THE WHITE BUILDING / CRATE BREWERY TOUR

On April 9th 2015 AIA UK continued our tradition of fun and educational events with a special edition of our on-going series of building tours.

The White Building, by David Kohn Architects, is a centre for art technology and sustainability.  It is an incubator for discursive and innovative thought.  It serves as a testing ground and creative laboratory for artists and creative whose work engages with technology.  It is also the home of craft brewery CRATE. The White Building was commissioned by the London Legacy Development Corporation as part of the “Olympic Fringe” – a string of small-scale projects aimed at stitching the Olympic Park into the surrounding city fabric.  

David Kohn was on hand to give us an introduction and a tour of the arts facilities and events places.  The brewery bar, occupying most of the ground floor, is build of exposed blockwork walls and steel-framed windows and was intended to act as a focal hub – to feel like a courtyard that connected to the adjacent canalside.  The arts spaces upstairs are dominated by the undulating ceiling of sheep’s wool stuffed into large red nets – crating a distinctive interior with excellent thermal and acoustic performance.  David explained that with such a tight budget it was essential to strip the design to the minimum. 

Following that James Kellow from Crate Brewery took the group on a tour of the “brew shed” and gave a presentation on craft brewing - explaining in detail the subtleties of the different beers on hand to sample as well as the process of making.  After many samples, including some direct from the giant tanks, the tour concluded with pizza and more beer back in the brewery bar. 

For those who missed it you can petition the AIA UK board to make it a regular annual feature on the calendar. Both James and David would be happy to accommodate us again.

Author: Robert Rhodes

TURNMILL BUILDING TOUR

Matti Lampila from Piercy&Co lead a wonderful tour of the Turnmill building in Farringdon, which recently reached PC and is now undergoing tenant fit out. Matti's discussions throughout the tour covered a range of topics from the buildings long planning journey to the iconic Roman bricks.

Everyone greatly enjoyed learning more about this new architectural addition to London and especially enjoyed the wonderful views over the city from its rooftop terrace. 

Author: Brianne Hamilton

CDM 2015 – LEGAL PITFALL OR BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY FOR ARCHITECTS? - BEALE & COMPANY

The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 (“CDM 2015”) came into force on 6 April 2015, replacing the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007. The new regulations have a significant impact on how health and safety risks must be managed on construction projects in Great Britain, particularly in relation to design.  

All architects working on projects in Great Britain have a legal duty to be familiar with the new regulations and fulfil the legal obligations.  

• Came into force on 6 April 2015 
• Replaced CDM Co-ordinator role with new Principal Designer role 
• Principal Designers should carefully consider their form of appointment 
• New notification threshold 
• Domestic client exemption removed 
• Withdrawal of current ACOP 

Under the CDM Regulations 2015 the CDM Co-ordinator role is replaced with a new role of Principal Designer. A Principal Designer must be appointed where there is more than one contractor or sub-contractor working on the project at the same time.  Furthermore, the Principal Designer must be a designer with control over the pre-construction phase.  Therefore, the appointment will come from within the project team at the pre-construction stage rather than a third party specialist, as was often the case with the CDM Co-ordinator. 

The Principal Designer manages and co-ordinates during the pre-construction phase to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the project is carried out without risks to health and safety.  The duties of a principal designer under the new regulations are potentially onerous, including ensuring that all other designers comply with their duties!

AIA UK sponsor, Beale & Company, produced a briefing note for AIA members, which can be found here. In addition, AIA members interested in finding out more about CDM 2015 can also listen to this webinar held recently by Beale & Company.

If you have any initial queries in relation to CDM 2015 call the AIA UK Legal Helpline on (+44) 020 7469 0400.  

BOB SCHMIDT MOVES TO USA

On the 7th of July chapter members gathered to say goodbye to Bob Schmidt and wish him well as he retires back to his hometown of Chicago.  Bob is a founding member of the AIA UK and a past president.  He worked as a planner and moved to England with SOM in the late 1980s to work on Canary Wharf.  Bob retired from Halcrow’s planning practice earlier this year and is already enjoying life back in the Windy City.  

We wish him a happy and relaxing retirement!

L to R: Robert Rhodes, Harry Goforth, Bob Schmidt, Michael Lischer, Lorraine King, Lester Korzilius, R.D Reber

SPONSOR PROFILE: DESSO

The Desso Group focuses primarily on superior floor design and Cradle to Cradle® in providing high quality carpet tiles and broadloom.  Its commercial product offering, business carpets, represents more than half of total sales and can be found in offices, banks, retail units, public buildings, schools, universities and care centres.

Desso's innovation strategy is concentrated in 3 key areas: Creativity, Functionality and Cradle to Cradle®. For Desso, creativity is synonymous with CARPETECTURE®, which is a powerful example of Desso's commitment to creative carpet design and its dedication to meet the needs of architects, interior designers, building owners and end users.  In the field of functionality, Desso develops pioneering solutions that make a difference for health and wellbeing.  As a result of this innovation and creativity strategy, Desso has launched a number of patented products like DESSO AirMaster®, for 8 times lower fine-dust concentration in the air (versus hard floors), and DESSO EcoBase®, which enabled Desso to achieve a Cradle to Cradle® silver certificate for an entire carpet tile product.

Desso's creative carpet design and service oriented approach has enabled Desso to become a leader in developing solutions for the Hospitality, Marine and Aviation (HMA) markets. Desso's HMA division works with companies such as Hilton, Intercontinental, Maritime, KLM, China Airlines, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and Holland America Line.

Desso Sports is a leading player in the provision of artificial turf for sports fields and hybrid natural grass systems that provide the perfect playing surface at every level of sport. DESSO GrassMaster® is a high-tech hybrid sports field of 100% natural grass reinforced with Desso synthetic grass fibres, which has been installed in two Euro 2012 stadiums and at the 'football temple' Wembley.

SPONSOR PROFILE: LAUFEN

LAUFEN, the premium brand under the ROCA umbrella, is one of the world's leading manufacturers of bathroom fittings with a global distribution network.

The company's core competence is its knowledge in the area of sanitary ware manufacturing.  For over 120 years, the LAUFEN brand has been using the oldest malleable material known to man to make innovative sanitary products in state-of-the-art plants with legendary Swiss precision.  

Knowledge of the bathroom as a whole developed from the competence of LAUFEN in ceramics manufacturing, and sophisticated design.  What makes LAUFEN products unique at the first glance is that their Swiss design unites two major design trends: emotional Italian design from the south and the northern tradition of design precision and clarity.

Although exquisite craftsmanship has always been a trademark of LAUFEN products, a great deal of thought goes into their design too.  For several decades now, LAUFEN has had positive experience of the successful collaboration with outstanding architects and designers.  In the development of new bathroom suite concepts, the expectations of the designer are met by the experience and precision of modellers, product developers and engineers.

The result: a highly functional and aesthetic product range.  From ceramic sanitary ware, through to faucets, bathroom furniture and mirrors, to shower trays, bathtubs and whirl systems - in all price categories.  At the same time, we use our knowledge and experience to achieve a high degree of individuality, in line with the wishes of our customers.  As well as additional colours, surface finishes and motifs, made-to-measure washbasins that can be cut to the required size are possible, also with short delivery times.

The aesthetically-appealing design and high compositional quality of LAUFEN products have won over many international judges and independent organisations, with awards being won by individual products, whole product ranges and even innovative materials and showrooms.