The RIBA Regent Street Windows Project returns for seventh year of innovative architectural shop window displays RIBA Regent Street Windows 2016 will launch on 5 September. Some of Regent Street’s leading retailers, including Liberty, Armani Exchange and Kate Spade New York, have collaborated with RIBA’s finest emerging and established RIBA Chartered Architects to create a series of stunning shop windows with an architectural twist. The series of installations is an annual showcase of new designs from some of London’s most creative architects. This year’s windows reflect the versatility and ingenuity of the architects in creating new and fresh designs that build on the history and vision of each brand. Visitors will be treated to displays which play on movement and materials; colour and texture; and heritage and story-telling. For the first time, the sequence of architectural installations extends beyond Regent Street to include participation from Liberty on Great Marlborough Street and the RIBA offices headquarters on Portland Place. Partnering with the London Design Festival and London Fashion Week, the project will create a public architecture exhibition seen by more than one million people each week.  The participating architects will have their installations on display from Monday 5th September for a three week period until Sunday, 25th September. The architects and retailers paired this year are: 7 For All Mankind with KSR Architects Armani Exchange with Matheson Whiteley Charles Tyrwhitt with Bureau de Change Kate Spade New York with Design Haus Liberty Kiehl’s with Piercy & Company x Electrolight KIKO MILANO with Aleksa Studio Liberty with Architecture Social Club Molton Brown with Knox Bhavan & Susie MacMurray RIBA, 76 Portland Place with CAN + Nina Shen Poblete Uniqlo with Projects Office RIBA London Region Director, Dian Small said: “The RIBA Regent Street Windows project has established itself as a showcase for some of London’s finest emerging architects. Each year the installations demonstrate the fluidity of contemporary architecture, with each pairing embracing innovative art and design practices. It’s a pleasure to see the participants collaborating with some of the world’s leading fashion and beauty brands and envisioning such striking displays on an alternative space and scale.” The project is run in partnership with the Regent Street Association and is sponsored by The Crown Estate. ENDS Notes to Editors: 1. For further information and press images contact Jessica Shiel, Project Manager: RIBA Windows jessica.shiel@riba.org 2. Follow #RIBAWindows on Twitter and Instagram to discover more about the project and associated events. 3. The RIBA Regent Street Windows Project is an initiative of RIBA’s London Region and Regent Street Association, London W1 and kindly supported by the Crown Estate. The project started in 2010 as part of the London Festival of Architecture and is now established as a stand-alone annual event.  4. The RIBA’s London Region represents some 12,000 members and over 1,000 chartered practices in the capital and aims to promote excellence in the profession and the value of good design through a range of projects that celebrate achievements, campaign for quality, develop skills, offer training, further education and create opportunities for those in the capital. The RIBA stand is open to all RIBA Chartered Practices.  5. The Royal Institute of British Architects (@RIBA) is a global professional membership body that serves its members and society in order to deliver better buildings and places, stronger communities and a sustainable environment. www.architecture.com 6. The RIBA is a registered charity and it relies on the generosity of individuals, companies, trusts and foundations to preserve its world-class collections, to maintain free public access to its exhibitions and develop a diverse and exciting public events programme.   Posted on Tuesday 6th September 2016 Source link

05 May 2016 | Herpreet Kaur Grewal The interviewee:  Peter Hawes, managing director of Norse Commercial Services The issue: Joint ventures between councils and private providers Last month, national FM and contract services group Norse Commercial Services launched a 10-year, £6.5 million-a-year joint venture with Havant Borough Council called Norse South East. The Havant venture is the latest in a long line of local authority partnerships that Norse has formed, including those with Newport City Council and Great Yarmouth Borough Council, which it says have contributed “significantly to the company’s growth”. What has been unique about Norse’s approach to Havant? Peter Hawes, MD of Norse Commercial Services, explains: “Havant has a high dependency on the leisure industry… which meant we had to be mindful of different income streams and different skill sets that some of the staff may have had. This is a beautiful part of the country and there is very high regard for environmental issues so it’s absolutely essential we understand the specific requirements of that location.” Street cleaning, refuse collection and grounds, maintenance tasks will be handled in much the same way from council to council, says Hawes. “The only thing is, generally there will be different requirements for different uses and that’s what we have to be careful with. For instance, we need to understand what the exact frequency of grass cutting may be and what standards are required to ensure that this is giving the authority the image that they want to portray… the service for each authority varies depending upon whether it is in a highly industrialised or a leisure area… the frequency of certain services and standards required helps us understand what exactly the partner wants us to achieve.” A strong business base Hawes told FM World that Norse is focusing on expanding in the country with a similar model to the one in Havant. “We have a strong base now on the South Coast and we will be looking at how we can grow the business from that base. We’ll be looking to secure new contracts and introduce new skills in order to win new work which perhaps the borough has not yet undertaken.” A joint venture essentially means a local authority becomes a company. “It’s a partnership of Norse and Havant Borough Council and we will be bidding for work and expanding the company as best we can. The authority is a shareholder in the new company… we are able to move the staffing to a company and with that comes more commercial freedom to develop the business in that area.” But, he says: “We don’t want this to be seen as a standalone private company, we want it to be seen as a company owned – in this case – by Havant which is delivering services in a more commercial way.” And the ambition of the Havant and Norse JV is broad.  “Some of our partnerships still retain the name of the authority we work with, like Medway Norse, Barnsley Norse and Newport Norse. Havant have decided they want to have broader ambitions in the South-East, so therefore they have been very clear to not directly have ‘Havant’ in the name [of the company] even though they are proud to be a part of [it].” Big ambitions And Norse is an ambitious company. Hawes says it is exploring the possibility of new work “throughout all of our activities whether it is care homes, asset management, professional services or facilities and environmental work that we do. There are huge opportunities in the public sector at the moment”. The company is exploring two Midlands joint ventures. Hawes said: “We have two potential JVs in the offing in the Midlands, but they will take place over the course of the year. These things have a long gestation period and we have to work through what the issues are with our potential customers, and they have to feel comfortable with us. So there is a degree of due diligence to be carried out.” Norse seems to have the expertise to make it work, given its work with other local authorities. Says Hawes: “We have a good process for doing this and we are pretty well experienced.”   Source link