| Author | Silbury Hill comes to Marble Arch, London |
Andy B
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from Surrey, UK
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|  Posted 13-03-2021 at 16:25
From Time Out: They’re building a big hill at Marble Arch this summer – but we’re not quite sure why
Part of a new development, ‘Marble Arch Hill’ will provide a lofty platform with views across Hyde Park and the West End
I don’t know about you, but one thing that I wasn’t expecting to be part of the eventual reopening of central London was the construction of a 25m-high temporary mound at one end of Oxford Street. That’s apparently the plan, though. The ‘Marble Arch Hill’ is the most visually arresting/bonkers element of a £150 million development initiative by Westminster Council to inject new life into Oxford Street and Marble Arch, and attract visitors and tourists back into the West End.
Kay Buxton, chief executive of Marble Arch London BID said it is ‘a truly unique and once in a lifetime opportunity to see London from a completely new perspective. Marble Arch Hill is a clarion call to the recovery of London’s hospitality and leisure sector, in an enduring, world-renowned destination.’
https://www.timeout.com/london/news/theyre-building-a-big-hill-at-marble-arch-this-summer-but-were-not-quite-sure-why-021821
https://www.mvrdv.nl/projects/456/marble-arch-hill
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nifitsa
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| Posted 13-03-2021 at 20:07
Barmy, cannot understand their thinking.
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drolaf
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| Posted 15-03-2021 at 01:18
after a year of lockdown and 125000 dead whom we mourn silently we maybe deserve a bit of fun, and Londoners are no different to other people-they like views from a hill to uplift the spirits. primrose hill is a favourite, but a 'silbury' at Marble Ach? bring it on. bun fights too i hope.
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Mark_in_Wales
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| Posted 15-03-2021 at 16:54
Westminster Council have a track record of this type of thing.....35 years since Homes for Votes and the despicable Cemeteries sale for 85 pence, then resold the same day for £1.25M. Nothing they do is 'For the Community', only 'For Themselves'. 
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AngieLake
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from Newton Abbot, Devon
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| Posted 15-03-2021 at 19:00
It's Her Majesty the Queen's Platinum Anniversary next year, 70 years on the throne (if she is still with us), so perhaps it ties in with the celebrations?? I hope she is still with us. 
Brian May might stand up there playing God Save the Queen instead of on the roof of Buckingham Palace?
(Trying to be serious instead of saying the funny things I could have said!) 
Didn't read the links before posting this. 
[ This message was edited by: AngieLake on 2021-03-15 19:03 ]
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nifitsa
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| Posted 16-03-2021 at 14:50
Reminds me of the debate in the early 90's on the uses for Canary Wharf, which was the great white elephant of the time. So we have a commutable Silbury hill, and platform for Brian May. Cheese rolling maybe?
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Andy B
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| Posted 13-08-2021 at 11:53
It's up! Someone create a site page
Apparently it's free to climb during August:
"Visitors were being charged between £4.50 and £8 to climb the architect-designed mound but “teething problems” forced the council to offer refunds. It will remain free to enter during August."
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/aug/13/marble-arch-mound-deputy-council-leader-resigns-over-cost
“We originally wanted the hill to totally cover the arch,” says Winy Maas, founding partner of MVRDV, the Dutch architecture firm behind the pop-up hillock. “That was an interesting discussion, let me put it that way.” Conservation experts advised that shrouding the almost 200-year-old stone structure in total darkness for six months could risk weakening the mortar joints, leading to potential collapse. The solution was to slice off the corner of the hill instead, leaving room for the arch and making the mound look like a computer model caught midway through rendering, revealing the wireframe scaffolding structure beneath.
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/jul/23/marble-arch-hill-mound-london-oxford-street
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Andy B
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| Posted 07-01-2022 at 20:57
London's worst tourist attraction' closes this weekend after five months of ridicule
The £6 million Marble Arch Mound closes this Sunday (January 9). Since opening in July 2021, the pop-up attraction has faced global ridicule.
Blasted for its lacklustre views, the project caused public outrage when its true cost emerged.
https://www.mylondon.news/news/west-london-news/marble-arch-mound-boss-paid-22650038
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drolaf
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from west yorkshire
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| Posted 24-02-2022 at 19:09
you would have thought that for £6 million they could have built a real hill?
The dream
https://osd.london/project/marble-arch-mound/
and the reality
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/marble-arch-mound-london-s-worst-attraction-dismantled-after-6-million-wasted/ar-AAUduI6?ocid=msedgntp
love the comment from 'hackney cyclist'
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sem
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from Bridgend,S.Wales
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| Posted 28-07-2022 at 23:51
When you think about it, maybe they could have made a real tourist attraction of it and made a fortune.
Voltaire wrote that the British needed to occasionally execute an admiral from time to time, in order to encourage the others. Substitute politician for admiral and I would quite happily pay eight quid to watch a few dance a gallows jig.
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