Week Ending May 12th 2012

Site visit on Tuesday to view on going works for the re-building of a mid-terraced house with a basement beneath whilst retaining the front façade and, in theory the houses either side. Unfortunately, sloppy propping works by the contractor exacerbated by the appaling weather has resulted in movement to one of the neighbouring houses. Once again the Party Wall surveyors are having a field day but I suppose that is the purpose of their job.

Temporary & final propping works

Spent yesterday looking for an additional office in London and think we will go for space in No 1 PoultryLane EC2R. Easy access from Liverpool St and good facilities. A bit futuristic and somehow reminds me of the Key Keepers building in Ghostbusters but nice all the same!

Drawings arrived for new project in West Hampstead where I have convinced the client that we can build a 4m deep basement under the house without knocking it down or using a piled system. At the time I even convinced myself but now the drawings have arrived I am now wondering how! Nevertheless, I have drawn the schematics up in Sketchup and  (in theory) I am sure it can be done and Joel Snitzer at BSD London has had the gauntlet thrown down.

Preliminary underpinning concept for new basement

Small project for my brother-in-law who runs Stoke Sauces and wants to extend his storage shed which used to be used for Tank Building. It also turns out that he is related to Isambard Kingdom Brunel which, by a little stretch of the genealogical ties; makes me related as well!

Green light given for two different housing estates (70+ houses each) requiring design of roads, sewers, foundations and superstructure

The Midlands office started off  the beginning of May relatively quietly although this was in comparison with an extremely busy April. Nevertheless it has picked up significantly this week and their offer of assistance of the workload to East Anglia has diminished to nothing resulting in the decision to appoint another Technician with a couple of interviews taking place this week. Meeting with Studio Idealyc has resulted in a number of small commissions.

Yes - i'm the 'large' gentleman!