Friday, 30 September 2011

Planning, Building Regulations and Building at Agrarian - We Love It!

Wow, it’s the end of September and it was 28 degrees in London -  it was beautiful, I know people moan “oh it’s too hot, it’s too cold, it’s too wet”, but just deal with it folks. There’s a lot of places around the world where they have really bad weather, tornados, hurricanes etc. 
 
One of the sites I visited was the veterinary practice/clinic refurbishment which is having the final touches from the decorators.  Below are some photos (at long last) of the ‘almost finished article’ showing the extension of the existing vet premises into the adjacent retail space previously used as a newsagents. 

External view prior to project start


External view on completion



New Consulting Room  and  New Kennel Area



The feedback from the client and the staff was "…it’s brilliant" and "…we simply love it" so well done to all concerned with that one.

The main construction team from this project have now started on another site for me but this time it’s a residential site.  The deadline is Christmas. We have had initial issues as with most refurbishment and extension projects.  On “Day Two” they opened up and removed plasterboard from some existing internal openings only to reveal decaying timber joists instead of steel beams!!  As each project has full building control approval prior to starting we had already asked our Structural Engineer “Don -  what beams should we find behind this plasterboard ? ” so due to this careful planning we were able to order new steel beams immediately whilst temporarily placing some props under the offending timber joists.


We have also passed our CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) checks for the staff that come into contact with the general public.  Good news that we passed!! However, joking aside, we consider having these checks as a progression and development for the company.  We really want to provide confidence to all our clients that they are dealing with friendly, reliable and honest people. In this day and age we think this is important.


Some more planning applications were submitted this month.  We have noticed that although the “Planning Portal” provides a “one stop shop” for the submission, it is amazing the different criteria each of the planning authorities have e.g some only take electronic drawings in A3 sizes whereas others take the larger A1. Come on chaps, surely there should be a standard! It is a Government body after all!!!


The rugby - well Scotland didn’t do themselves or England any favours last weekend. The match between the pair of them should be a hard one and I’m really looking forward to that this weekend.  The timing of the matches hasn’t been too bad either. I’m able to sit there with a large mug of tea and a bacon roll (or two!!!) (oh, brown sauce by the way) and watch the rugby as a great start to the day.

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