in context

Now that the scaffolding has come down from The Hive (the new community centre being built on Ham Village Green) its bulk can be judged and it looks big. and from this angle it loks significantly larger than the buildings near to it. 

 

From the Green it dwarfs the shops and flats behind it.

The bulk is something of a shock but I am hoping that is partially because of its newness and once the shock has passed it become just another building. It is, after all, smaller than the existing and planned blocks of flats on the other side of the Green in Ham Close.

A different look at The Hive

I took a similar picture of The Hive, the new community centre on Ham Village Green, not that long ago but it has grown taller since then and it looks a little different from this angle, looking across Ashburnham Road.

The Hive rises

The new community centre on Ham Village Green, The Hive, is rising quickly with the help of an impressive crane. I can only hope that the finished result looks better than the illustrations in the posters around it. At least it looks good at this stage before the exterior walls get added.

I have slim hope that they change the name too; "The Hive" has no connection to that location or to Ham and it is also the name of a feature in Kew Gardens only 5km away.

The Hive appears

The new community centre being constructed on Ham Village, The Hive, has grown above its hoardings to become visible though it has yet to give much of a clue as to what it will look like when finished - there are the posters but they are mock-ups and do not show angles like this one..

Pile driver

Work is continuing at both ends of Ham Close with new flats at the western end and a community centre in the south-east corner where a pile driver was in action.

Welcome to the Heart of Ham

The site of the coming community centre on Ham Village Green had been surrounded by a series of large signs saying "Welcome to the Heart of Ham" and explaining why the new centre will be that heart.

While I think that most people will welcome new community facilities there is more of a debate on what those facilities should be and what the building housing them should look like.

Another picture from a different angle shows the community centre sitting better against the new flats on Ham Close but that is only because those flats look boring too. 

Ham Cafe

Ham Cafe, on Ashburnham Road, is a traditional cafe, the sort of place I look for when in need of an all-day vegetarian breakfast. Once upon a time it was white and yellow and a little tired looking. The move to blue is an improvement and I like the font used in the shop sign.

Trench in Ham Village Green

While the main work on the Ham Close redevelopment is west end of the site a small area has also been cordoned off at the east end on Ham Village Green. The reason for this was to enable some pipe work which included a trench curving away from Ashburnham Road.

Footpath Closed

One of the footpaths across Ham Village Green is closed because of the works associated with the redevelopment of Ham Close, except that is not the whole story. The footpath is closed but there is access to Ham Street and Ashburnham Road still simple by walking through the play area.

The layout of the sign intrigues me too: the capitalised "Or" looks wrong, it is on its own and the "to" above it is not capitalised; and "Street" has been abbreviated to "St." despite there being plenty of space. I would have written it as " No access to / Ham Street or / Ashburnham Road".

Wild flowers on Ham Village Green

While Ham Common is an example of a neglected place, Ham Village Green continues to show what active and sensitive management can do with a splendid display of wild flowers.

Learning about the environment

Three boards have arrived on Ham Village Green that tech children a little about the environment. 

On the left, rotating the circle recreates the sound of the sea on a beach (growing up in a coastal town I sometimes forget that the sea is a stranger to some people), the central board explains the water cycle and on the right children can learn some standard terms for describing the weather.

Climbing apparatus

The new climbing apparatus on Ham Village Green looks fantastic. My only regret is that it arrived about twenty five years too late for me to take my boys there.