I recently attended a fascinating presentation about the soon to open, new Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford Upon Avon. The presentation, by Mace project manager Tim Court, gave an in-depth insight into the £58m construction scheme. As well as being an interesting presentation, showing the ups and downs of one of the West Midlands most [...]

Work has just completed on our first ‘garden room‘, to be used as a studio for a portrait photographer. The building, which uses the latest in rapid construction technology, uses entirely sustainable materials and has insulation levels far exceeding the current Building Regulations requirements.  Even during extremely cold weather the building needs very little in [...]

The Samuel Beckett Bridge officially opened on the morning of 10th December in Dublin, Ireland. Designed by internationally recognised Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, to reduce traffic within Dublins city centre. This is the second signature bridge Calatrava has designed for Dublin city centre, the first being the  James Joyce Bridge which was finished in 2003. [...]

Putrajayas new landmark Mosque was built using six thousand tonnes of steel, which accounts for a staggering 70% of all construction materials used. The recently completed Tuanku Mizan Zainal Adidin Mosque opened its door to muslims and non-muslims throughout the world on 4th September 2009. Known as ‘The Iron Mosque’, it will be the second [...]

After my usual weekly meeting with my tutor regarding my dissertation on memorial spaces we decided that The Imperial War Museum in Manchester might be a possible building for some primary research.  As I had never visited the building before (there was a trip in my first year of university but being the lazy fresher [...]

Along with the visit to the Jewish museum, local art galleries and the Zoo, the streets of Berlin were electric with celebrations of the 20th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. After visiting the Jewish Museum Jenni (like every other woman) was ready for some retail therapy, of which she thought wouldn’t be [...]

All in a weekend. Booked the flight on Monday and before we knew it our interior architect, Jenni, was in Berlin. Hosting an array of architecturally famous buildings, Jenni wanted to see one of the most visited museums in Germany’s capital, ‘The Jewish Museum’. The spectacular design, by New York based  architect Daniel Libeskind, attracts [...]

It’s that time of year again for the RIBA to announce the winners of the RIBA Awards 2009. Within the East Midlands category there were a number of exceptional buildings – of particular interest to us are the buildings in Leicester.  As we are based in Leicester we have been watching over the recent developments [...]

When times are tough there is a tendency for people to become short sighted and cost driven. It has always been a driving principle of ours to create design solutions that are right for the client and right for the building – considering the needs of the building and the future users of the building [...]