WBA row their way to raising over £675 for Charity

This Sunday saw the newly formed Watson Batty Architects Rowing Crew hitting the waters of Waterloo Lake to do battle with other corporate fundraisers in the Martin House Dragon Boat Race Charity Event.

With a mixed range of rowing experience from 'never' to ' I once went on a ferry', what we lacked in knowledge and practice we made up for in enthusiasm and determination. Once in the water with our bats in hand we awaited the signal to impress the crowd with our speed and rowing prowess.

Unfortunately within the first 5 rows it was clear our enthusiasm and determination were not going to be enough as we sauntered past the finish post in last place.

Undeterred and after a strong team talk we were ready for round two, surely we would be able to better our last performance? Once away it was clear that we had made significant improvements, but unfortunately so had the other teams. Undeterred and digging deep we manage to scrape 3rd place knocking 3.5 seconds off our first run, coming in with a time of 74.28 seconds.

Once the euphoria of not coming in last has descended our attention turned to the stop watch, could we manage a sub 70 second in our last run? Back in the boat the nerves and adrenaline we pumping and all fell silent as we lined up to await the starters orders.

Go! The race was off. With the crew pushing hard the boat began tentatively accelerating up to top speed and once there it was clear that we were moving faster than in our previous runs. With the team now rowing in perfect harmony we began to break away from the field with our challengers from DSEmotion marginally ahead.

Coming in a respectable 2nd place we were happy with our performance and we all hurried back to see if we had broken the 70 second barrier. With a time of 69.44 we weren't going to be in the finals but we had done it.

Managing to raise over £675 for the charity, a big thanks to the Watson Batty Rowing Crew and all those that came to support and sponsor us. If you would still like to sponsor you can do so by following the below link.

www.justgiving.com/watbats

Sutton Coldfield Delivery Office nominated for RICS Award

We are delighted to announce the nomination for a RICS West Midlands Award, in the Commercial Category for the refurbished of Sutton Coldfield Delivery Office.

This former US Forces postal depot and Grade II listed building has been renovated and extensively remodeled into Royal Mail’s new Sutton Coldfield Delivery Office. The war time structure has been enhanced and upgraded marrying modern and bold materials to the original utilitarian building fabric.

"The finished project illustrates how a dilapidated industrial building can be brought back to use." says project architect Catherine Blain. "The conversion pays respect to the heritage of the site while bringing it a new lease of life as a modern mail processing facility."

The awards will take place at Birmingham Town Hall on the 21st May.

Before: Customer Service Point

After: Customer Service Point

Before: South East Elevation Prior to Remodeling

After: Exterior View of Customer Service Point Entrance and South East Elevation

Before: Sorting Area

After: Manual Parcel Sorting Area

Living Sector projects shortlisted for 2015 LABC Building Excellence Awards

Living Sector projects shortlisted for 2015 LABC Building Excellence Awards

We are pleased to announce that for the second year running, two of our recently completed new build residential projects have been shortlisted for the LABC Building Excellence awards West Yorkshire region.
  
The ‘High Lock’ residential development at Mytholmroyd near Hebden Bridge has been shortlisted in the ‘New Dwellings - 2 to 10 units’ category. Consisting of 10 stunning properties each with 3 bedrooms, the development built on behalf of Candelisa is set within a private courtyard and offers picturesque views over the adjacent canal and countryside.  Each of the 3-storey town houses has a top floor living area with a contemporary open plan layout including high loft ceilings and private balcony space.

Our other entry ‘The Poplars’ at New Bolton Woods, Bradford was built on behalf for Skipton Properties and Great Places Housing Group. The scheme has been shortlisted in the ‘New Dwellings over 10 units’ category and consists of 20 affordable and 30 private - for sale units.  This high quality development is clustered around a new contemporary Home-Zone streetscape and is the first phase of the “New Bolton Woods” masterplan, a major residential led regeneration initiative located to the north of Bradford city centre.

The awards event is on the 18th June at Headingley Carnegie Stadium, Leeds.