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. 

Improved Welfare facilities for Mail Centre staff

Working closely with Royal Mail and its key catering suppliers over the last few months, Watson Batty Architects have delivered the first redesign of the group's mail centre staff restaurant and welfare facilities.

The concept design for the facilities was undertake by Watson Batty Architects with the potential to be rolled out across the organisation. The exciting concept includes a new type of food offer and a refurbished space in which staff can enjoy there break periods. The design includes a revamped servery, quiet seating area, TV zone, Games space, booth seating and improved kitchenette facilities.

Works are complete at Tyneside Mail Centre and works are currently underway at Greenford and Southampton Mail Centres due for completion in May. 

Another Leisure Centre on Site

 Watson Batty Architects are on site delivering another Local Authority leisure facility for Newark and Sherwood District Council, building on the excellent work recently undertaken in Washington for Sunderland Council.

Main Contractor, R G Carter commenced with the construction of Newark Leisure Centre in December 2014. When complete the centre will replace the town's existing Grove Leisure Centre and will feature a 25m community main pool with 6 swimming lanes, a 20m x 8.5m teaching pool, a sports hall, two exercise studios, two squash courts with a movable wall and a 200 station fitness suite with all the associated changing, administrative and staff accommodation facilities.

Works are progressing well on site and are scheduled for completion in Spring 2016.

A flyover video of the construction site can be found here - https://vimeo.com/124826941

Ahoy!!

Watson Batty Architects are delighted to have been accepted to take part in the Martin House dragon boat race! The “Watbats” will be taking to the waters of Roundhay Lake on Sunday 17th May in a bid to raise as much funds as possible for the children’s hospice.

Martin House children’s hospice in Wetherby, provides family-led care for children with life-threatening and life-limiting illnesses. For the past five years the hospice has held a dragon boat race event at Roundhay Park to raise funds, with more than £200,000 raised over the period.

The Watbats would be extremely grateful if you or your company would help reach our target of £1,000. You can donate by following the below link and for those who wish to cheers us on, please feel free to come along and join in.

CDM2015: Are you ready to embrace the changes? We are

The new CDM2015 Regulations came into effect on the 6^th April and the Industry is cautiously adapting to the new state of play. The jury is still out on how the proposed changes will impact the current format of the industry both form a client and professional perspective. The replacement of the CDM-coordinator with the new Principal Designer role is perhaps the most controversial move the changes will bring. Reviewing the amendment, it seems in most cases this role will de-facto land in the lap of the Architect when they are assuming the role as lead designer. This holds true whether appointed by the client on larger projects or deemed to become Principal Designer on smaller / domestic projects.

We have read, online or in the professional press, commentaries and doubts expressed over whether the Architect has the necessary skills, training and willingness to step into the gap vacated by the CDMC. This opinion has been expressed and supported by CDMCs, as you would perhaps expect, but also surprisingly by architects themselves.

As someone responsible for overseeing our practice’s health and safety approach and implementation, the Practice and I see the changes as a positive move and we welcome the new regulations’ main objective to bring H&S back at the heart of the project. After all this was the spirit in which the 1994 CDM regulations were first made into statutes, with the onus being on the designers to eliminate risks from the design during the early stages of the project.

Architects as lead consultants are surely the most qualified to know their projects inside out. They are responsible for coordinating design, facilitating communications within the team and managing change control. Architects are often the first appointment at feasibility stage and will see the project to completion. Any architect worth their salt should be well versed in Design Risk Management, fully able to review and comment on the Contractors’ Construction Phase Plan and will want to leave the client with a robust and comprehensive H&S file, enabling them to manage and maintain the building safely in years to come.

The CDM2015 Regulations require the Principal Designer to have the ‘necessary skills, knowledge and experience’ and ‘organisational capacity’ to manage H&S.Here at Watson Batty we know we have all these, we are plugging training gaps for all our staff, updating our QA systems and already advising our clients on the changes. In a word, we are raring to go and excited about this new challenge!

Industry Guidance:

For Clients:click here 

For Principal Designers: click here

For Principal Contractors: click here

For Designers: click here

If you would like any further information about how we may be able to assist with the forthcoming changes please telephone or e-mail us at enquires:watsonbatty.com

By Catherine Blain

H&S Manager

Health and Safety Coordinators, We Need You!

Watson Batty Architects are seeking a highly motivated and versatile Construction Health and Safety Coordinator to assist in  the delivery of project health and safety across the practice, including assisting the role of Principal Designer

The successful candidate will be based in our Leeds Studio and must be able to demonstrate a thorough knowledge and understanding of all construction health and safety matters from inception to post-handover. A team player you will have the ability to communicate with all relevant parties and have client facing experience.

You will have experience of complex projects of all scales across a diverse range of sectors, and will be willing to work on projects nationally.

Whilst not essential previous experience as a CDMC would be an advantage. The suitable candidate will also have the following experience and qualifications:

• Ability to develop Construction Risk Assessments
• NEBOSH Construction Certificate
• Member of Association Project Safety
• BOHS P405 Asbestos Certificate would be an advantage
• Full Driving Licence

If you are ambitious and are seeking a new challenge please submit details of your experience to Pamela Cooke at the following e mail address: pamela.cooke@watsonbatty.com  

Watson Batty Architects are an equal opportunities employer and are Investors in People accredited