OCEANA

Owner Tony Mann generously showed us around the OCEANA site himself.

Peter had seen a show staged in this buildings complex next door to Swan Hunter and very much liked the ambience and potential of the interesting industrial buildings and proximity to the river.

The buildings were great and I especially liked the old sluice pools which made me think of Charlie's sewer home.

Some of the shallow ponds, with their rectangular fomality, looked like Japanese gardens.

An open warehouse area with a wall of opaque glass was also very visual.

The site is a more functional space than the somewhat constricting Bridge Tower.

It would make a great location for many films, but for me was perhaps too evocative of the city's maritime history. Among the boat like sheds and office blocks, with the staiths and jettys, one felt steeped in the history of ship building and the river. The only problem is GUTS is about Dobson and Grainger and the classical heart of the city, and the OCEANA site is about another part of the city's history.