We have been hard at work developing a scheme to revitalise an existing square within a North West town centre.

Our proposals look to create a unified corporate image through our choice of materials while providing a number of differing units to suit potential tenants. Some are designed as single storey units while others will span two floors. One covers first floor only and is envisaged as a larger anchor unit.

Each unit has been designed to reflect the structural bays of the existing building which enables the client to ‘pick and mix’ the unit types depending on construction cost and potential tenant. This creates a varied street scene without detracting from the overall corporate identity of the square.

Our store design in Blackburn has been reported in Place Northwest and Visit Blackburn

These are the latest images of site progress at Edge Hill University which has been hampered by the local wildlife, who seem to prefer nesting in newly installed flues rather than the variety of large trees that they could have chosen in the local area.

Our backland proposals for a new, 4 bedroom, luxury house, incorporating leisure facilities, has been submitted to the Planning Inspectorate. The scheme sought to make best use of the land, in line with national planning policies, while also providing new underground car parking for the neighbouring apartments the roof of which, forms a new, improved amenity space for the existing residents.

We have been given the green light to proceed with a scheme to adapt an existing health club into a place of worship for Elim Pentecostal Church. The project was reported in the Southport Visiter last Friday (See here). The article also mentioned our recent Floral Hall Garden hotel scheme, describing it as “stunning”.

Southport Elim

Works to our Facilities Management building at Edge Hill University are progressing. This image of the steel frame gives an indication of the scale of the building and clearly begins to show the two blocks of the FM and IT departments along with the projecting feature element that will eventually contain the entrance foyer and meeting rooms.

SK has turned takeaway dining on its head by offering healthier alternatives to oriental classics, as well as a wealth of new and exciting dishes based on the philosophy of ‘Wellbeing Eating’. The menu is based around the core products of rice, noodles and rolls. These have been given a twist with the fusion of Japanese, Thai and Oriental influences.

At Urmston, the work involved stripping out the existing building to a shell, constructing a new extension, the installation of extract/air supply systems and built in cold and freezer rooms. We also designed a bespoke commercial kitchen, developed with the client, to specifically service the menu along with producing a palette of materials and finishes to fit out the customer front of house area. The brief also required us to design bespoke elements that are able to be used on future projects. This included the servery right through to the external signage.

As well as dealing with the planning and building regulation applications, NJSR also acted as Party Wall Surveyors on the project, negotiating awards with all three of the adjoining neighbours. We also dealt with the statutory authorities to upgrade services including the installation of a 3 phase electric supply.

For more information and to order on-line visit http://skeating.com.

We were initially appointed to investigate fallen stonework in an important Grade II* listed building which was converted for residential use in 2002.  It was found that high level stonework was in very poor condition with a high likelihood of partial collapse which could lead to severe injury or loss of life.  Scaffolding has just started to stabilise risky sections of the building which will improve resident’s safety and enable repair works to be carried out later this year.

Expert witness and partner, David Chapman, has thirty years of experience as a conservation architect. His work may prevent the need for a full court hearing, due in April 2010,  along with a reduction in the construction costs of almost 50%, compared to those envisaged in the early stages of the dispute. We will act as architects for the resulting repair project.