Pasties and Powercuts

Andy took a trip down to Cornwall this week to inspect the start of the refurbishment works on a house situated on National Trust land. Early designs for an ambitious penthouse extension to the house were pared back at the request of the National Trust to work within the existing building fabric. Within the retained external walls, demolitions are underway to create a dramatic double height entrance space with sea views.

Sketch model development of house renovation, Cornwall

Whilst Andy was away at the seaside, the rest of the office experienced a day without computer or Internet access, with a 24hour power cut caused by a fire at a sub-station near Derby. Whilst we quite enjoyed the time sketching and hand drawing, we suffered with not being able to make a cup of tea! Rob became a local reporter for Radio Derby, keeping listeners updated on the power cuts in Matlock (32 minutes into this programme!), and Dan used the time without power to produce a sketch of a historic copper mine, to accompany our tender submission for a very interesting potential project in Staffordshire.

Finally, the Ashgate Croft School Independent Living Unit has now been completed and handed over to the client. We hope they are enjoy using the building. Only the landscaping is left to complete now and we're hoping the funds we raise on a sponsored walk along the Limestone Way at the end of October will help to fill the raised beds!

Ashgate Croft ILU - 1 week before handover