Focus Consultants has been named project manager for the second phase of the Trent Basin development in Nottingham after being project manager, energy and sustainability advisor, and employer’s agent for phase one completed in 2016 with 45 low energy homes. The team will work together with builders from Willmott Dixon
Last year it was announced that the HLF had set aside a £2.8m grant for the development of a brand new centre of excellence for the BHI. The centre, originally imaged to provide much needed training for the future generation of clock and watchmakers in the UK, has now seen
BDC 319 : Aug 2024
Focus Consultants has been named project manager for the second phase of the Trent Basin development in Nottingham after being project manager, energy and sustainability advisor, and employer’s agent for phase one completed in 2016 with 45 low energy homes. The team will work together with builders from Willmott Dixon and create 31 more homes. The second phase aims to build 31 properties of a mix of two, three, and four bedroom houses along with two bedroom maisonettes by 2019. After the entire £100 million residential development will be finished, the scheme would add 500 low energy homes in the Waterside Regeneration area beside the River Trent in Nottingham. “As a company with specialists in low energy construction and development, Focus is very pleased to be playing key roles in this scheme. Almost all the properties built in phase one have been sold or reserved, and we are looking forward to working on phase two to bring additional low-energy, low-carbon homes onto the residential market in Nottingham,” said Keith Butler, partner at Focus Consultants. Blueprint, the award winning Nottingham developer with high green energy credentials, has created Trent Basin, which will contain Europe’s largest community battery (2MWh), solar photovoltaics that will generate, store and distribute energy throughout the entire neighbourhood, and a unique energy company for residents. The project has been funded by Innovate UK. “There’s already a commitment to low energy living shared among the residents, with many of them embracing electric cars, car-sharing and cycling to work. We plan to install additional electric car charging points at Trent Basin and are looking forward to the completion of Nottingham’s first Eco Expressway along Daleside Road which will complement our ambitions for the community by giving buses, bikes and electric vehicles priority along one of Nottingham’s busiest routes,” said Nick Ebbs, Chief Executive at Blueprint. Focus Consultants is based in Nottingham and it provides a range of services to the property and construction industry such as sustainable development support, project management, building surveying and quantity surveying.
Last year it was announced that the HLF had set aside a £2.8m grant for the development of a brand new centre of excellence for the BHI. The centre, originally imaged to provide much needed training for the future generation of clock and watchmakers in the UK, has now seen a team of leading experts come together to “get the ball rolling” and “spearhead” the project for the brand new Centre for Horology. The scheme itself is known as “Saving Time” and serves as phase one of the £8.5m mission plan from Focus Consultants to bring the project to the site. To begin with moving the project forward, the mentioned team was appointed to pull together a fully-costed proposal for the scheme, pursue with application for planning permission, and also pursue a second-round application with the HLF as preamble to the release of the aforementioned grant. As for the team itself, the BHI chose Focus Consultants as project manager, quantity surveyor and bid planner, with Guy Taylor Associates then appointed for the remit of architecture, William Saunders for the civil and structural engineering, and SVM for mechanical and electrical; effectively, bringing together a wealth of expertise all under one roof. In addition to these parties, a number of other consultants and design agencies have also been included to further enhance the level of expertise and capacity in the team. Of course, the appointment of the expert team has been highlighted as a key step in bringing the ambitions of the project into reality, as stated by the BHL’s Chief Executive Officer, Dudley Giles, who went onto say that works on the project are now in, “Full swing.” At the same time, the appointment also serves as the next step towards receiving the HLF grant which is essential to the project’s completion.
