Commercial

Health and safety nightmares
Health and safety nightmares

Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 (CDM 2015) Introduction  Health and safety legislation can be a total nightmare for some contractors, home owners and builders. Recent changes to the legislation have simplified the rules and responsibilities for all projects but people continue to adopt historic names for roles which can add to the confusion.  The CDM Regulations stand for the…

Why do I need a project manager?
Why do I need a project manager?

Over the last 10 years, we have been involved in the design and project management of construction projects big and small ranging from a small domestic alteration costing a few hundred pounds to large multidisciplinary renewable energy projects costing hundreds of millions of pounds. One question we are asked is : Why do we need to project manage our project,…

Masonry cracks
Masonry cracks

Are they the first sign of something is wrong ? Whether dealing with the conservation of historic buildings, or more mundane commercial or institutional buildings, it is imperative that the cause of cracking in masonry structures is well understood. Perhaps one of the most significant differences between working on relatively modern structures and historic buildings is that often, in the…

Customer Satisfaction
Customer Satisfaction

Its really important to provide a good quality of service to our customers and we regularly speak with repeat clients who we ask for feedback on our work, fees and quality of service.  However 50% of our clients are domestic homeowners and we decided to run a customer satisfaction survey for clients up to the middle of 2016.  We got…

Keeping to your Plan
Keeping to your Plan

Keeping to your plan is important, especially if the project you are undertaking is under construction.  We are working with a number of clients including domestic homeowners and builders where things are changing on a day to day basis.  Walls which were not due to be removed, now have to be supported and removed carefully.  Changes to the kitchen layout or…

Industrial Archeology
Industrial Archeology

Over the last 25 years we have been involved in the preservation and restoration of many historic buildings across Cumbria and the Midlands including supervising industrial archaeology surveys.  This includes old factories, shops and buildings which have undergone transformation or alterations over the years. One such project was preservation of a property in Gas Street, Birmingham.  The site of one of the first gas producing…

Do I need planning permission or building regulations?
Do I need planning permission or building regulations?

Do I need planning permission is a question we get asked all the time.  As consulting engineers, some of the aspects of our domestic and commercial work fall into some grey areas of planing permissions and building regulations requirements. Therefore we have attempted to put together a comprehensive guide to the planning and building regulations associated with the typical requirements for work…

Netherby Hall Orangery
Netherby Hall Orangery

Since our original involvement in the Netherby Hall Coach House, we have also been assisting the owners of the property in a number of other projects, including the assessment of the Netherby Hall orangery roof.  The roof  is due for refurbishment works alongside the space around it for hosting events and public events.  The space is a wonderful example of steel…