The Greenbuild Awards 2013 recognise true achievement looking for low-energy buildings that go the extra mile to reduce their environmental impact. The Blurton Community Hub in Stoke on Trent was a finalist within the Breakthrough Award for Innovation. The building features integrated low energy measures including a 33kw GSHP, 9kw PV roof mounted arrays, large scale heat recovery system solar thermal water heating, infra red lighting controls and rainwater storage and recycling. We are monitoring the buildings performance against its expected BREEAM Excellent rating and will use the info to assist the successful future management of the building.

The building is part of the Ingestre Square development, a phased mixed use project including housing, flats, commercial/retail units as well as the Hub and its community garden. The project, due to be completed this summer, is being developed by Aspire Housing Group and Stoke on Trent City Council.

Our thanks to our clients, our project team colleagues Poole Dick Associates, RED Landscape, and Sustain, and the contractor Kier Partnership Homes.

Bromford have been providing homes in Central England since the 1960s. With 30 years of working for housing providers under our belt, we’re looking forward to applying our expertise to the framework and helping Bromford to achieve their goals, as well as ensuring that they continue to deliver high-quality housing projects. We’ll be working alongside Red Landscape on this framework – a collaboration which has proved successful on a number of award-winning projects to date including our work for the Birmingham Municipal Housing Trust.

More specifically, as well as applying our use of BIM for projects to be carried out under this framework, we’re also hoping to apply our extensive knowledge of sustainable housing design, including some of the lessons learned through our Affordable Passivhaus research.

Bromford are a forward thinking provider and have a strong social agenda, helping both staff and their tenants “to be the very best they can be”. Something that stands out with their approach is their ethos surrounding online communications which fits neatly with our own expertise in this area. We’ve created dedicated project websites for for community consultation and this has proved an effective way to share information and gather feedback from residents. Online project management tools are standard practice for us too.

Much like Bromford’s policy to be open and transparent about how they share information, we hope to share as much as possible about our work on the framework here on the blog. Keep an eye out for updates.

The project that started it all off, back in 1982, was a series of shopfitting contracts carried out on behalf of Walter Smith butchers. A total refit over a Bank Holiday weekend, 24 hour working and a team spirit which predated Egan procurement and partnering by close to a decade.

Our longest running project has got to be the regeneration of the Pype Hayes Estate which began back in the summer of ‘89 addressing a bunch of disgruntled local residents who were going to lose their defective Boswell Houses, but were worried about what they might be getting in their place… and this year Birmingham City Council have just completed the handover (pictured left) of the last phase of work under the Birmingham Municipal Housing Trust umbrella.

The strangest project we’ve worked on has got to be looking for buried WW2 aircraft while pretending to be doing drainage survey work – the only job that did not carry a job number or any correspondence references. Not quite in line with the RIBA project management guidance!

The most expensive project per square metre has got to be Wigan Metropolitan Council Chamber: an interior refit of the former Mining College in the town. Bespoke light poles, silk heraldic banners suspended in specially designed Perspex frames (pictured right) and a three storey hexagonal glass tower made out of Reynolds 531 tube.

The cheapest per square metre must be the Balsall Heath Tree Centre: an A-framed community space sitting within a community tree nursery (left).

The one that got us in the media for the wrong reasons: Wadbury Mill and the threat to our refurbishment of an old mill was thanks to a colony of Long-eared Bats. We made the front page of the Guardian as we recall.

Our most challenging project was probably the reconstruction of the grade 2 listed roof trusses in Crosby Court (right). Between English Heritage, imminent roof collapse and pigeons we still managed to jack the roof up and pull the lantern back into position… mind you, the roof had survived a direct hit during the war but the bomb failed to go off. It was never found and could be under our conference room for all we know. A great way of keeping client meetings short.

The one that got us in the media for all the right reasons: Eco Terraces – a radical refurbishment of terraced houses which predated the government focus on improving existing stock and the current Green Deal.

Our most embarrassing project has to be the cedar clad courtyard of bungalows in Castle Vale. They were great when new but now look miserable, grey, streaked, and shed-like in appearance – not at all what we intended.

The project we miss most: Midlands Art Centre café and its play wall which included a built-in noughts & crosses game (pictured left) – an attempt to create an interactive art space for users of every age with the in-house artists making the cushions, banners and ceramic tiles.

Our most popular project with the wider public is probably Brandwood End (pictured right), which met its core objectives of being ‘tenure blind’ and a 21st century reinvention of Bournville Village Trust housing. Our homage to Harvey and Bedford Tyler is ageing quite gracefully (unlike some of us).

The most satisfying project has got to be the one project that delighted the client, had architectural integrity, enriched the lives of its users, had us showered in accolades and earned us a mandatory scale 10% fee plus expenses… We can’t quite recall which project that would be.

Finally, the strangest coincidence in this our 30th year, is that we find ourselves working on a development in Monument Road, Ladywood, having spent much of the ‘80s and ‘90s working on the regeneration framework for the area. What’s even stranger is that we are looking at the refurbishment of the Schoolhouse, a small school building which the two founding partners looked at in the year preceding the formation of Axis Design… what goes around comes around.

We’d like to add our thanks to all our clients, collaborators, colleagues and fellow consultants for all their input, support and trust over the last 30 years. Most of all we hope that the residents we’ve met along the way have all enjoyed living in the places we’ve helped to create; we’ve certainly enjoyed being a part of their communities during our work together. We’re looking forward to the next 30 years and more projects as challenging as the ones described above.

We’ve added to our Kiva loan fund again this Christmas and our donation will help another two families. We’re helping Primetiva (right) from a small village in the Philippines. She is 62 years old, is married and has seven children. Primetiva has a hog fattening business and she has requested a modest loan to renovate her house. In the future, she hopes to have more savings.

We’re also helping Megi (left) and her family from West Georgia. They are involved in an agricultural business and Megi works hard to do her best for her family. In particular, they run a small dairy farm with a milk cow whose milk is used in cheese products. The cheese is sold at the local open market. In addition, Megi has a pig and sells piglets seasonally. A loan will create better conditions for Megi and her son, and enable them to enjoy living in their house.

As Megi and Primetiva’s loans are repaid, along with the final repayments from the other borrowers we’ve helped, our lending portfolio will grow and we’re looking forward to reinvesting the money with other needy families.

UPDATE: We’ve now received notification that the loans we made last christmas have been repaid in full. This means we’re ready to reinvest and help more families around the world.

Hi all, I’m Daniel, the newest person to join Axis Design. I first met the team in the summer of 2011, when I appeared outside the office asking if it would be possible to base my year 3 Office Adoption study on the practice. The team graciously accepted, and over the course of four visits throughout the summer I got to know everyone. A year later, I applied to join the team, and they have again graciously accepted.

I’ve been at Axis for a few months now, having graduated from my Architecture Part 1 course earlier this year, and it has really been quite an eye-opening experience. Working in a team, meeting clients, learning new programs and the practical application of architecture outside of a classroom; there have been some lessons to learn since I joined the team, but I’m enjoying myself, learning new things and meeting new challenges. Everyone’s been really helpful and welcoming in what I hope will be the continuing path of my professional career.

Team meetings often take place with the model projected on the wall running directly in ArchiCAD, allowing us to interrogate any part of the building and test ideas by making live adjustments. Using both BIMx and Tekla BIMsight we’ve also been able to issue the model to others in a format that allows them to view the information on their own machines without additional training of hardware requirements. We issue the files using our online project management tool – Basecamp, ensuring that file sizes and e-mail constraints don’t prevent access.

Whilst full integration and use of the model on screen is the obvious goal with BIM, the value of simply improving drawing output with more 3D information should not be overlooked. Being able to better understand the overall geometry of the buildings thanks to wireframes or cut-away sections has also been welcomed by the site management.

The construction sector has been debating the cost of BIM adoption exhaustively for several years and much discussion centres around the value of the return on investment, particularly for small practices like ours. Our experience in this first year of full adoption has proved to us on many occasions that moving to BIM tools was the right decision. Choosing to offer BIM output as a standard part of our service on all our projects in future is how we intend to continue improving our service and providing value to our clients. Next comes the challenge of working with other BIM ready clients and contractors to explore all the possibilities of a complete virtual building model, from concept to construction and on to hand over and facilities management… Who’s up for it?

We’ve had two evening events (launch event in Stoke on Trent shown on the left) to meet the potential investors so far, along with the team from Buildstore who are offering financial and project management support. We couldn’t have been more delighted by turnout, the variety of people who came to see us and the breadth of ideas and aspirations they hoped to bring to their new home. Talking through the ways an architect might assist on a self-build project was very useful to us as well as the residents themselves, as we’re determined to ensure we can provide as much input as possible within the confines of the ordinary self-build budget. We kicked off with a virtual model of the street to help set the scene for the Penkhull project (left) and it’s clear to us that innovative use of BIM technology is going to be a crucial part of what we provide. The level of commitment from residents to energy saving measures as a fundamental principle of a project was also deeply encouraging in a market that so often struggles to ascribe any value to the ‘green £’.

The importance of the relationship between energy, building strategy and finance is also fundamentally linked to the success of Custom Home Build because the backbone of this market will be the lenders. Whilst there are several mortgage packages available for self-build already – tailored to staged release of funds as a building progresses – there is much still to be done with the relationship between estimated property value, the technical performance of the fabric and the resulting reduction in bills and monthly outgoings.

We had the pleasure of attending the Build It Magazine awards yesterday (right) and shared a table with one of the lenders who may be involved in our project. The common ground between architect and mortgage lender proved to lie in the field of building warranty and the predictable concerns over innovation. If a construction process or material choice proves to be unsupported by the necessary structural warranty provider then the lender is too exposed. The key issue here – and perhaps the one that is most easily forgotten – is the longer life of the building beyond the original self-builder. Even if they and the original lender agree between themselves that a particular approach represents no risk, what if a future lender during a later sale (or, dare we say it, following repossession) has no confidence in it?

Rob’s personal experience of a self-build valuation process, involving completing a form that contained questions that were twenty years out of date, has recently served as a timely reminder that those of us enthused by the prospect of helping more people build their own home must make sure we include the bank or building society in the design team.

It’s no exaggeration to say that we can’t wait to get the Penkhull project moving, and we look forward to taking the mortgage lender with us on the journey.

Read some of our other posts in the Self Build Category.

Most of the team here at Axis are regular users of public transport for getting to and from work, and to site visits, but there are occasions when a car is the most suitable form of transport because it saves time, and because some sites are difficult to access using public transport. Free parking for electric vehicles is available in many towns too, allowing for cost savings to be made.

We’ve been able to take advantage of a grant made available for small businesses allowing us to take the leap into fully electric zero-carbon transport. We’ll also be encouraging our clients to lead the way by installing charge points for electric vehicles on new housing developments, again, taking advantage of grants available to keep costs to a minimum.

The car itself is powered by a 16kW/h battery that generates enough electricity to power the motor, air conditioning and heating system. On a full charge it is expected to reach a total distance of 79 miles and can be charged in 7 hours (or 30 minutes when connected to special terminal delivering a 125a monophase current). It has an automatic gearbox, and reaches top speeds of up to 80mph – not bad for a little electric car, eh?

Such is the nature of the construction industry – projects can take several years to come to fruition – a wall of memories in the new Park at Weston Heights has only recently been completed but is now home to a brick dedicated to Tony, as well as bricks dedicated to the memory of other local people who were part of the estate.

Ernie Clarke, Chair of Coalville Resident Association and Wendy Lister, Regeneration Officer from Compendium Living.

The wall at Weston Heights overlooks the River Blythe which flows into the River Trent connecting his birthplace in Meir with Nottingham, his university town and by way of its tributary, the River Dove the Peak National Park around Ashbourne. Dovedale was the screen-saver on Tony’s computer.

An additional memorial brick has been built into a wall at Stoke Road in Bletchley – a road name giving yet  another serendipitous nod to Tony’s Staffordshire roots. The curved wall, part of the Waterside development built by Lovell Partnerships, is a lovely spot with in-built seats overlooking the Grand Union Canal.

Our thanks go to Compendium Living and Lovell Partnerships for their support in remembering Tony through his work.

Our involvement with the Pype Hayes resident group continued and the final phases of the development of the estate was to be delivered under BMHT. Serendipitously for us, we had already been appointed to the architect’s framework for BMHT and the design of 27 individual homes which would form the final phase of the development fell to us. We were able to call on 20 years experience of working on the estate – we know the area well, we know the residents, and we were able to apply our experience of social housing design to ensure high quality homes for the final group of new residents.

It was a pleasure for us to work with the residents group again – they saw us as old friends thanks to our one-to-one work with them previously. Working closely with them, assisted by Waterloo Housing Association and supported by Birmingham City Housing Department throughout the last couple of decades means we have helped deliver a successful transformation on the estate. Retaining an involvement for 23 years makes this our longest running project since Axis Design was formed 30 years ago.

A key handover event was held at the end of September 2012 to celebrate the success of the project, to recognise the hard work and dedication of the residents steering group, and to mark the completion of this last phase of works. The final 27 homes were delivered by Keepmoat Homes on behalf of BMHT in a process overseen by Capita Symonds. The photo (above left) shows representatives from the Pype Hayes residents group with Councillor Tahir Ali (3rd from left) at the key handover event last month.