Peabody has withdrawn its plans to move MoS into a 53,000 sq ft noise-proof basement in its Borough Triangle, SE1, site. The fallout emerged in documents made public on Southwark Council’s website. The MoS said that after months of “radio silence”, “incompetent” Peabody had said the nightclub was no longer part of the scheme. “The reason given by Peabody was, in the Ministry of Sound’s opinion, pathetic – something to do with acoustic results,” said the club. Peabody said: “Technical constraints and changes in our operating environment have, regrettably, combined and it is no longer viable, prudent or fitting for Peabody to include Ministry of Sound in this scheme.” The charity blamed last year’s reduction to social housing rent, which it said would leave it about £6m worse off, and costly acoustic modelling. The Triangle would have also housed Peabody’s new headquarters and high-density housing, as well as freeing up the empty club site for more development. It is the second time MoS has been drawn into a bitter planning battle. In 2013, former London mayor Boris Johnson had to use his planning powers to progress the redevelopment of Eileen House, SE1. That battle was led by the nightclub, which wanted to stop the residential development for fear of noise complaints from tenants. All the content from this weekís magazine, including this article, is available in the new app. Source link

Book Course HSL is to run a 1 day course on Hazardous Area Classification. 9 June 2016 Introduction The Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations (DSEAR) require that areas where accidental releases of dangerous substances could occur are identified and classified according to the likelihood of the formation of a flammable atmosphere. Within classified areas sources of ignition should be controlled. This course is designed to provide delegates with the knowledge to carry out straightforward hazardous area classification in accordance with commonly used standards or to act as an intelligent customer when contracting others to deliver this role. The course covers Who should attend This course is suitable for all those who may be asked to carry out hazardous area classification as part of a DSEAR assessment including process safety and electrical engineers and health and safety practitioners. Venue The course will be run at the HSL laboratory in the spa town of Buxton. Buxton is in the heart of the Peak District and has good links to mainline train stations and Manchester International Airport. Details of hotels in the Buxton area can be found at www.visitbuxton.co.uk Cost The cost of the course is £495 per person (includes course notes, lunch and refreshments). Book Course Please note the invoice option is not available within 4 weeks of the course date, or for overseas customers. For further dates and additional information email: training@hsl.gsi.gov.uk or contact the Training & Conferences Unit at HSL directly on +44 (0)1298 218806. Back to Health & Safety Training Courses Back to the top Source link

Images:  https://app.box.com/s/j285txnerbxypxauof9v  The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has this evening (Thursday 16 October) awarded House No 7 by Denizen Works the 2014 RIBA Stephen Lawrence Prize. The annual award recognises fresh architectural talent and smaller construction budgets. The considerately playful House No 7 on the Isle of Tiree in the Inner Hebrides is the restoration and extension of a B-listed Tiree black-house crofter’s cottage in a state of disrepair, into a contemporary family home and guest house united by a central glass atrium.   Speaking about House No 7, Stephen Lawrence Prize founder Marco Goldschmied said: ‘House No 7 hails from a rich British tradition of buildings which are defined by the location of site and the traditional methods of vernacular construction. The rebuilt cottage and new living spaces cleverly wrap to create an intimate daylight space at its core. The result is an inventive play on typology; the small cluster of different components creates a new identity while sitting comfortably in the landscape amongst other small traditional buildings. It’s an intelligent and witty response to the functional and logistical challenges of location, orientation and isolation and worthy of the 2014 RIBA Stephen Lawrence Prize.’ The judges for the 2014 Stephen Lawrence Prize were Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon, Doreen Lawrence CBE the mother of Stephen Lawrence, Marco Goldschmied, RIBA Past President and Founder of the Marco Goldschmied Foundation, which established the RIBA Stephen Lawrence Prize in 1998, Anthony Boulanger, Partner at AY Architects, winners of the 2013 Stephen Lawrence Prize and Joe Morris, Director at Duggan Morris Architects, winners of the Prize in 2012.  The RIBA Stephen Lawrence Prize sponsored by the Marco Goldschmied Foundation, rewards the best examples of projects that have a construction budget of less than £1 million. The prize, set up in memory of the teenager who was setting out on the road to becoming an architect when he was murdered in 1993, is intended to encourage fresh talent working with smaller budgets. The Architects’ Journal is media partner for the RIBA awards, including the Stephen Lawrence Prize, and professional media partner for the RIBA Stirling Prize. ENDS Notes to editors For further press information please contact Howard Crosskey in the RIBA Press Office howard.crosskey@riba.org or 020 7307 3761 View and download images of House No 7 here: https://app.box.com/s/j285txnerbxypxauof9v Previous winners of the Stephen Lawrence Prize include Slip House Brixton by Carl Turner Architects (2013), Kings Grove by Duggan Morris Architects (2012); St Patrick’s Primary School Library and Music Room by Coffey Architects (2011); Artist’s House by Gumuchdjian Architects (2010); El Ray by Simon Conder Associates (2009); Sackler Crossing by John Pawson (2008); Wooda by David Sheppard Architects (2007) and Wrap House by Alison Brooks Architects (2006). The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) champions better buildings, communities and the environment through architecture and our members. Visit www.Architecture.com and follow us on Twitter. For more information on The Architects’ Journal visit www.architectsjournal.co.uk The judges citations and image links for House No 7 follows: House no 7, Isle of Tiree, Denizen Works Images:  https://app.box.com/s/j285txnerbxypxauof9v This restoration and extension of a ruined, B-listed, Tiree black-house effectively provides two houses within a single curtilage. The extensions follow the spirit of local agricultural buildings in their materials, roof forms and particularly in the use of corrugated cladding. The tradition of reconstructing Hebridean black-houses with black tarred roofing, rather than their original thatched roofs (held down by stone weighted netting), is sufficiently long established to have become an alternative local vernacular. This approach, allied to the utilitarian agricultural appearance of the extensions, creates an external form that is both contextual and appropriate.  Set in the southern coat of the island, House no. 7 enjoys views of Duin Bay to the south, set within a typical Tiree undulating machair, punctuated by other traditional housing. Without any natural shelter from the wind, the house hunkers down within its exposed setting. However, the interior is designed to be light, bright, welcoming and cosy, in contrast with the robust forms of the exterior. Extensive use of timber, alongside the exposed natural stone, enhances the perceived warmth of the interior while heating is provided through an air-source heat pump. Internal circulation and the connection between the two discreet living spaces is provided by a glass-roofed corridor which again enhances light to the interior, contributing to the dual character of this extraordinary development as a clever play on the traditional in the exterior and a dwelling full of delight within.  The quality of this internal space is such that it is difficult to express in words, or indeed, show in photographs, its impact in three dimensions.  It is truly inspiring, with the quality of the detailing adding to the sense of pleasure it creates, and indeed inspiring a reassessment of the quality of thought behind the design. What is particularly noteworthy about this entry is the quality of the detailing; the way in which materials have been selected and their relationship to each other.  This house is notable for the tactile pleasure which is invoked by every simple activity, even just opening a door.  It is full of thoughtful playfulness.   Posted on Thursday 16th October 2014 Source link

Morgan Sindall has returned to profit in the first half of 2016, with the company reporting a profit of £15.4 million before tax for the first six months of the year ad all divisions saw an upturn in performance. At an operating level, the £25 million loss in the first half of last year has been transformed into a £17.5 million profit this year. In the first half of last year, the company wrote off £40 million for historic losses on the Faslane naval base project in Scotland, which pushed it into a loss of £27.2 million before tax for the period. However, this year the company is very much out of the red, although a further £700,000 exceptional charge was logged against a second old contract that transferred as part of the acquisition of the design and project services division of Amec in 2007, which drew a line under the affair. On the whole, the firm’s Construction & Infrastructure division continued to recover, with a £3.2 million adjusted operating profit (£0.3 million in 2015) on revenue down 2% to £612 million, which gives an operating margin of 0.5%. The company’s Chief Executive, John Morgan, commented that the group has delivered a strong growth in profit for the first half of the year, with a reduced average net debt and improved cash situation throughout the period. Morgan added: “All divisions have contributed, demonstrating the strategic and operational progress made across the Group over the last few years. “The EU referendum result has introduced some uncertainty into the markets in which we operate and it’s still too early to determine what the potential impact on the group will be in the medium and longer term.” Meanwhile, the company is now looking for a new chairman after Adrian Martin announced that he intends to stand down by the end of this year.

One of the UK’s biggest ductwork contractors and fabricators, Galloway Group, has fallen into administration. The firm has a workforce of almost 200 and just 33 of these will be retained in order to wind the business down and continue to trade the DuctMate subsidiary, which has been put up for sale by administrators from Ernst & Young. The specialist engineering and metal fabricator has a £23 million turnover, with its head office functions split between Dewsbury in West Yorkshire and Dundee. Over the last few years, the group has worked on some of the most iconic building projects in the UK, including the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome in Glasgow, The Millennium Dome and the British Museum in London. The company started life trading as Tinsmiths in Dundee in 1872 and in 2008 it was bought out by a management of five executives, led by Managing Director Jim Mathieson. However, the company struggled with mounting debts and its final salary pension scheme. A statement from the company board read: “The business has been under considerable pressure for a number of years. Demand in our traditional construction market has been very weak since 2012 and margins have been significantly reduced. “In the recent past, the collapse of the oil and gas sector has applied further pressure. This has meant that the business has been loss making and under cash pressure.” It added that the firm’s directors have been working tirelessly to prevent insolvency through a series of schemes, which included raising finance, modernising the business offering and cost cutting. The company also said that its attempts to raise funds were made more difficult by the high debt burden on the business from the final salary pension scheme and previous borrowings. The statement concluded by stating: “This is a very sad day for a long-established Dundee company and our thoughts and best wishes are with the employees and creditors of the business.”