JM Architects is at the centre of a £4 million High Court battle over the alleged use of ‘entirely unsuitable’ rammed-earth walling in the construction of a children’s nursery in south London. Last year, soil walling to the partially built extension to the Bird in the Bush Centre on the Old Kent Road had to be demolished because the technique, recommended by the architect, was found to be ‘problematic’ and ‘unacceptable’, according to a High Court writ.

Now the client, Southwark Primary Care Trust, is suing JM Architects, along with consulting engineer Haskins Robinson Waters, building contractor YJL London and subcontractor In Situ Rammed Earth, for breach of contract and negligence.

Work on the nursery extension began in August 2003 but was stopped shortly afterwards when, it is alleged, it became clear that builders would not be able to construct load-bearing walls of ‘sufficient stability’ using compressed earth.

The High Court will hear that an inspection revealed the walls were cracked and bowed, with numerous defects. The walls were found to be structurally unstable and needed substantially more maintenance and repair than conventional brick and mortar walls would have done.

It is claimed that subsequent research showed the walls had been built using unsuitable soil contaminated with wood, masonry, concrete and leaves, and were not square because they had been allowed to dry without adequate propping, the writ continues.

JM Architects is alleged to have breached its duties by suggesting that the rammed-earth technique could shave some 30 per cent off the standard construction costs. In fact, this method carries a significant risk of higher costs, the writ says, and JM Architects should have flagged up the risks of this ‘novel’ construction at an early stage.

The practice is also accused of misleading Southwark Primary Care Trust into believing that the rammed earth was sourced on-site, helping to save costs. Instead the soil was dug off-site at Gallagher’s Quarry, Kent, where the earth was contaminated, it is claimed.

Other charges include failing to adequately prepare detailed proposals, and not compiling a feasibility study with due care and skill.

The writ concludes that the walls were entirely unsuitable for use in the project as a result of both their construction and design.

The primary-care trust was forced to flatten the nursery extension in 2006 and replace the walls with blockwork. The authority says its losses include the original cost of the project, remedial work, money paid to the nursery’s operators – the Catholic Children’s Society and Tower Homes – and legal and professional fees.

Architects Journal 29 March 2007

Commercial property development bounced back strongly in February, helped by a surge in private sector office developments after a surprise January slump in public sector projects, data showed on Monday.Building and refurbishment work was especially strong outside London and the Southeast of England, while confidence that office construction will rise in the next three months was at its highest in a year, the monthly survey of UK developers and building contractors showed.

Property agency Savills said its Total Commercial Activity index rose to a three-month high of 61.2 after sliding in January to 51.4 — its second-lowest reading in three-and-a-half years.

February’s result was the 14th straight month above the 50 mark, which denotes growth.

“The recovery in development activity on public sector projects, from last month’s surprise collapse, brought the February index back to its rising trend,” said Mat Oakley, head of Savills’ Commercial Research department.

“Private sector office development continues to be a major driver of the development market, and this looks likely to continue over the short term,” he said.

The overall rate of expansion was most marked outside the main office markets of London and the Southeast of England, where property development accelerated at its sharpest rate in 11 months. In contrast, commercial development growth in London and the Southeast eased from the previous month.

The monthly survey was conducted for Savills by NTC Research, which also produces widely tracked Purchasing Managers’ Indexes on Europe’s manufacturing and service sectors.

Yahoo News 12 March 2007: Source Reuters

Foster’s debut hospital, proposed for Peasedown St John, a village to the south of the city,will treat private as well as NHS patients under a government initiative to let people choose where they receive treatment.

The hospital will have exterior balconies, and climbing plants will help it to blend with the landscape.

The proposed hospital is the first of 20 such schemes planned across the country by Centres of Clinical Excellence, a private sector partnership comprising heathcare professionals and business managers. The company has also signed up Richard Rogers and Michael Hopkins for its building programme in an effort to revolutionise healthcare construction.

Centres of Clinical Excellence argues that “a healing environment” should be a key design element in healthcare. The company also considers “contact with the natural environment” to be a vital part of this process.

The company declined to comment before the planning committee hearing, but according to its website, its facilities will incor-porate the “healing properties of natural light, the soothing effects of colour and clean, uncluttered internal spaces”.

for more

Source: Building Design, Issue 9th March 2007

GRP lift pit liner as being used at the white swan healthcare centre at Aston.  Greatly simplifies detailing.  Find details here

Due to the office in Leeds having a rather dull grey appearance, it has been on the cards for a while to throw a few splashes of colour onto some canvasses to brighten the place up.

Friday night was the chosen night to roll on the shocking Pink and the Banana yellow, I’m sure you’ll agree that they are both rather lively colours!

Thanks to Sonia, Caroline, James P and Patrick H for their efforts.

Here’s a handy little tip for people who suddenly notice that the z-coordinates in their drawing aren’t quite as close to 0 as they should be.

There is a file called flattenez.lsp, which I have put on both servers, that will pretty much obliterate all the z-coordinates in a drawing. To run the file you need full AutoCAD (not LT). Type ‘appload’ as a command then browse to the ACAD Settings folder on the server and double-click on flattenez.lsp. Now you can type ‘flatten’ in the drawing and your worries will be over.

Veterens of the ‘other’ flattn.lsp will notice that this one isn’t quite so polite - it doesn’t ask what you want flattening, and it doesn’t ask twice… use with caution. On the other hand, it does work very effectively. Combine this with explode and smash (another .lsp) and 3D topographical surveys will weep 2-dimensional tears at your feet.

Any problems. just email me.

Newcastle-based practice Xsite Architecture has been given the go-ahead for the new centrepiece of the DigitalCity development in Middlesbrough.

The competition-winning £7.5 million Digital Enterprise Centre development will create 3,000m2 of office space and is being billed as the new home ‘for digital industries in Tees Valley, bringing digital media and technology businesses together under one roof’.
Funded by One NorthEast and the European Regional Development Fund, it is hoped the four-storey scheme will serve as a catalyst for the regeneration of historic Middlehaven and Exchange Square areas – known locally as the BohoZone.
The areas have fallen behind the rest of the town in recent years, separated from the town centre by a railway line and the A66 trunk road.
Speaking about the progress of the project following the recent planning approval, Mark Elliott, business director of DigitalCity, said: ‘We’re very pleased to have Xsite on board for the construction stage of this landmark project.’
‘[Xsite] was up against some big name competition, but its excellent knowledge of the site and the building, along with an ability to demonstrate a sound understanding of the task in hand, enabled it to secure the contract.’

These fully functional ‘dummy’ chimneys are being used on Court Barton, Clifford.  The Client and Contractor wanted to avoid building free stand masonry stacks to carry chimneys in the timber frame houses.  One of the solutions put forward and accepted was the combination of offsite pre-manufactured chimneys and a Class 1 Pujoulat flue. The chimney fabricator collects facing material samples from site, then cuts slips and fixes these to the main GRP body.  These are then lifted into place and dressed with leadwork to hide the join.

On Friday 23rd February, P+HS Architects were presented with the 2007 Building Control Quality Award for Best Access/Community Project for the Grindon Lane Primary Care Centre, Grindon Lane, Sunderland. The awards were hosted by Sunderland City Council at the Stadium of Light in recognition of quality, innovation and those who go beyond the regulatory requirements. The event was attended by representatives of the design team, Procure 21, Sunderland Teaching Primary Care Trust and construction team.

The project has now been entered into The LABC Northern Region Built In Quality Awards to be held at Devere Slayley Hall on Friday 18th May 2007.

Winners of the regional awards will be entered into the National Awards, which will be featured in Building Magazine.