New brooms

The new government seems intent on revolutionising the landscape for architects. Garden grabbing we’ve already talked about. The Regional Spatial Strategies are to go we understand. Home Information Packs have already gone (along with all the poor souls who retrained to compile them) and now we hear from Lord Young that much Health & Safety legislation is to be replaced by lavish application of good old common sense.

Garden Grabbing

The house behind my own (Best Revenge) is actually a bungalow, a dormer bungalow to be exact. It is a perfectly nice house, sorry bungalow, but by no means lavish. In fact a family larger than the married couple and cat that currently occupy it, might possibly refer to it as modest.

In search of lost youth

The photograph shows what can happen when grown men are allowed out to play unsupervised. By day, upstanding pillars of the local community: sober, hardworking, diligent.  But on Wednesday evenings….

An unexpected visitor from Geneva

Having talked about the visit of the Bishop of Wakefield, I’m reminded of a very different visitor we had a few weeks ago. Thursday evenings are go out for a jog time at One 17. If you’re anywhere near the office between 5.45 and 7.15 you may encounter a very mixed bunch in various states of collapse making their way round the highways and byways of Armitage Bridge, Beaumont Park, South Crosland and parts in between. We are invariably led by Paul Dallas, a man far too fit for his age, who spends a big part of his time turning people on to the joys of physical activity. But I digress.

New Faces and Old Faces 4

New faces and old faces 4: One 17 SD, our engineering consultancy, has a new face: Chris Wilson. No relation to Lisa (or at least, not that either is aware of) Chris was nearly lost to the world of engineering when he flirted with the idea of joining the Marines. As you might expect, Chris is a bit of a sports fiend and fitness fanatic. He demonstrated this by turning up for his first day with us sporting a heavily bandaged left hand. Thankfully it did not impair his ability to drive his computer.