The chairman of Leeds established Watson Batty Architects has announced that he will be reducing his role and stake in the business with effect from October. Paul Ryan, who has been a director of the 41-year-old firm for 23 years and is known for his work for Royal Mail, is to relinquish his 50% shareholding in Watson Batty as he approaches retirement. He will hand over the baton to the four remaining equity directors Peter White, Andrew Grindrod, Richard Merrills and Mark Sidding but will still remain involved with the business in a consultancy role. During the process Watson Batty Architects will allocate equity shareholding to seven other members of the team as a part of its succession strategy and commitment to broaden ownership with its future generation. Peter White, Managing Director at Watson Batty Architects said, “Paul has been a fantastic leader for the business and a great inspiration to our team for many years.  He has been instrumental in taking Watson Batty from a £850k turnover Yorkshire business to become a UK leading practice that employs 50 people nationwide working for many leading brands. Last year we celebrated our 40th anniversary with a re brand and plans to increase turnover to over £4.0m with a five year plan. We are currently on target to achieve that with year on year growth. We would like to thank Paul for his tireless commitment and wish him the very best transition into retirement.  We are pleased that he is able to maintain a consultant role and assist in concluding the graduation of our talented team into management roles.” Watson Batty continues to invest heavily in developing its expertise and technological capabilities. The future focused business offers architectural, interior design, and principal designer services in addition to master planning solutions for all sectors and is credited for a number of major public and private sector projects including schools, universities, leisure centres, distribution facilities, residential developments and transport hubs. It’s increasingly broad client base continues to include Royal Mail and Wm Morrison Supermarkets, both of which have been retained clients for decades. During its 41 years Watson Batty has created over 1 million sq ft of retail space across 19 stores for Wm Morrison Supermarkets, delivered 3.2 million sq ft in mail centres for Royal Mail, designed 4,000 new homes and supported 20,000 new school places in the UK. It is currently working on a number of significant projects across a varied range of sectors including Wynyard Primary School, Rathbones Bakery facility for Wm Morrison, Crag Road and Kearns Village residential developments for Skipton Properties and the new passenger lounge extension at Leeds Bradford Airport For further details, visit: www.watsonbatty.com https://twitter.com/Watsonbatty

As we continue to live longer, our needs become more sophisticated as we reach old age. What this means, is that care homes need to use greater amounts of, and more intelligent, assistive technologies. This allows us to look forward at quite an early stage. We need care homes and their staff to create a supportable living environment for those who need the appropriate care from them, as patients can require everyday supervision. Emphasise quality Research has suggested that by 2040, private and social care homes will highlight quality within their ethos. This is because it has been suggested that this strategy has the potential for people to ‘live healthier and longer lives’, as Jane Ashcroft suggested in the Silver Chic report in the future of care homes. Care home design will lead with quality as housing will be applied on a turntable – this will allow the residents to be exposed to sunlight for longer periods of time than they currently are. As well as this, connectivity will also be a priority to help combat loneliness. To do this, care villages will use small bridges intersecting various gardens so that residents will closer to both their natural environment and other residents within the community. Technology is changing how we run our care homes. As technology is becoming more advanced in a modern society, it is having a great impact on how our care homes continue to run. Technology is continuously helping care home staff maintain quality care for their patients which overall allows the patients to live healthy and happy lives. Care homes are applying utilise sensors to the rooms within the building, and this is beneficial to everyone who is a part of that community because this can alert staff members if a patient has fallen. Staff members will be able to go and help the patient straight away which will mean they will not be left as long as they might have been if there were no alerting systems. This will help those living with dementia as clusters within buildings can be coloured variously with different lighting so that they are able to recognise their own living quarters. These types of technologies then, are specifically designed to ensure patient comfort, and help to guarantee their safety while living in care. Care with greater independence Independence can feel lost once someone has moved into the care system, technologies in the future will help enable those who have varied care requirements live life in a more self-sufficient way. Certain pieces of technology are able to monitor steps and the distance covered, as well as a patient’s heart rate. In the future, they will help to monitor fluid retention and respiratory rates, helping to lower hospital admissions and allowing patients to understand their own symptoms more effectively before they require medical assistance. Although due to lack of government funding for care homes in the UK, Royal Blind who specialise in care homes for the blind and care homes in Paisley can assess how care homes will be run in years to come, but they will also have the ability to evaluate the technologies that will change the way people are cared for. Robotics Calming down dementia suffers who unfortunately must deal with a great amount of stress can be helped. By using robotic pets that can respond to human touch and respond in intelligent way. In the future, robots can help with general tasks such as getting patients in and out of bed. Whilst wearable robotic suits will be used to help sufferers from arthritis walk and stand, and they will also help those with severe mobility problems move around more efficiently. There will also be robotically controlled curtains with a voice commanding system that will help control the room lights. Other devices will be used to help those who are blind and have visual impairments. The future of care homes is looking more hopeful. The technologies that are already being utilised, and the systems that are being proposed, will help patients lead more independent and comfortable lives, so that they can live a happier and healthier life for longer.  

With the property market on an incline, This is Money has revealed that 35% of UK residents are having to opt for a home that is in need of renovating in order to be able to afford to get themselves onto the property ladder. Per their data, the: Average UK house price (as of Jan 2016) is £196,829. Average cost of property that needs work is £152,792. Average cost of renovation is £33,039. The cost of buying a home and renovating it themselves is £185,831, resulting in a saving of £10,998. But are we all saving money by doing this? The survey also revealed that 10% of buyers end up living in the home before the project is complete, and 45% end up exceeding their original budget. So, it is worth it? Bedroom furniture specialists Oldrids & Downtown have delved into some research surrounding home improvement to help you make an informed decision when it comes to making your next purchase. Locations Further research carried out by Barbour ABI in Home Improvers of Great Britain 2016 was able to identify the most – and least – likely locations in the UK to carry out a home improvement project. Most likely districts for home improvement Kensington and Chelsea Westminster Uttlesford Hammersmith and Fulham South Bucks Least likely districts for home improvement Blackpool Stoke on Trent West Dunbartonshire Redditch Glasgow The factors that influence price… A renovation can be a huge project to take on so we recommend that you take into consideration all the factors that can influence the cost of the project. The size and style of the home The size of the property can influence the cost of renovation. The larger the property, the more likely you are to spend more. This is because you have more floor space to conquer and potentially more storeys. You might even need to rent a self storage in Chelsea, Kensington or wherever your district is, to store your belongings during the renovation. The postcode of the home Your postcode can affect the price of multiple factors when buying a home, most often home insurance and house prices, but it can also influence the cost of a renovation project. Other features of the home As aforementioned, the size of the property can impact the cost of the project, so we advise you to take into consideration the number of bedrooms, bathrooms and garages the property has when purchasing. Homebuilding & Renovating has a calculator to give a guide to the cost. Estimated cost of the project A renovation project seems like a daunting task to take on but if you break it down into smaller tasks, you can tackle them individually and being able to calculate the cost of the project along the way. We recommend that you use this checklist as a quick calculation of what the average renovation project can cost. However, remember that the size, style and postcode can influence the cost a great deal. Task Estimated cost on average 3-bed home* Adding a bathroom £2,500 Adding a kitchen £4,500 Adding central heating £5,000 Removing damp £2,000 Removing dry rot £1,000 Fixing collapsing ceilings (related to damp) £500 per room Plastering £3,000 Replacing the roof £3,000 Replacing roof tiles £200 Replacing drains £800 Replacing windows £500 Replacing doors £700 Wiring £3,000 *Estimate supplied by Homebuilding & Renovating Key home improvement trends In further published research, Bathrooms 365 stated that new building projects by the government has created more opportunities within the home improvement industry. This is a relief to the market following a difficult time when 60 B&Q stores were forecasted to close, but now the interest in the market has increased, as has the sales now showing a healthy progression. The study noted key trends in home improvement and renovation: The motive of renovation is still profit by increasing the home’s value Home improvement is still desirable, but homeowners have to save Desire for an increased number of bathrooms in the home Improvement to the design of the bathroom Improvement of layout and features to be more environmentally conscious   Sources http://bcc.homebuilding.co.uk/#slide=naming http://www.propertyandbuildingdirectory.co.uk/2016/02/05/the-changing-home-improvement-market-a-leading-online-retailer-shares-its-insight-on-all-the-key-trends/ http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/mortgageshome/article-3451252/Brits-pile-renovation-project-homes-s-afford-buy-live-building-site.html http://www.barbour-abi.com/zones/HomeImproversReportMarch2016.pdf