Swan song

Two very random shots taken on a walk along the short stretch of canal towpath just beyond Salts Mill. There were more swans than I've seen in a very long time. This year's brood must have been very healthy and the cygnets kept safe from predators. 

Further along, they are continuing the process of demolishing HMRC's (the tax office's) old banking centre. They have trimmed all the foliage beside the railings so that you can now see the building in a way you couldn't before. What you can't see from my photo is the ditch alongside the towpath that prevented me from getting close up to the fence - so it's a poor photo but one that I'm posting just as a record of the demise of this once busy and significant building.

When it has been demolished (a long process due to the amount of equipment, electricals and asbestos in the fabric) plans have been approved to build a riverside village of 289 houses here, with some small commercial office space for flexible working and a café facing a new 'pocket park' - Saltaire Mark II you might say. See HERE for impressions of how it may look. 

As a postscript, I'm adding a couple of photos I took (on a different walk) from the other side of the river, where you can see the HMRC building from the back. From there, there is more evidence of the demolition actively happening. It won't be much fun for the people who live in the adjacent Victoria Mills apartments (to the left in the bottom photo), whilst all this work goes on. They have a construction site opposite too, where some retirement apartments are under construction. It won't be long before the area has completely transitioned from a business and industrial zone to a residential area.