Monday 26 June 2017

Summerland 1973 - Isle Of Man

Thursday, 23 September 2010


Summerland was opened on 25 May 1971. A climate-controlled building covering 3.5 acres (14,000 m2) on Douglas's waterfront, consisting of 50,000 sq ft (4,600 m2) of floor area at a cost of £ 2 million. Summerland was designed to accommodate up to 10,000 tourists and comprised a dance area, five floors of holiday games, restaurants and public bars. It was a 1960s concrete design incorporating advanced controlled internal climate, built with novel construction techniques using new plastic materials. The street frontage and part of the roof was clad in Oroglas, a transparent acrylic glass sheeting.

The Summerland disaster occurred when a fire spread through the Summerland leisure centre in Douglas on the Isle of Man on the night of 2 August 1973. 50 people were killed and 80 seriously injured.


3 comments:

  1. I never thought I'd see the word 'oroglass' again. Fascinating and truly tragic, thanks for posting.
    Reply
  2. The Isle of Man has an incendiary past:
    http://www.iomfire.com/bygone%20years.htm
    Reply
  3. I was a 9-year old on a caravan holiday in Whitby with my parents when this happened. I had nightmares about burning molten plastic (oroglass?) dripping into my hair.
    Reply

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