The UK Construction Blog

Planning Permission has been granted for a major new office development in Glasgow.

Located in the city centre, it will contain 170,000 sq ft of Grade A commercial space, which will be priced from £23 per sq ft.

The initiative will be led by Abstract (Glasgow), which is owned by Abstract Securities.

This structure will be called St Vincent Plaza and the layout was produced by Keppie Design.

Privately-owned engineering, construction, communication and development organisation Bowmer & Kirkland has been appointed as contractor for the scheme, which will comprise of ten upper floors, a basement and a ground level, as well as 78 car parking spaces, with completion scheduled for 2013.

“In order to attract yet more big-name corporates to the city, it is imperative that Glasgow can offer high-quality ‘Grade A’ office accommodation at an achievable cost,” chief executive of Abstract Securities Mark Glatman said.

It is understood the price for this commercial space is “significantly undercutting” the offerings in the rest of the city.

Neon colours are an emerging fashion in home decor.

NoChintz designer Katie Crolla called these tones a “key trend for 2012″ and argued that they can be used in all parts of a home, including new extensions and conservatories.

A modern and tongue-in-cheek appearance can be created through clever use of “kitsch, neon lighting”, she continued.

People who find this “a little too adventurous” could use flashes of these colours in furnishings, accessories and wallpaper, the designer continued.

This corresponds with recommendations made by the Home Interior Catalog, which gave neon tones in living rooms “two thumbs up for the year 2012″.

Natural light can complement and enhance this effect and enhances the creative touches of a person’s design scheme, it continued.

However, darker tones set against gold was also highlighted as a successful interior design by the company, which said this can bring an “elegant appeal”, with the “stylish contrast” likely to be effective and trendy in the immediate future.

The “Steel Study House No. 2” is by no means a normal detached house. Full of character and generous in design, its very appearance means that it stands out from the other waterfront properties in Leeuwarden’s new Zuiderburen district. The architecture of the building aims to combine urban living with an unhindered view of some beautiful scenery.

Its most striking feature is the rectangular building shell made of prefabricated white steel components and white Reynobond® aluminium composite panels. For modern structures such as the “Steel Study House No. 2”, Reynobond® is the ideal material. It is lighter than steel, but particularly resistant to the vagaries of the weather, as well as retaining its shape well. In addition, it is easy to process and install. The luminosity of the white, combined with the way in which interiors and exterior are merged into one, gives the building its distinct airy and elegant character.

The architects, Archipelontwerpers, have ensured the design of the road frontage of the house would preserve the privacy of the Pesie family. The house is reached via an ascending gangway. A descending slope leads down to the underground garage. The gangway accesses the south side of the house, which features an inner patio area of good proportions. The patio area is the central feature of the house, and a gangway connects this with the water. All rooms are designed to be accessed from the patio and have a view of the water.

The “Steel Study House No. 2” has one more special feature: with an area of 750 m2 the house takes up just about the entire area of the property. This means there is no garden in the traditional sense, but a generously proportioned covered patio instead, as well as a veranda, giving plenty of space to enjoy the fresh air, sun and water.

A major regeneration project is to take place in north Tottenham.

Haringey Council and Tottenham Hotspur Football Club have made a joint pledge to commit to the scheme which will result in a new Premier League stadium, with a capacity of 56,250 and painted in the team’s colours.

Alongside this will be leisure facilities, homes and shops, improved public spaces, an enhanced environment and additional heritage work.

Parking and highways will also be upgraded and a power and heating scheme will be implemented district-wide.

The local authority is to put £9 million into this initiative, while the London Mayor has committed £18 million and the football club is believed to have invested hundreds of millions of pounds into the scheme.

It is known as the Northumberland Development Project.

Construction sector workloads are set to drop in the immediate future.

This is according to a director of external affairs at the Federation of Master Builders, who said small and medium-sized enterprises and larger contractors are all experiencing a fall in activity at the moment.

House-building activity is still struggling to meet the UK’s projected requirements and the government is spending less money on construction projects, he remarked.

The expert argued members of the public do not have as much disposable income as they used to have, which has negatively affected demand for repair and maintenance projects. They concluded: “All of this adds up to falling workloads and a drop in confidence for construction activity.”

The FMB is the building industry’s largest trade association in the UK.

Mobile CAD Surveys can accommodate either a simple single property floor plan to a complete schedule of buildings with all types of data collection. So if you need any type of Measured Building Survey then please contact us.

We can provide Floor plans,  Elevational drawings, or a Topographical survey and all types of Measured Building Survey with varying levels of detailed work – from simple walls, columns, doors and window surveys, to a fully detailed data set including all 3D information including cill & head heights, stair riser and going details, door heights, ceiling heights, beam details, fitted furniture etc.. As part of our measured surveys, the surveyors can also pick up and highlight other information for example: any electrical and data points, sanitary fittings, incoming mains positions, plant, fire fighting and detection equipment, security equipment, signage and so on.

An accurate  topographical survey or land survey is essential to any project that you are considering and can lessen the possibility of costly mistakes or unforeseen issues later on.  The amount and type of topographical survey data that we collect on site is always based on your specification. However, our experienced land surveyors will use their knowledge of planning and development issues and requirements to provide additional information that might be vital for any future design or planning application. We are also able to gather information from any utility companies which can be added to your topographical survey drawings..

Photogrammetry services:-

• The photographs may be archived for future use.
  
• The photographs may be used either for monitoring or for the generation of data.
  
• The technique is non-intrusive.
  
• The technique is ideal for recording detail of a complex nature (see illustrations below)
  
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We can also provide other additional land surveying services that you may require, for example; underground services tracing ( UPR – Underground Penetrating Radar) and 3D laser scanning enable us to provide you with a one-stop-shop for your surveying requirements.

for more information, please visit:-

Mobile CAD Surveys

A construction worker has amazingly survived after shooting a three inch nail into his head.

Jeff Lupak, 45, said he felt no pain after the accident in Bismarck, North Dakota, but was convinced he was going to die.

Even doctors were amazed that he was still alive when he was rushed to hospital where an X-ray showed just how far the nail had penetrated into his skull.

But incredibly the nail had missed all the major arteries and was lodged between his brain’s left and right hemispheres.

Despite feeling no pain Mr Lupak, a father of three, was told the seriousness of his injury.

One doctor told him: ‘Leave it in, it’ll rust and you’ll die of infection. Pull it out and you’ll bleed to death.’

A surgical team led by neurosurgeon Dr Eric Nussbaum at the National Brain Aneurysm Center in St Paul, Minnesota, took more than an hour to remove the nail.

Dr Nussbaum said: ’He was very lucky. I mean this is a potentially fatal injury depending on what structures it hits on the way.’

Mr Lupak was working on a construction site in Bismarck when he asked a colleague to hand him a 16 gauge nail gun.

As he grabbed the gun he heard it go off and felt a stinging sensation in the back of his head.

The co-worker began shouting that Mr Lupak had been shot with the gun – but Mr Lupak said he only felt a slight pressure in the back of his head.

After being taken to a hospital in Bismark he was flown to St Joseph’s Hospital in St Paul where neurosurgeons were waiting to carry out an operation to remove the nail.

His wife Kim was taken to the hospital where she was given an X-ray showing the nail protruding into her husband’s skull.

The operation proved a success and Mr Lupak is recovering in hospital with his only problem moving his left toes and ankle.

Doctors have said he will make a full recovery. Mr Lupak, a construction worker for 28 years, admitted he was lucky to be alive.

‘Somebody was looking out for me,’ said the husband and father of three daughters.

Architects seeking work on the government’s £2 billion schools building programme must pair up with contractors now or risk losing out.

The Priority School Building Programme (PSBP), originally due in December, is expected to be announced this spring following a deluge of applications from schools wishing to be included.

Richard Cottrell, director at Cottrell & Vermeulen, said: “At the moment the major players are aligning themselves up to deliver within the new goalposts set, such as cost parameters. That will be the challenge: to meet the requirements of the new brief.”

It is expected that the government, which is working to replace the scrapped £55 billion Building Schools for the Future programme, will ask for designs to deliver more capacity for schools, whether they are new-builds or refurbishments, under stricter budgets. As with BSF, the PSBP will include tranches of work on schools.

Keith Rayner, director of education at Bam Construction, said that the necessity to win work was “even greater than in previous years”.

He added: “There are a number of architecture practices with the necessary experience [in terms of the work and procurement], and any firm that wants to be involved should speak to contractors now.”

Chris Harding, head of education at BDP, said: “We’re in discussions with various contractors about how we would answer this new challenge.

“Sometimes with the most heavy constraints you get a shift in how you approach things and we might end up with some very creative work.”

The elevation of the architect over the engineer is to blame for today’s cities being full of unsustainable buildings, Ken Shuttleworth told engineers and students at Imperial College.

Architects are able to get away with their “orgy with glass” because engineers have lost their voice, he said, delivering the Worshipful Company of Paviors’ annual lecture on Tuesday.

The founder of Make urged engineers to “find a new Brunel” who could represent them on television and push an environmental agenda.

“In the 19^th century the engineer was king,” he told the audience. “Then architects took over and design became paramount which led to this orgy with glass.

“If the engineer says ‘you can’t have this much glass’ he is sacked and replaced. Engineers need to become more assertive and tell architects what to do.

“Find the best engineer at speaking and put them on TV. Plenty of architects have knighthoods and get on TV. You need a new Brunel to promote engineering,” added Shuttelworth, who spent 30 years at Foster & Partners.

Questioned about the sustainability of Make’s plan to demolish part of the 1980s Broadgate Centre, he said conversion simply wasn’t possible.

Its £340 million replacement was London’s first sustainable office project which tried to reflect the “death of bling”, he added.

“Buildings aren’t built to be monuments. They are commodities that are built to be demolished,” he said.

“London has so many historic buildings and if you can’t knock anything down the city will stagnate. Sense has to prevail. Keep what you can keep and what works and if not, do something better.”

If you need a Measured Building Survey or a number of surveys or a complete schedule of buildings surveyed then we can accomodate you.

We can provide Floor plans,  Elevational drawings, or a Topographical survey and all types of Measured Building Survey with varying levels of detailed work – from simple walls, columns, doors and window surveys, to a fully detailed data set including all 3D information including cill & head heights, stair riser and going details, door heights, ceiling heights, beam details, fitted furniture etc.. As part of our measured surveys, the surveyors can also pick up and highlight other information for example: any electrical and data points, sanitary fittings, incoming mains positions, plant, fire fighting and detection equipment, security equipment, signage and so on.

An accurate  topographical survey or land survey is essential to any project that you are considering and can lessen the possibility of costly mistakes or unforeseen issues later on.  The amount and type of topographical survey data that we collect on site is always based on your specification. However, our experienced land surveyors will use their knowledge of planning and development issues and requirements to provide additional information that might be vital for any future design or planning application. We are also able to gather information from any utility companies which can be added to your topographical survey drawings..

We can also provide other additional land surveying services that you may require, for example; underground services tracing ( UPR – Underground Penetrating Radar) and 3D laser scanning enable us to provide you with a one-stop-shop for your surveying requirements.

for more information, please visit:-

Mobile CAD Surveys