Competition for new UK OHLE gantry design

[59CosG95]

I went on a press trip with Orange in the 1990s to Cumbria where they installed the first cell site disguised as a tree. Shame the tree was some Canadian tree type that still stood out amongst all the native trees!

It was so wet and windy that besides our private jet nearly skidding off the runway before we even got there, we never really got to see it close up as it was so muddy.

If you could somehow make the gantries appear like trees, with a long connecting branch, it could possibly look quite nice, especially along the viaducts, but probably stupidly expensive and hard to do in a convincing manner.

There's another phone mast at the A9/M9 roundabout at Dunblane disguised as a Scots Pine-it worked quite well!

 

[jopsuk]

I know the one you mean, and I'd have to disagree...

 

[IKBrunel]

Viewed from a distance so the view of the horizon isn't impacted so much by the tree like cell masts. I've always thought they look a bit of a token gesture for planners, with not enough branches which are too short to be convincing close up. (sorry Jon).

I wood say that where you have rows of regularly spaced OHL poles at regular heights, it would be even harder to convincingly disguise them as trees, unless each one is a bit different. possible issues with arcing might also limit what you can do.

 

[edwin_m]

You'd probably have to add a lot of extra ones in between to make them look like the rows of poplars (?) seen along roads in France.

 

[Crossover]

The attached was the attempt at our uni campus at disguising a phone mast. The only evergreen thing around, too!

 

[Tiny Tim]

Beauty, as is often said, is in the eye of the beholder. Personally, I like to look at windfarms; I'm sure it's not everyone's cup of tea. When the first railways were built they were regarded as hideous by many. Today, lines such as the Settle & Carlisle are considered scenic. It's impossible to predict what the next generation will see as beautiful. Design OLE so it works. People will grow to like it.

 

[IKBrunel]

I would agree that modern wind turbines with tubular towers are quite elegant. I'd find it harder to say that about some of the early designs in the seventies which used lattice towers made from angle steel. The lattice towers also had higher rates of bird strike because there were lots of places for birds to perch.

so far we've drawn parallels between the design of OHLE and electricity pylons, cell masts and wind turbines, what's next?

 

[tadhatter]

The original article attempts to emphasise the issue by showing a signal gantry, which HS2 won't have at all?

The electrification gantry in the distance would have been much less eye-catching...

yes, i noticed that too! Nothing like trying to over emphasise your point too much that it loses credibility!

 

[tadhatter]

The original article attempts to emphasise the issue by showing a signal gantry, which HS2 won't have at all?

The electrification gantry in the distance would have been much less eye-catching...

yes, i noticed that too! Nothing like trying to over emphasise your point too much that it loses credibility!
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not that difficult to bend metal profiles into curves by running back and forth between 3 offset rollers a few times. As a % of the cost of electrification / new lines the extra machining cost is peanuts.

OHLE can look quite industrial. I think if a more elegant design can be used in National Parks, Areas of outstanding natural beauty then that will ease public concerns about electrification & new lines. Begin a democracy of sorts public acceptance is necessary consideration. Furthermore if architectural OHLE is innovated here, then it might be exportable.

Personally, i like the "industrial" look of OLE tha you describe. But each to their own I guess.