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B of the Bang

2005 sculpturesBuildings and structures demolished in 2009Buildings and structures in ManchesterDemolished buildings and structures in ManchesterFormer buildings and structures in Manchester
Outdoor sculptures in EnglandSteel sculptures in EnglandThomas HeatherwickTourist attractions in ManchesterUse British English from January 2013
B of the Bang (landscape)
B of the Bang (landscape)

B of the Bang was a sculpture by Thomas Heatherwick next to the City of Manchester Stadium in Manchester, England, United Kingdom, which was commissioned to mark the 2002 Commonwealth Games; it was one of the tallest structures in Manchester and the tallest sculpture in the UK until the completion of Aspire in 2008. It was taller and leaned at a greater angle than the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The sculpture took its name from a quotation of British sprinter Linford Christie, in which he said that he started his races not merely at the "bang" of the starting pistol, but at "the B of the Bang". The sculpture was commissioned in 2003; construction overran and the official unveiling was delayed until 12 January 2005. Six days before the launch, the sculpture suffered the first of three visible structural problems as the tip of one of the spikes detached and fell to the ground. Legal action to repair the sculpture was started by Manchester City Council a year later, resulting in an out-of-court settlement totalling £1.7 million.In February 2009, Manchester City Council announced that the sculpture would be dismantled and placed in storage. Despite the promise of storage and potential reassembly, the core and legs of the sculpture were cut apart during removal. The core was sold for scrap in July 2012, with the 180 spikes reported to have been placed in storage for an undecided future use.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article B of the Bang (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

B of the Bang
Barking Street, Manchester Bradford

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Latitude Longitude
N 53.481944444444 ° E -2.1961111111111 °
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Etihad Campus

Barking Street
M40 7BT Manchester, Bradford
England, United Kingdom
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B of the Bang (landscape)
B of the Bang (landscape)
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City of Manchester Stadium
City of Manchester Stadium

The City of Manchester Stadium in Manchester, England, also known as the Etihad Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is the home of Premier League club Manchester City F.C., with a domestic football capacity of 53,400, making it the 6th-largest in England and tenth-largest in the United Kingdom.Built to host the 2002 Commonwealth Games, the stadium has since staged the 2008 UEFA Cup Final, England football internationals, rugby league matches, a boxing world title fight, the England rugby union team's final group match of the 2015 Rugby World Cup and summer music concerts during the football off-season. The stadium, originally proposed as an athletics arena in Manchester's bid for the 2000 Summer Olympics, was converted after the 2002 Commonwealth Games from a 38,000 capacity arena to a 48,000 seat football stadium at a cost to the city council of £22 million and to Manchester City of £20 million. Manchester City F.C. agreed to lease the stadium from Manchester City Council and moved there from Maine Road in the summer of 2003.The stadium was built by Laing Construction at a cost of £112 million and was designed and engineered by Arup, whose design incorporated a cable-stayed roof structure and supported entirely by twelve exterior masts and cables. The stadium design has received much praise and many accolades, including an award from the Royal Institute of British Architects in 2004 for its innovative inclusive building design and a special award in 2003 from the Institution of Structural Engineers for its unique structural design.In August 2015, a 7,000 seat third tier on the South Stand was completed, in time for the start of the 2015–16 football season. The expansion was designed to be in keeping with the existing roof design. A redevelopment programme of the existing North Stand is expected to commence in 2023 and completed by August 2025.

Manchester Velodrome
Manchester Velodrome

Manchester Velodrome is an indoor Olympic-standard cycle-racing track in Manchester, England, which opened in 1994. Part of the National Cycling Centre, the facility has been home to British Cycling since 1994, coinciding with the nations rise to track cycling dominance at World and Olympic level. The velodrome was also home to UCI ProTeam Ineos Grenadiers, formerly known as Team Sky between 2010 and 2019, a period when the team won 6 Tour de France, 2 Vuelta a Espana and 1 Giro d'Italia with Great Britain riders.The Manchester Velodrome has been cited as the major catalyst for Britain's successes in track and road cycling and has been described by Cycling Weekly as the "beating heart of British Cycling’s ascension to the top of world cycling".For 18 years from opening, it was the only indoor Olympic-standard track in the United Kingdom before the completion of the Lee Valley VeloPark for the 2012 Summer Olympics. It is one of the busiest velodromes in the world used by both professional cyclists and members of the public from 8am to 10pm.The venue hosted track cycling for the 2002 Commonwealth Games and forms part of the Sportcity complex, located adjacent to the City of Manchester Stadium, host stadium for the 2002 Games and home of Manchester City F.C. It has also hosted the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in 1996, 2000 and 2008, hosts regular meets of the Revolution track cycling series and now hosts Six-day racing. The National Indoor BMX Arena adjacent opened in 2011 and the Velodrome can be accessed from the Metrolink Velopark tram stop on the East Manchester Line.