Archive for the ‘Leanne Forshaw’ category

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A Ducie kinda love

Thursday, November 12th, 2009

ducie-house

We saw a lot of love for Ducie House in Manchester this week after we made some announcements about office space at the building (£50 per week by the way).

It led to some great stories from people on Twitter and Facebook, all of whom appeared to either love the building, or knew someone who had at one time worked in there. It also became a trend on the What’s Happnin in Manchester blog.

It brought it home to us that Ducie has been the birthplace of some of Manchester’s great businesses like Brazen PR, Ear to the Ground and award winning software company, ANS. It was also the first home of musicians and DJs like A Guy Called Gerald and Manc legends 808 State as well as Simply Red and music producer John Drape.

We’re really proud to have that on our record. It’s something we hope to replicate at new schemes such as Mersey House in Speke and Slater Street in Liverpool.

But in the meantime – thanks to last week’s love-in – we’re really keen to launch a Ducie Hall of Fame blog, so email us at blog@urbansplash.co.uk or Tweet us with your memories, stories – and preferably pictures of the building. Alternatively, jot ‘em down on our Facebook page.

A career in the spotlight at Park Hill, Sheffield

Monday, August 24th, 2009

park_hill2

We’re currently on the hunt for a new QS to join our Yorkshire team, a great opportunity as the person in question will be working on Park Hill in Sheffield – the largest grade II* Listed building in Europe, and one of the most significant developments in post war Britain.

The building is key to the development and history of architecture - so much so that if you’re an architect it’s a compulsory study topic! It was inspired by the legendry Swiss-French Architect Le Corbusier but the current redevelopment has been designed by Studio Egret West, Hawkins Brown and Grant Associates.

Its status means that it attracts attention from all over the world, and in recent years our work in redeveloping Park Hill has been very much in the spotlight, with the BBC and local paper the Sheffield Star just two of the recent commentators on the scheme’s transformation (it’s also going to be on BBC2 on Monday 31st August!). So if you want exposure on a national level and huge career satisfaction this is the place to be.

We’re also really proud to be able to tell our story and continue the building’s development, something that’s been greatly helped by our relationships with public partners such as the Homes and Communities Agency. This means that we can move on and fulfil our plans of delivering almost 1000 new apartments for Sheffield over the next ten years – something that our new QS can play a major part in!

I spend a lot of my days working in Sheffield at the scheme and can honestly say that the building consumes you from the moment you arrive. Working here means that you’ll bore your nearest and dearest with every detail; no two days are ever the same.

So if you are a suitably qualified QS and want to join our team and make Park Hill happen then visit our Urban Splash jobs page. Have a look around the site too and you’ll see that our passion for listed buildings and this kind of architecture goes beyond Park Hill – we’re also working on the Grade I listed Royal William Yard in Plymouth (as link), the Grade II listed Lister Mills in Bradford and the Grade II Matchworks in Garston near Liverpool.

Royalty welcomed at Fort Dunlop, Birmingham

Wednesday, May 27th, 2009

Fort Dunlop

Yesterday we welcomed royalty at Fort Dunlop as Princess Anne visited the scheme.

She was there to officially launch the new offices of BPM (Media) - home to the Birmingham Post and Mail newspapers. They’re a great tenant and have added another dimension to the mix of people already working at the building. There are retailers, like home furnishing store Dwell, art gallery Snap and bars and restaurants such as the trendy Glass Lounge. There’s also office space fit for any sized business; BPM’s offices are fifty times the size of our smallest suites - that’s how diverse the offering is! Since the building’s completion in 2006 the building has been a great success, being more than 95% let since the day we completed.

Yesterday’s event tops off an exciting few months for us at the Fort where we’ve welcomed many a celebrity including popstar Jamelia (who was there to film an advert), Roy Wood from Slade (whose famous “I Wish it Could be Christmas Everyday” track dominates the festive playlists every December), TV presenter Charlie Dimmock and Birmingham based Reggae legends UB40 who used the iconic Fort Dunlop for a photo shoot.

For more details and pics of Princess Anne’s visit, see the Birmingham Mail website.

Urban Splash on Google StreetView

Tuesday, April 7th, 2009

So Google StreetView has launched. I wonder if there’ll be a surge to the confessional? Come on, I know you’ve been peaking in your neighbour’s windows…

It’s great to see some of our projects cropping up on there. The famous Urban Splash Loft Shop in Manchester looks good.

It’s also interesting to take a glimpse back in time at the Chips building during the early stages of construction – just the top layer of writing can be seen.

How far we’ve come – this is how she looks now!

Chips New Islington Manchester Urban Splash

Something old, something new

Tuesday, April 7th, 2009

You might have guessed that we like restoring things. We like taking old, run-down buildings and turning them into new homes. Proper homes. And proper communities. We believe that a marriage between modern design and traditional architecture really works and now, it seems, so do other people!

Last week journalist Ciara Leeming wrote this fab piece about restoration in the Guardian. Some interesting points about how we can update old property to create new. Have a look at how we’ve done it here at Urban Splash.