Join the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in London this October half-term for a range of activities for all the family. All the learning events are inspired by the RIBA’s current exhibition ‘We all Live in the Office. A commission by artist Giles Round’ and are led by professional
Developer Peel Group has secured planning permission to double the size of its MediaCityUK estate in Salford. Above: The masterplan The £1bn extension is set to see construction of more than 1,400 new homes and 50,000 m2 of offices across 10 new buildings over the next 10 years. MediaCityUK is
Overall workload forecasts remain positive for practices of all sizes Public sector workload forecast falls with uncertainty about spending commitments ahead of the General Election Practices now employ more Part 1 and Part 2 students than 12 months ago The RIBA Future Trends Workload Index fell back
Creative decor is often less about how much you spend and more about the quality of your ideas. Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication after all. Wooden pallets—yes, the ones used for building materials, hauling groceries, and transporting bulk good—can be recycled, restored and repurposed for your home. From garden plants
The 6th of October is the deadline for the first round of loans that have been designed to support a range of local community Energy projects in the West of England. More than £128,000 has been put aside as funding for loans that are thought to help a range of
The private homebuilder, Strata has recorded end of year profits for the 1st July 2017. The company has already seen a double-digit growth for the second year in a row. Strata has delivered a total revenue of £128 million. The housebuilding company’s previous full financial year ended on the 31st
Pave Aways, the Midlands based building contractor has revealed that they have plans for an increase in turnover. The construction company has ambitiously set the target for a 25% increase in their already multi-million-pound turnover. It is thought that this increase will be connected to their plans to expand their
Hiab, one of the world’s leading providers of on-road load handling equipment, intelligent services and digitally connected solutions has announced the launch of their new Hiab HiConnect(™) platform. Hiab is a part of Cargotec, and is working on creating a range of innovative solutions for use in the load handling
Join the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in London this October half-term for a range of activities for all the family. All the learning events are inspired by the RIBA’s current exhibition ‘We all Live in the Office. A commission by artist Giles Round’ and are led by professional educators. Chose from Design Quest workshops for 6 to 10 year olds, a Design Day for 11 to 15 year olds, or the Skill Up workshops for 15 to 18 year olds; all happening between 24 and 28 October at 66 Portland Place, London, W1. DESIGN QUEST: FOR 6 TO 10 YEAR OLDS Our Design Quest workshops are a fun introduction to architecture. £35 (£20 – eligible for free school lunch). Online booking essential. • Design Quest: Office Mugs, Tuesday 25 October Paint and take home your own mug inspired by great architects and artists. • Design Quest: The 2016 Starling Prize, Wednesday 26 October Inspired by the annual RIBA Stirling Prize, build a home for an animal family. And the Starling Prize goes to…YOU! • Design Quest: Sew Cool, Thursday 27 October Try some architecturally inspired printing on fabric and stitch a cuddly version of your favourite building. • Design Quest: Wallpaper Wow, Friday 28 October Collage, print and stencil your own wallpaper before bringing it to life in a shadow puppet show. DESIGN DAY: FOR AGES 11 TO 15 Design Days take architectural design a step further. £35 (£20 – eligible for free school lunch). Online booking essential. • Design Day: Print Shop, Monday 24 October 2016 It’s the one-stop RIBA print shop! Use your favourite facades as inspiration to design and print your own tote bag to take home. • Design Day: Funky Facades, Thursday 27 October 2016 Is architecture art? Ponder as you glaze your own architectural masterpiece on a take-away tile. • Design Day: Architectural Mishmash, Friday 28 October 2016 Turn buildings inside-out as you mix and match interiors and exteriors. SKILL UP: FOR 15 TO 18 YEAR OLDS Designed to ‘Skill Up’ teenagers who are thinking about studying architecture or design. £35 (£20 – eligible for free school lunch). Online booking essential. • Skill Up: Photo Finish, Monday 24 October What’s in a picture? Explore architecture through the camera lens and glaze your favourite shot onto ceramics to take home. • Skill Up: Streetscape, Tuesday 25 October Explore how artists use a building as a blank canvas before creating your own artwork using street art techniques. • Skill Up: Abstract Architectural Mash Up, Wednesday 26 October Be inspired by the exhibition as you mix and match architectural styles and features in your own digital creation. Booking Information: Email: library.education@riba.org Tel: +44 (0)20 7307 3703 (phone line open Tuesday to Friday) W: www.architecture.com/whatson We Live in the Office – A Commission by Giles Round The Architecture Gallery, RIBA 22 September 2016 – 5 February 2017 This autumn the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) presents a new commission by multi-disciplinary artist Giles Round. Round was invited to explore the RIBA Collections, and through extensive research has created an exhibition for the Architecture Gallery that focuses our attention on one of the most familiar and unavoidable architectural features of the city: the façade. Inspired by the work of a wide-range of architects represented in the RIBA’s world-class architectural collections, Round explores the increasing tension between the static exterior and changing interior of the architecture around us. He highlights the aesthetic qualities of facades in their original conception, and the subsequent contemporary use and reuse of these buildings. Round also explores the ways in which we currently ‘collect’ and preserve facades, creating an archive of buildings in real space and time. Original works of iconic façades by Berthold Lubetkin, Venturi Scott Brown and Jane Drew feature in the exhibition alongside representation and re-appropriation of façades from other architectural periods with unique graphic qualities – from Greek Revival and Art Nouveau, to Modern and postmodern architecture. A key component of the exhibition is the transformation of the gallery to a production studio. Here, façades from a ‘stylebook’ compiled from RIBA’s Collections are applied to architectural sculptures that mimic the structure of buildings. Over the course of the exhibition period these will form an installation recognisable to visitors as an assembly of façades – a new city scape. The sculptures will be on sale in the gallery during the exhibition period. The exhibition is sponsored by Wedge Group Galvanising and is supported by Cockayne – Grants for the Arts and The London Community Foundation. The RIBA has worked closely with Wysing Arts Centre in the collaboration with Giles Round. Notes to editors: 1. For further information and installation images contact Nicola Osmond-Evans in the RIBA press office: nicola.osmond-evans@riba.org; 020 7307 3813. 2. Images from the RIBA Collections that have inspired aspects of the installation can be downloaded here: https://riba.box.com/s/vm9bmve0oyh75950a9swjbjweixw3wbv 3. The Architecture Gallery at RIBA is open from 10am – 5pm Monday to Sunday and until 8pm every Tuesday, free entrance. RIBA is at 66 Portland Place, London, W1B 1AD. Nearest tubes are Oxford Circus, Regent’s Park and Great Portland Street. The exhibition is part of a RIBA season of wide ranging events and workshops, designed for all ages and experience levels. For further information go to www.architecture.com/whatson 4. The Architecture Gallery opened in February 2014 in the RIBA’s Grade II* listed Art Deco HQ. Through regular, free exhibitions that explore the past, present and future of our built environment the gallery programme will help visitors discover and explore architecture. The gallery offers the opportunity for the RIBA to display its world class collections contained in the British Architectural Library. 5. About the exhibition sponsors: with nearly 150 years of history Wedge Group Galvanizing is the UK’s largest hot dip galvanizing organisation. They have 14 plants around the UK which are designed and equipped to set industry-leading standards for sustainability and low environmental impact. For further information go to: www.wedge-galv.co.uk 6. For further information about Cockayne – Grants for the Arts and The London Community Foundation go to: http://www.londoncf.org.uk/
Developer Peel Group has secured planning permission to double the size of its MediaCityUK estate in Salford. Above: The masterplan The £1bn extension is set to see construction of more than 1,400 new homes and 50,000 m2 of offices across 10 new buildings over the next 10 years. MediaCityUK is already home to the BBC, ITV, The Lowry, dock10 studios, apartments and hotels, restaurants, cafés and bars, the University of Salford, Salford City College and the UTC. Salford city mayor Paul Dennett said that this was the second phase of a 20-year plan to transform the former docklands. “Back in 2006, Salford City Council granted planning permission for 15.1 hectares of development. Phase one has successfully been completed and now we are moving towards the second phase which will see MediaCityUK double in size,” he said. “This phase will focus on creating welcoming neighbourhoods where people can live and work, socialise and enjoy events. It’s a very exciting development for Salford. With the University of Salford, Salford City College and the UTC now all based in MediaCityUK and training young people for the media and creative industries, we’re not only growing the buildings, we’re growing the people to work in them and the global digital media and communications industry. “This is all part of a major building boom in Salford which is bringing thousands of new homes and square metres of business accommodation to our city creating further jobs and opportunities on our doorstep for the people of Salford.” The phase two site, for which planning permission has now been granted extends across eight plots on the north eastern part of the site. Each plot has been designed by a different architect, with a sixth firm co-ordinating the overall layout. Among the plans are: The Arcade – retail/leisure and office space around a pedestrian arcade with office space above. Studio Square – office building and small park. Georgian Square – a public courtyard, a six-storey podium on top of which would be two blocks of flats of 14 and 25 storeys with residents terraces, and 18 three-storey live/work units and separate commercial office space. Market Square – a ‘village hall’ with seating for dining and square for markets and events. London Square – 14 three-storey town houses with 460 apartments on the upper floors, and gym, cinema room and shared office space. Northern Edge – a new gateway to MediaCityUK comprising three buildings with 632 apartments, six two-storey live/work units, office space, retail and leisure uses, a cycle hub and three multi-storey car parks. This article was published on 2 Sep 2016 (last updated on 2 Sep 2016). Source link
Overall workload forecasts remain positive for practices of all sizes Public sector workload forecast falls with uncertainty about spending commitments ahead of the General Election Practices now employ more Part 1 and Part 2 students than 12 months ago The RIBA Future Trends Workload Index fell back slightly this month, standing at +26 in February 2015 (compared with +29 in January 2015). Workload forecast balance figures remain positive in all UK nations and regions, with the Midlands and East Anglia (+43) leading the pack, closely followed by Wales and the West (+39). Small practices (1–10 staff) remain positive about the outlook for future workloads (with a balance figure of +21). Medium-sized practices (11–50 staff) and large-sized practices (51+ staff) are anticipating more growth in workloads over the next quarter, with balance figures of +69 and +50 respectively. In terms of different work sectors, the private housing sector workload forecast remains the most positive at +27 in February, though this is down from +33 in January. The commercial sector workload forecast also remains firmly in positive territory, rising to +15 in February 2015 (from +13 in January). The public sector workload forecast fell to +1 in February 2015 (down from +6 last month). Meanwhile, the community sector workload forecast remains stable at +5. The RIBA Future Trends Staffing Index stands at +9 in February 2015, falling from +14 in January 2015. Medium-sized practices are currently more confident about their ability to sustain higher staffing levels in the medium term (with a balance figure of +44) than either small or large practices. Practices reported that they are now employing 16% more Part 1 and Part 2 students than they were twelve months ago. 12% of respondents reported that they had personally been under-employed in the last month, and the spare capacity retained within the profession during the recession continues to reduce quite rapidly. RIBA Director of Practice Adrian Dobson said: “It is positive to see the nationwide recovery in workloads continuing. Practices of all sizes remain confident about future prospects for private housing and commercial work. The fall in the public sector forecast may reflect increased uncertainty about short and medium-term public sector capital spending commitments ahead of the forthcoming General Election. “Despite the recent sustained period of growth in workloads, practices remain cautious about increasing overall staffing levels too quickly. However, it is encouraging to see signs of practices employing more Part 1 and Part 2 students, and the situation for students seeking professional practice experience is much improved on recent years. “Overall, results continue to suggest growing demand for architects’ services. Nevertheless, there are widespread reports of intense fee competition in many sectors and profit margins remain tight for a large number of practices.” ENDS Notes to editors: 1. For further press information contact Callum Reilly in the RIBA Press Office: 020 7307 3757 callum.reilly@riba.org 2. The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) champions better buildings, communities and the environment through architecture and our members. 3. Completed by a mix of small, medium and large firms based on a geographically representative sample, the RIBA Future Trends Survey was launched in January 2009 to monitor business and employment trends affecting the architects’ profession. 4.The Future Trends Survey is carried out by the RIBA in partnership with the Fees Bureau. Results of the survey, including a full graphical analysis, are published each month at: http://www.architecture.com/RIBA/Professionalsupport/FutureTrendsSurvey.aspx 5. To participate in the RIBA Future Trends Survey, please contact the RIBA Practice Department on 020 7307 3749 or email practice@riba.org. The survey takes approximately five minutes to complete each month, and all returns are independently processed in strict confidence 6. The definition for the workload balance figure is the difference between those expecting more work and those expecting less. A negative figure means more respondents expect less work than those expecting more work. This figure is used to represent the RIBA Future Trends Workload Index, which for February 2015 was +26 7. The definition for the staffing balance figure is the difference between those expecting to employ more permanent staff in the next three months and those expecting to employ fewer. A negative figure means more respondents expect to employ fewer permanent staff. This figure is used to represent the RIBA Future Trends Staffing Index, which for February 2015 was +9 Posted on Thursday 26th March 2015 Source link
Creative decor is often less about how much you spend and more about the quality of your ideas. Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication after all. Wooden pallets—yes, the ones used for building materials, hauling groceries, and transporting bulk good—can be recycled, restored and repurposed for your home. From garden plants to bedroom furniture, these surprisingly versatile pieces of lumber can bring a unique and tasteful design to the interior and the exterior of your house. Desks and Tables We’ll start with perhaps the easiest thing to do with the pallets—stack them on the floor and you’ve got a table. Bolt the pallets together for something sturdy. If you want a more visually appealing table surface, consider covering the pallets with plywood board. Add wheels to the table bottom to prevent the rough pallet surface from scratching and scarring your floor. Couch and Bed It’s probably not too hard to visualize a stack of pallets as a table. However, it is a bit more difficult to see how pallets can form a functional couch or a bed. Worry not; you will need a mattress and cushions. It’s fairly simple: all you need is to push the pallets together to form a frame. Paint or stain the frame for added panache. For the bed, nail some pallets to the wall to form a fitting headboard. Rooms You can create impressive spaces from pallets. This will take significantly more time and effort than the beds and the tables but can be well worth it. Ever thought of having a pallet floor? The installation will perhaps not be much different from a conventional wood floor. You’ll have to spend on sanding and staining but this would be cancelled out by the low cost of obtaining the pallets. Use the pallet wood to panel walls as a rustic substitute for wallpaper. If you want to temporarily partition a room into distinct living or working spaces, nail upright pallets together to form a room divider. You can customize the divider with designs or colors. Shelves If you think about it, pallets are actually shelves that need just a little structural creative reorganization. Cut the pallet to the desired shelf height and use some of the resulting scrap wood as the base and the backing for your customized shelf. Set books, tax paperwork, old music records or plants on the shelf and your work is done. Fences Now that we have a pretty good idea how pallets can be used indoors, it’s time to take the adventure outdoors. Consider beautifying your backyard with a pallet fence. The simplest approach would be stick to the height of the pallets by bolting them together, digging a trench and filling it with concrete to support the new fence. Garden Plants You can deploy pallets to your garden without the need to rip them apart. Position the pallet as a vertically aligned stand-up planter. You can staple fabric on the back, bottom and sides of the planter before planting your herbs and flowers. This should suffice if you have a small garden. For larger backyards, you can create raised beds. This is achieved by cutting the top side of the pallets that you’ll then use to form the sides of the garden. Unless you are fortunate to work in a career where you can get pallets at nearly zero cost, pallet collection isn’t always easy. You could start by asking the manager of a local grocery, big box or hardware store if they have any to spare. If the pallets are meant for inside use, exercise caution when buying them. Used pallets have after all been exposed to bacteria, rodents, insects and the weather. Once you identify the ones that are in an acceptable state, wash them. Sand and smooth the pallets to get rid of potentially injurious rough edges, splinters and protruding nails. Image Source: Pixabay
The 6th of October is the deadline for the first round of loans that have been designed to support a range of local community Energy projects in the West of England. More than £128,000 has been put aside as funding for loans that are thought to help a range of small groups to set up clean energy projects. The loans are a part of the Bristol Community Energy Loan Fund that has been formed in order to help clean energy projects planned across the country. It has been possible to put the funding aside because of a grant that has been awarded by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. This department is being managed by Bristol City Council’s Energy Service working in partnership with the Centre for Sustainable Energy. The first round of loan funding was first opened at the start of September; however, this round will close on Friday the 6th October 2017. The Councilor Fi Hance is a Cabinet Member for Energy, Waste and Regulatory Services and believes that this Community Energy Loan Fund will allow a range of local groups to get a helping hand until they can support themselves. In the west of England, the essential component of the clean energy drive is the passion and ambition of residents. The residents in this region often volunteer in order to make sure that Bristol can be a more sustainable place to live. The load will help in the development stage of a project and has been designed to support things such as technical studies as well as planning applications, community engagements and financial planning costs. The development stage of a clean energy project is known for being the riskiest period. Therefore, the loan offered by Bristol Community Energy Loan Fund will offer the right amount of support through these stages. Projects that make it past this development stage will be required to pay the loan back at 6% interest. Any of the groups that don’t make it past this stage will not be expected to pay back the loan, with the 6% premium on the successful loans to account for the unsuccessful projects.
The private homebuilder, Strata has recorded end of year profits for the 1st July 2017. The company has already seen a double-digit growth for the second year in a row. Strata has delivered a total revenue of £128 million. The housebuilding company’s previous full financial year ended on the 31st December 2015. The figures recorded during this period saw the company turnover rise by 30%, with profit before tax on the construction of residential property sales jumped from £11.1 million to £20 million. During this period the company managed to complete 605 homes across 20 sites with an average selling price of £212,000 in 12 months. The growth of the company has been driven by the company acquiring a range of quality sites across a larger area across Yorkshire and the East Midlands. The development of quality schemes with house types that are suited for families and those who want to move up the property ladder. The larger developments, and houses designed as a step up the property ladder has led to an increase in the average selling price for the company. The expansion in the areas for developments has helped to boost the business’ operational margin. Strata has also used this expansion to make the most of the favourable economic conditions in order to expand their reach. The housing market in Yorkshire and the East Midlands is considered to be resilient, and offers opportunities to develop houses that will lead to profit. Strata also has a strong sustainable pipeline which consists of sustainable land and sites that have been negotiated on and contracted. This pipeline of stable future projects is also expected to improve the future growth of the company. The brand is expected to grow going forward with the help of a record forward selling position heading into the 2017/18 financial year. During next year, the company are expecting a 65% sales committed of the 700 house building plots forecast for this period.
Pave Aways, the Midlands based building contractor has revealed that they have plans for an increase in turnover. The construction company has ambitiously set the target for a 25% increase in their already multi-million-pound turnover. It is thought that this increase will be connected to their plans to expand their own headquarters. The building contractor works on projects across the Shropshire, Mid and North Wales area and is currently in the process of constructing an office extension at their headquarters in Knockin, close to Oswestery. This new extension has been valued at £200,000, but there will also be a further investment of £250,000 in to hiring new staff. This expansion should hopefully help the company to reach their target of £35 million turnover by 2025. More than 100 construction and administrative staff are employed by Pave Aways and the turnover for 2017 is expected to be around £28 million. This figure, if achieved will be £3 million higher than last year’s turnover. The company started as a civil engineering company in 1973 that focused primarily on groundworks, hard landscaping and the construction of paths, drives and roads. The company has since expanded into the building construction sector, with a management buyout taking place in 2011. At the time of the buyout, the business turnover was only £13 million. Now the building contractor has a £8.3 million new production facility in their portfolio, a project being carried out for an automotive manufacturer as well as a £4.6 million warehouse and production centre in Welshpool and a number of other large scale projects. The company have expanded over the years and has now covers a range of full building construction services, despite the simplicity of the name. However, the company has developed a strong reputation with their Pave Aways name, and will remain as the company carries out a range of sustainable growth strategies.
Hiab, one of the world’s leading providers of on-road load handling equipment, intelligent services and digitally connected solutions has announced the launch of their new Hiab HiConnect(™) platform. Hiab is a part of Cargotec, and is working on creating a range of innovative solutions for use in the load handling industry. This new HiConnect platform will be made available by Hiab as a connected device for its customers and will enhance the productivity of Hiab equipment in their client’s fleet. Customers that use this newly released platform will have access to real-time insights into their equipment utilisation, operation and condition. With the information available through this platform, Hiab customers will be able to actively make decisions that could reduce downtime and optimise their performance. At the moment, customers have access to limited manual-input insights for their equipment with a lack of information available in regards to utilisation rate, condition and operation. HiConnect will offer the breakdown of information for their equipment through the use of web-based dashboards with clear and simple overviews that can offer a status monitoring, service planning and help to improve the operation of each unit and each operator. HiConnect has been developed in collaboration with a number of selected customers with multi-market pilots that have been tested since 2015. The platform offers a range of different tiers and business critical insights that can be tailored for specific needs and fleet size. The use of modern technology has changed the way that businesses operate and the combination of Hiab ProCareTM contract and HiConnect Hiab customers will be able to benefit from increased efficiency, productivity and safety across their business processes. The business is working on making sure that all Hiab equipment is connected by 2018 in a move that will deepen customer relationships with customers as well as develop a number of new ways of adding value to their business.
