Liverpool Daily Post - Bluecoat

Liverpool's at its best right now

2008-06-19T16:32:03Z

These last few weeks liverpool has been at its best; the sun has shone, people have been out and there has been so much stuff to do and see.

The upside of not having any offices or meeting rooms due to the fire is that I've made a temporary base
looking into the garden and I've held all my meetings in the hub or garden or courtyard.

One man comes into the garden in the morning and sets himself up with a coffee and the newspaper and the smokes a pipe while watching the world go by.

A superlambanana appeared over the weekend. It was designed by 10 youngsters who won a master-class weekend through our Shine programme which is sponsored by Yorkshire Bank. Every month anyone can take part in a different creative activity, this month is writing a short story, but for 11 to 16 year old there is a competitive element as we look for talented young artists who we can help develop.

]]> The superlambanana which was collaboratively designed is called Lamsa which means touch in Arabic and I've noticed people have taken to stopping to look at the beautiful beast and then go up and stroke it on the neck.

The building and gardens have been full of children recently. The schools programme is bringing in great numbers including 150 last week for Michael Rosen the children's laureate. Today we had a group that disappeared down an alley way to a make shift room for a workshop.

There is a tent in the garden and I'm not sure if it is staying or going but underneath Mrs Roscoe's Garden is being built. This is Liverpool's silver medal winning entry to the Chelsea Flower Show. It will be open from Thursday so everyone can come and visit it.
Let's hope for a long summer this year.

What will we do? Well 'all I want to do is tell you I love you'.

2008-05-21T14:05:03Z

What will we do? Well 'all I want to do is tell you I love you'.

It is early Wednesday morning and I've got Wiley on YouTube - and I'm already looking forward to the weekend.

Yesterday we agreed to open on Friday and sat down to see how to get the news out. 'Bluecoat burns' is front page but 'We're back' is only page 7. It will take many more positive stories to overcome the negative one that has now set the agenda.

]]> Staying closed for as short a period as possible is the first step in this; to stop the idea that we aren't open being imbedded in people's minds. So, with a great line up of events already planned for this weekend, we set Friday as our target date and the staff and contractors have done everything they can to achieve it. It has been one hell of a week but we should make it.

On Friday we have Wiley the current number 5 with 'Wearing my Rolex' and big man in the Grime world with support act Chipmunk. The new exhibition 'Variable Capital' will open on Friday morning. The curators continued to hang the show even while the fireman were in and they have produced a powerful, thought provoking look at consumerism, the means of its production and consequences of its consumption. On Saturday it's Howard Marks, the writer with the biggest spliff, talking with Harry the Polis.

Having put out the fire and isolated the damaged area there was a major cleaning up exercise. We called for specialists and we got them but I was pleased to see the parking warden move the van on from outside the Bluecoat as their strap line, in huge letters down the van's side, is 'Fire, Flood, Filth and Blood'. It is not good for the business as normal message. But these guys can clean. There is a gang of 30 blokes who get in everywhere and even tell us they have a machine that sucks the oxygen out of rooms to clean the air and if you walk in when it is on it kills you. If Indiana Jones was a cleaner he would work for these guys.

It is amazing that a week ago we had no power, no water, no phones, no computers, no offices, no fire and security systems and a building that was partly wrecked with the rest full of soot. We might now only be in temporary offices and the areas that were devastated are still blackened and mangled but we are back.
The building can operate, the tenants are already in, the show is up, the gigs are on and the downstairs hub will now work as a bar as well as the espresso with teas added to the sandwiches, salads and soup.
There is still a lot to do for Friday but now we need people to come and see if we are wearing our Rolex!

We'll bounce back quickly

2008-05-14T14:01:29Z

I got home yesterday just in time to read my 4 year old a book before turning his lights out. As I lay down I realised I stunk of smoke and my eyes were watering.

I'd not seen him in the morning as I'd been called out to the fire at the Bluecoat. When I arrived the fire brigade had been there two hours already and while the fire was not raging it had got in between the floors and was flaring up in different areas.

The fire crews were putting on breathing equipment, picking up axes and disappearing into the building to replace the teams coming out whose faces were blackened with smoke.

]]> The fire brigade were fantastic, chasing the fire for hours but doing their best not to damage any of the old building.

We don't yet know how it started but it effected the kitchen and burnt the ceiling above and some of the second floor offices.

The damage is extensive to the kitchen itself but partial to the rooms above which even though they are plain are some of the few remaining 18th Century interiors. The second floor damage included Bryan, our artistic director's, office which housed a small amount of archive material including some paintings, posters and photos.

National Museums Liverpool sent over their disaster team and the truck with equipment and they are already working on conserving items at the Conservation Centre.

The only other problems were caused by smoke so that areas are undamaged but dusted with what looks like black icing sugar.

By mid morning we knew where the damage was and some idea of scale. From there we worked to look at
how we can get going again. First off get tenants back in, then the public, sort out the events people are holding here and after that get us some offices and then rebuild the damaged areas.

We are lucky that so much of the building is fine and the exhibitions team worked through the day hanging the show which was due to open this Thursday. The major issues are closing up and sealing the worst areas, clean up the rest and there is light soot through many rooms and we need to get the fire alarms working again though we have 24 hour security cover on site. There is power to most places but our IT is down.

We all met together at the end of the day and looked at plans for Wednesday. There are bunch of people coming to give us advice and with that we should, I hope, have an idea of when we can open. The staff had been amazing all day and bounced back really quickly from shock to action.

When I had turned out my son's light I went and found Jane my wife to say Happy Birthday. We had been due to go to the Playhouse but crashed out instead.