DJD News - Christmas 2013

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1 Welcome! It has been a busy year and we are pleased to have experienced an increase in activity throughout the wide range of sectors in which we work. The improving economic climate, as reflected more generally in the media, has enabled us to both expand and strengthen the Team at DJD and we are pleased to welcome a number of new faces that you are sure to meet in the coming year. As always it s been great to have received continued support over the year from so many regular clients, as well as welcoming those of you who have become new clients during Of course, we cannot let the season pass without acknowledging all the support and co-operation we have also received from the many consultants and contractors with whom we collaborate. We would like to take this opportunity to wish all our readers a Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year, and hope that you enjoy our seasonal update on Outstanding and Innovative Although new dwellings are not normally allowed in the countryside, paragraph 55 of the NPPF allows consent when there are special circumstances such as the exceptional quality or innovative nature of the design of the dwelling. We have worked closely with our Client, along with Malcolm Scott Consultants and Potterton Associates to develop a design proposal for a new house, in Leigh Sinton, of outstanding architectural quality together with a comprehensive scheme of landscaping and site wide ecological enrichment, which significantly enhance the immediate setting of the proposal. The proposals have been presented twice to the MADE independent design review panel, who have challenged and encouraged us to develop a well resolved design proposal. MADE have concluded that in their concept and application these proposals are both outstanding and innovative and therefore do reach the standard required by paragraph 55. We are hopeful that the proposals will be equally well received by the local planning committee in the new year. page 1

2 Projects On Site It s been a busy year and we are pleased to be able to report that many of the projects at design stage in last year s newsletter are now on site. St Johns High Rise Work on the overcladding, upgrade and improvement of the three high rise sheltered housing blocks in St Johns,, is progressing well. The new resident s lounge on the roof of Cripplegate House has now been topped out in a ceremony attended by Mayor of Cllr Pat Agar. New windows, smoke louvres, and balcony screens have been installed and works are ongoing to insulate and render the buildings and to install new high speed lifts. Mears are due to complete the project, for Community Housing, in summer Industrial Work on the new storage facility, laboratory and workshop for Exol Lubricants started on site this autumn. Demolitions have been completed and ground works well underway, despite the discovery of additional private gas and water mains on this complicated site. Care Home Spectus Construction have foundations in and walls going up at the Chace Care Home in Malvern, for a substantial extension and upgrade to the existing facilities. The hillside site makes for a tricky construction project but some good views out for residents! page 2 Housing Work is well underway with Willmott Dixon on the two sites of bungalows and houses in St Johns for Community Housing whilst J Harper and Sons Limited are just preparing to handover at Frankfort Street, Birmingham to Midland Heart (above) which are designed to Code for Sustainable Homes Level 3 and Lifetime Homes Standard.

3 Private Clients As well as corporate and public sector bodies we are always pleased to work with private Clients on new houses and works, large and small, to their existing properties. This year, amongst others, we have worked with Clients on an extension and refurbishment of a Grade II listed house, a new, one off, low energy house and a variety of extensions and refurbishments providing additional living accommodation and helping Clients get the most out of their space. Mixed Commercial We have been involved in a mix of commercial projects over the last year including space planning, fit out and alterations of Thorne Widgery s new offices in Hereford, the new St Johns Post Office works, office improvements for Sight Concern and gaining planning consent for the upgrades to the Cranham Drive parade of shops in, which starts on site in January. New Build Homes The increase in activity in the housing market in 2012 has continued in 2013! Working with Malcolm Scott Consultants we gained outline consent in May for a site outside the settlement boundary in Sedgeberrow. We have also worked with Malcolm Scott s on applications for 63 no. new houses at Poolbrook, Malvern which are currently under consideration. We have had a successful year in terms of gaining planning consent for clients including: full planning permission for WM Housing Group for 10 no. new houses and apartments and for 45 no. new houses, apartments and bungalows for Community Housing across six sites. We currently have a really interesting mix of new schemes at design stage, from small to large moving towards planning applications early next year. page 3

4 What you think about us... This autumn we commissioned a series of independent telephone surveys with ten of our Clients, from Housing Associations, to commercial, private domestic and contractor Clients. The aim was to try and find out how our Clients thought we were performing and where we could try and improve. We are very grateful to the Clients who participated in the survey and are pleased to be able to report back the key results. What you valued most about our service: - Our responsiveness, how we listen and understand your requirements; - Our working relationships with you, described as open, honest and respectful; - Our collaborative approach including how we manage third parties; - Our ability to translate your idea / concept into a design; - How contactable we are; - How we understand and help you to meet your project deadlines; - Our design concepts What you wanted us to improve: 80% of the clients we surveyed did not identify any areas for improvement. Suggestions made were: - Agree up front a regular progress update on live projects, on an agreed timeline basis - More internal cross checking of drawings - Introduce a customer / supplier agreement Overall Score: We asked How likely is it that you would recommend DJD to a friend or colleague? on a scale of 0 (Not at all likely) to 10 (Extremely likely). 100% of our clients surveyed scored this as either 9 or 10. page 4 Our Response: Whilst we are of course delighted to receive such positive feedback from our clients we are committed to continuously improving our service to you. You valued our responsiveness, we already provide named contacts for clients we plan to expand this to provide a named contact responsible for co-ordinating all of a Client s projects. It was apparent that we don t do a good enough job of letting our Clients know about the range and scale of projects we work on and the depth of experience we are lucky to have in our team. We are looking to update our website in the new year to do a better job of this but in the meantime we have included some brief profiles of the team on the next page. In your own words: They have been absolutely brilliant, no frustrations, you can pick up the phone and there is always someone there who can give advice. We have experienced excellent working relationships. Two-way communication is excellent, they understand our requirements, and the team are very willing to look at alternative solutions and when our ideas are not quite right they will advise. They go above and beyond what you might normally expect from an Architect in order to get it right for us The personal approach we are not treated as an order number. It is a partnership in the true sense of the word. I get the sense that their reputation is very important to them. DJD has been heavily involved in the planning process including getting involved in meetings with local residents (there were a lot of objections) helping to allay their concerns. DJD were happy to do this, I suspect that other Architects would have left us to it Very good working relationships, always willing to adapt and change friendly and open nature of their staff and effective two-way communication. I have never sworn about them!

5 Meet the team. David Davis BA(Hons), DipArch, MA, RIBA, MFPWS, MInstCS Director David studied at the University of Sheffield, going on to work in both the public and private sector before founding DJD Architects in David works across all sectors of the business, including residential, care, commercial and industrial projects with particular expertise in facilities for the disabled and conservation projects. David also acts as Party Wall Surveyor and CDM Co-ordinator. David is currently leading on a number of projects including the new care home and regeneration project for Heantun Housing in Wolverhampton. James Pugh BA(Hons), DipArch, RIBA Associate Director James studied at Sheffield and had worked in practice in Leeds on a variety of residential projects before joining DJD Architects in James works on a broad range of residential and commercial projects, both new build and refurbishment in a wide variety of settings from inner city to open countryside, including conservation areas and listed buildings. Within the practice, James is managing our implementation of BIM, ensuring the correct strategic approach to all projects large and small. Avinash Parmar BA(Hons), DipArch Architect Avinash studied at Sheffield, qualifying as an architect in Avinash has previously worked in private practice in London and Birmingham on a mix of private and social housing, education and commercial projects. Avinash is currently working on a variety of new private and affordable housing, including a new one off low energy private house, as well looking after the new factory facilities for Exol Lubricants on site. Mat Walker BA(Hons) Architectural Assistant Mat gained his RIBA Part 1 from Brighton University and is with DJD Architects for 18 months before continuing with his Part 2 full time. Mat is currently working on a variety of projects including environmental upgrades for Community Housing and the proposed new residential development at Whitbourne for Signature New Homes. Mat has also designed this year s papercraft - the moving penguin - see the last page for details! Kevin Davis BA(Hons), MArch, RIBA, MFPWS Director Kevin studied Architecture and Town and Regional Planning at the University of Sheffield. Kevin worked in private practice on a variety of primary healthcare and secure projects before joining DJD Architects full time. As well as being project architect for a range of private and affordable housing developments, mixed use and commercial projects Kevin has led on the upgrade of the high rise blocks in St Johns. Kevin is also a Party Wall Surveyor, Code for Sustainable Homes, SAP and HQI Assessor. Gareth Evans BA(Hons), DipArch, RIBA Senior Architect Gareth studied at Kingston and Sheffield, qualifying as an architect in Gareth s previous experience ranges from small scale domestic projects to commercial office and residential, custodial and emergency services, secondary and further education projects up to 80m in value. Gareth is currently working for both public and private sector clients and is project architect for a series of new residential sites for Community Housing. Matthew Adams BA(Hons) Int Arch, BA(Hons) Arch Senior Architectural Assistant Matthew joined the practice in 2011 with a first class honours degree in architecture from BCU, a degree in Interior Architecture from Brighton and two years experience in practice. Matthew is currently completing his MArch part time at BCU and undertaking research into the therapeutic benefits of architecture for people with dementia. Matthew has worked for public and private clients, at a range of scales, with projects including care homes, housing, retail, office refurbishment and private houses. Dan Klaiber BA(Hons) Architectural Assistant Dan gained his RIBA Part 1 from Plymouth University. Before joining DJD Architects to complete his year out training Dan worked in private practice in Hereford on the design stages of a mixture of residential and commercial projects. Dan is presently involved in the working drawing stage of a number of affordable housing sites. Sue Jenkinson Bookkeeper Sue has been with the Practice for over 10 years keeping the finances in good order and trying to do the same with the rest of us! page 5

6 This year, instead of the cost of sending Christmas cards, we are pleased to have made a donation to St Paul s, an organisation which has been working to support single homeless people within and the county since We spend a large part of our time designing homes for private Clients, developers and Housing Associations and, particularly as the weather turns colder we felt it was important to remember those who won t have a home this Christmas and are delighted to support St Paul s again this year. As well as running the hostel St Paul s provide counselling, life skills training, help with substance abuse and resettlement assistance. You can find out more about their work online at: Festive Paper Craft In a change of hemispheres this year we have moved to the south pole with a template for making a chirpy penguin with moving flippers. This year s pattern along with the Father Christmas collection from previous years can be downloaded from: /christmas New Talent in Art As in previous years, DJD Architects were proud to sponsor the prize for the best exploration of the 3D world by Sixth Form College s Art and Design Students. This year s prize went to Alex Tonks (pictured above) for his range of 3D models. Alex has gone on to study architecture at Westminster University and is one a number of students who have been through our work experience programme. For more information on work experience contact kevin.davis@djdgroup.co.uk. page 6 Party Walls, Housing Standards & Changes to Part L It has been another busy year for DJD Construction Consultants with a number of complicated party wall projects, requiring some careful consideration and proactive management of adjoining owners and their surveyors to keep projects moving. We have also used our housing expertise to provide HQI and housing standards advice to a number of architects and developers, helping them ensure they comply with the relevant standards, in a cost effective manner that doesn t compromise their design intent, including advising on major new projects in London. We are still busy with a number of Code for Sustainable Homes and SAP/EPC assessments and, whilst the Code may go as a result of the Housing Standards Review, the changes in Part L coming into effect on 6 April 2014 mean early SAP advice (including the new fabric efficiency requirements) is more important than ever.