Friday, July 12, 2019 10:31:11 AM
Jamis, I believe that the recent photo is of the Common Facility Center building that is being built by AMTRON as part of the Tech City infrastructure.
Here is why:
Here is the original Master Plan for the Tech City site. Note the “H-shaped” Common Facility Center building in the Northeast corner and the numbering of the building plots.
Originally, I concluded that the rising steel shown in this March 2019 Google photo:
was for the Nano Factory.
This was based on this Nov. 2018 AMTRON photo and caption:
The metal framework became the “blue roof” building between plots 10 & 21 so they were walking in plots 11 & 20 and I incorrectly concluded that the Nano Factory was located on plots 11 & 20.
However, by then looking at the Google Earth aerial views of Tech City from Nov. and Dec. 2018 and state of the foundation work at that time, it seemed unlikely that this was the Nano Factory that had the foundation stone laid in mid Jan. 2019. Did they get started early? Not clear.
So I reviewed the foundation stone video from January to try to further verify the location of the nano factory and it appeared that the blessing and tree planting ceremonies were held on plots 7 & 6.
Then while reviewing other Google photos, I noticed that the large banner at the SWIFT Centre foundation stone ceremony in August 2018, had a revised Tech City Master Plan:
What this shows is that the Common Facility Center Building that AMTRON was suppose to build in the Northeast corner of the site per the original Tech City Approval Plan, was relocated to plots 11 & 20.
So this was “good news” since the aerial photos have shown little construction progress in the Northeast corner at the location that AMTRON was suppose to have completed the Common Facility building by January 2019. So they are behind schedule, but at least we can now see that the steel structure of the Common building was going up in the March 2019 Google photo.
Now new Google photos in July show that the steel/concrete framing of the Northern half of the Common building includes the ground floor and floors 1&2. The southern half includes the ground and the 1st floor. The building is specified as 5 stories so the framing is about half complete. Not what I would call fast-track.
The “bad news” is that the progress on the Nano Factory is not as far along as hoped, but as confirmed in the June 13 PR:
and
My current conclusions:
* Common Facility Center building will be located on plots 11 & 20 (two foundations with narrow connection between) per the update Master Plan. Each of the foundations are about 14,000 sq ft (using Google Earth measuring tool), or 28,000 sq ft total. Therefore, a five-story building with this foundation would have 140,000 sq ft of space. The Common Facility Center building has been described as a 140,000 sq ft building.
* The Water Feature has been greatly expanded to include plots 1, 2 & 3 (raised round feature in plot 1) which is consistent with the August 2018 Swift Centre foundation stone video.
* Nano Factory will be on plots 7 & 6 based on my review of Jan. foundation stone video (look at the features in the background of the various ceremonies) and that this area was excavated white sand in Jan. 11 aerial photo, which is consistent with the Jan. foundation stone video.
*SWIFT Centre building announced in August 2018 appears to be located on plots 41 & 40 (ghosted outline of building?).
* Plots 16, 17, 26 & 27 slightly shaded – unknown.
* Not sure what the purpose of the small building next to the Tech City Camp Office is or who is building it. Can't read the Master Plan map in this area.
I estimate that the footprint is about 1300 sq ft and it looks like 4-5 stories high so maybe 65,000 sq ft. Lots of glass so it does not look like manufacturing space to me.
* Here is my annotated view of the layout of Tech City on Google Earth.
What I find most disappointing is that none of the July Google photos seem to include the area of Plots 7 & 6, which is where I believe the Nano factory will be.
Here is why:
Here is the original Master Plan for the Tech City site. Note the “H-shaped” Common Facility Center building in the Northeast corner and the numbering of the building plots.
Originally, I concluded that the rising steel shown in this March 2019 Google photo:
was for the Nano Factory.
This was based on this Nov. 2018 AMTRON photo and caption:
The metal framework became the “blue roof” building between plots 10 & 21 so they were walking in plots 11 & 20 and I incorrectly concluded that the Nano Factory was located on plots 11 & 20.
However, by then looking at the Google Earth aerial views of Tech City from Nov. and Dec. 2018 and state of the foundation work at that time, it seemed unlikely that this was the Nano Factory that had the foundation stone laid in mid Jan. 2019. Did they get started early? Not clear.
So I reviewed the foundation stone video from January to try to further verify the location of the nano factory and it appeared that the blessing and tree planting ceremonies were held on plots 7 & 6.
Then while reviewing other Google photos, I noticed that the large banner at the SWIFT Centre foundation stone ceremony in August 2018, had a revised Tech City Master Plan:
What this shows is that the Common Facility Center Building that AMTRON was suppose to build in the Northeast corner of the site per the original Tech City Approval Plan, was relocated to plots 11 & 20.
So this was “good news” since the aerial photos have shown little construction progress in the Northeast corner at the location that AMTRON was suppose to have completed the Common Facility building by January 2019. So they are behind schedule, but at least we can now see that the steel structure of the Common building was going up in the March 2019 Google photo.
Now new Google photos in July show that the steel/concrete framing of the Northern half of the Common building includes the ground floor and floors 1&2. The southern half includes the ground and the 1st floor. The building is specified as 5 stories so the framing is about half complete. Not what I would call fast-track.
The “bad news” is that the progress on the Nano Factory is not as far along as hoped, but as confirmed in the June 13 PR:
and
My current conclusions:
* Common Facility Center building will be located on plots 11 & 20 (two foundations with narrow connection between) per the update Master Plan. Each of the foundations are about 14,000 sq ft (using Google Earth measuring tool), or 28,000 sq ft total. Therefore, a five-story building with this foundation would have 140,000 sq ft of space. The Common Facility Center building has been described as a 140,000 sq ft building.
* The Water Feature has been greatly expanded to include plots 1, 2 & 3 (raised round feature in plot 1) which is consistent with the August 2018 Swift Centre foundation stone video.
* Nano Factory will be on plots 7 & 6 based on my review of Jan. foundation stone video (look at the features in the background of the various ceremonies) and that this area was excavated white sand in Jan. 11 aerial photo, which is consistent with the Jan. foundation stone video.
*SWIFT Centre building announced in August 2018 appears to be located on plots 41 & 40 (ghosted outline of building?).
* Plots 16, 17, 26 & 27 slightly shaded – unknown.
* Not sure what the purpose of the small building next to the Tech City Camp Office is or who is building it. Can't read the Master Plan map in this area.
I estimate that the footprint is about 1300 sq ft and it looks like 4-5 stories high so maybe 65,000 sq ft. Lots of glass so it does not look like manufacturing space to me.
* Here is my annotated view of the layout of Tech City on Google Earth.
What I find most disappointing is that none of the July Google photos seem to include the area of Plots 7 & 6, which is where I believe the Nano factory will be.
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