New beginnings…

Although January 1^st is usually associated with new beginnings, this time of year, blessed as it is with being the time of year that youngsters go back to school, and Freshers get a short, sharp introduction to the wonderful world of student life, is also a natural time for people to look at turning the page and starting a new chapter of their lives.

The government is pushing the “September as a new beginning” line by encouraging local authorities and businesses to submit their proposals for Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) by September 6. What exactly these LEPs, which stand to replace Regional Development Agencies, will do, is still unclear, but hopefully they will unite local authorities and businesses in common goals like never before.

Indeed, there’s a buzz in the air across the UK as it looks like, we might, possibly, be looking to come out of the recession. Yes, of course we’ve seen signs before, and everyone’s tired of the phrase “green shoots of recovery”, but the retail market in Manchester being reported as being one of three areas in the country set for investment, and the new Nissan Juke being built on Wearside, securing hundreds of North East jobs (to name but two positive signs of growth), perhaps, at least in _space group’s home regions, we could finally be climbing, not falling. Could September then, mark the start of a new, more positive chapter in our economy?

This is the time of year that we’re also lucky enough to have some year out students working with the company, spread over our North East and North West offices, each one starting a new part of their lives. Not only are they working full time after spending a great amount of time in education, but they’re also getting to sit down and spend time understanding what it’s like to work in a busy, vibrant, design, build and operate business and really get to grips with what their careers will be like after they graduate.

In the next year, it is our job to give them all a full grounding in all aspects of the demanding, time poor but reward rich career that is architecture, and help them to develop both professionally and personally. Much like the positive hints we’ve seen on the economy and the impact of LEPs, the overriding factor in telling us how successful we are with these students is time.

At _space group, we always work hard to produce the best results for our customers, and that’s how we view all new members of our team – customers that we need to do our best to satisfy. Just like our customers, we’ll be asking them for feedback and working hard to improve in the areas where we feel we can, and just like our customers, we’re confident that we can deliver what they want, how they want it.

Our new recruits:

(l-r) Lisa Rogan, David Owen, Judith Forster, Imran Zulfqhar, Andrew Wilson and Ed Cutler, with Talent Manager Diane Charlton

How do we know what 'the next big thing' is?

There’s an article on the BBC website about the end of Google Wave, which was, launched to great fanfare, just one year ago.

Wave was a system that combined e-mail, instant messaging, and features that allowed users to collaborate on documents in real time. On paper, this sounds like a great way of encouraging and promoting collaborative working, with users being able to see comments from other users as they typed, and ideas being created, developed and completed by groups of people living far away from each other, truly reinforcing the idea of the “global village”.

How then, could it be, that Google had to wave goodbye (excuse the awful pun) to their dream?

I wonder whether maybe they wanted to do too much, too quickly? Collaborative working is wonderful, and it’s something that companies like ours do on a daily basis, with teams working across Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle, to ensure we get the best out of our resources for our clients. But it doesn’t mean we collaborate on work in real time – too many cooks and all that. I’m also of the opinion that video messaging is something that’s yet to catch on, at least in the UK, although perhaps that’ll all be changed by iPhone 4 and the fairly obvious next release of the iPad, which is sure to contain a webcam.

But here’s the thing. Google was convinced that this would be ‘the next big thing’, and that people would be lining up to use it. More than most, they know their market and their consumer. So, if Google don’t know, then who does? Or do Google know too soon? Jim Cameron spent 10 years plus brow beating everyone in Hollywood about 3D film to relatively small take up (although some bloke called Spielberg and his mate Lucas seem to be fans now, and I seem to remember they hold some sway in tinsel town…) until he released Avatar last year, and now the world seems to be all over 3D like a rash, with cinemas retrofitting their screens like it’s going out of fashion and 3D sport finding its way into local pubs. Could it be that we’ll see the same thing here? In 10 years time, will Google look back and say that Wave simply a pre-cursor to what we’ll have then? Or, will we see it going the same way as Betamax and Cuil and other ‘groundbreaking’ products too numerous to mention – hailed as the next big thing at the time, but yet pretty much sinking without a trace.

Most technology trailblazers – Apple, Pixar, Cameron and all – broadly believe that going for it, even if it means you might fail, is the best solution when it comes to new technology, and Google is no exception to that. Taking a chance on trailblazing technology is a philosophy we also subscribe to – try something new, think differently, and it might just get you results (we have high hopes that _spacehus will do just that).

Now you’ve got to wonder – how well do those companies we place so much stock in know that what they’re doing is actually going to be a commercial success, or are their products just an exercise in cosmic dice rolling? People are fickle folk – sometimes we want bacon, sometimes we want cheese, sometimes we want Steve Jobs, sometimes we want Bill Gates. Maybe the best indicator of the next big thing is as easy as what mood the general public are in.

Image from www.freegamesonnet.com

Bicycle Race! (ding ding, ding ding)

On Wednesday, we had an opportunity to truly meet our purpose of making life better, as we waved 101 bikes onto a shipping crate, heading for a plane, heading for the Gambia. Confused? Allow us to elaborate...

_space group has been working with Catcote Special Business and Enterprise College, in Hartlepool, since 2008, when we met them as one of five student companies we invited into Spaceworks for a series of business and enterprise workshops as part of the Young Enterprise North East Company programme. The students and teachers got a lot out of their time with us, were able to use our advice to enhance their business, and even saw one of their students go on to win an award from Young Enterprise North East later that year.

Ever since then, we've kept in touch with one another, and when we saw their latest venture, bike reconditioning business 1.2. Free Bikes, at the Young Enterprise North East annual trade fair in February, we couldn't resist working with them again. We suggested that if they were able to recondition 101 bikes, then we would sponsor the bikes to be sent to Africa, complete with Catcote/_space group pink stickers on them.

The team rose to the challenge and Wednesday saw the re-named 1.2. Free Bikes 4 Africa, putting the finishing touches to their fleet of bikes at Hullavington airfield in Wiltshire. The six students and two teachers involved were able to sticker and examine each of the 101 bikes, ensuring that they safely joined 262 other bikes and an assortment of school equipment heading for the Gambia, courtesy of charity Jole Rider.

We all felt that watching the lorry transporting a crate containing hundreds of bikes and pieces of equipment that would eventually make life better for hundreds of children who aren't lucky enough to be born with the same advantages that we are was a privilige. For Catcote's part, they are even more eager to get on with the job and recondition more bikes, which they hope will go to Africa. With agreements in place from a number of companies in Teesside, including Hartlepool Police, we don't think they'll be short of offers. From _space group's point of view, this is why we exist - it is great to know that the _space effect is being felt worldwide, and that we can help to create sustainable communities not only in the UK, but across the world.

The team (from left to right): Paul Snowden, 16, Kirsty Robertson, 16, Terence Elner, 17, Christopher Gleeson, 17, Scott Bates, 16 and Tiffany Partington, 16.

Row, Row Row Your Boat...

_space group has a proud tradition of participating in the range of events laid on by the construction industry, from corporate golf days to networking breakfasts. None however, has caused more of a stir than the relatively new phenomenon of Dragon Boat Racing. In it's first year, our brave North West office, situated in the heart of Manchester, decided to try their hands at it.

The _space group team was raring to go...

More than 30 teams from across the North West Construction industry took part in the challenge, which was held on a rainy day in June, at Salford Quays. _space group's team was led by the indomidable Nigel Pilkington, Associate Director, and although the team was two 'men' (being a 50/50 male/female split) down, everyone put in a lot of effort and _space group gave it 100% in each of their heats.

The team takes their places...

After completing our first heat at a time of 68.65, the team felt it had done very well...until finding out that this unfortunatly ranked us fairly low on the scoreboard. In point of fact, it ranked us last.

Spirits were lifted after two fellow teams capsized, and it looked like, after some last minute coaching just before our second heat, the team was set to improve on its time. At a time of 68.92 however, this proved not to be the case and this helped to propel the team to an overall ranking of last!

What we took away from this event was that, although we work together as a team every day, and we like to set the pace in everything we do when working on a project, there are some times when 10 rugby players will win out over a team of eight, less than fit, _space people. To this end, we are planning on hiring some incredibly active architects who act as fly halves in their spare time!

We've had a ball

_space group's Directors get ready for one of the 'must attend' nights of the year in Newcastle.

Friday 14 May saw the fourth annual charity ball we've thrown in Newcastle, and we're happy to report that we raised £20,250 for this year's chosen charity, Children North East.

The Think Pink ball, which is supported by _space foundation, is turning into one of the 'must attend' nights of the year in Newcastle, and this year was no different, as over 200 members of the construction industry turned out for a night of fun and frolics in the name of raising money for a good cause.

This year, the focus of Children North East's fundraising effort has been the WEYES project. WEYES (West End Youth Enquiry Service) was set up by Children North East for young people aged 11 - 25 to offer advice, information and support on a number of issues, from employment and training, to education, health and relationships. While a valuable project, the WEYES building was in need of TLC, in the form of renovation and extension, and _space group has stepped in, agreeing to renovate and extend the building, so that young people in Newcastle have a great space that they can visit when they’re in need of some advice. While we're supplying our services for free, there are other costs associated with a project like this and the Think Pink ball has gone a long way to helping to pay those costs.

We'd really like to thank everyone who came last Friday, and supported Children North East and the WEYES project. We hope you had as enjoyable an evening as we did, and we look forward to seeing you all again for this event next year.

On site at Constructionarium 2010

_space group Associate Technical Advisor, David Savage, at Constructionarium 2010

_space group feels strongly about aiding the development of students preparing to join the industries in which we work, and investing in future skills. One of the ways we help is via Constructionarium - a five day working field course based at former air base RAF Bircham Newton, King's Lynn, designed to provide a practical experience of construction for students.

Several universities send groups of students to Constructionarium to understand what it's like to work on site and help them to prepare for the construction industry. _space group has been acting as technical advisors for students from Northumbria University taking part in the project this year. David Savage, our Associate Technical Director, spent last week at the Constructionarium site with the Northumbria University students, advising them on their four projects - 1:10 scale versions of the Swiss re building (better known as "The Gherkin"), the canopy roof and access shaft for Naples Airport Underground Station, the Barcelona tower, and a scaled down version of the Millennium Galleries project in Sheffield. Below is a short diary he kept on the construction of each project.

Project 1 - The Swiss re building/"The Gherkin"

Day one, Monday 26 April:

The students dug an excavation hole to the underside of the foundation level. They installed formwork for the core base and started to assemble the diagrids that give the building its distinctive shape. These will be added into place later on in the week, in large sections, rather than individually.

Day two, Tuesday 27 April:

Flexible plastic formers have been used to form a run for the concrete base and despite a substantial amount of timber propping, these formers have been found to not be strong enough and has led to the first concrete pour for the base of the structure becoming deformed. The students have also had to contend with a lack of concrete, and schedule an urgent delivery for the morning.

Day three, Wednesday 28 April:

The second concrete pour has been completed, and due to the deformation caused by the plastic formers, the dimensions have been checked and re-checked to ensure that the foundation could support the diagrid baseplates. The results were positive and the students have been able to mark out the baseplate positions for the diagrid structures to be fitted to the foundations.

Day four, Thursday 29 April:

Despite experiencing more problems with broken drill bits, the students have been able to hoist the upper floor diagrids into place and bolt them to the base frame. They used a scaffold and crane to achive this and worked until 6.30, past the end of their working day, to ensure they were on schedule to complete the next day.

Day five, Friday 30 April:

The project was completed at approx. 3.30 pm. Despite some problems, the students have worked hard to pick themselves up and get on with the job.

All the students celebrate successful completion of "The Gherkin"

Project 2 - Millennium Galleries

Day one, Monday 26 April:

The students have prepared excavations for foundations and formwork of the structure.

Day two, Tuesday 27 April:

Concrete for the structure has been cast and the students have completed construction of the shutters. They've also tied lifting hoops to the reinforcing cages so that they can avoid the risk of the hoops pulling out - a problem last year's students experienced.

Day three, Wednesday 28 April:

The students have prepared the shuttering for the roof section, in preparation for casting the roof in one piece.

Day four, Thursday 29 April:

Pre-cast walls end walls have been lifted into place. The students have had to break out part of the foundation to accommodate one of the walls as a result of the foundation former moving slightly on day two.

Day five, Friday 30 April:

Project completed mid-afternoon.

Project 3 - Naples Airport Underground Roof

Day one, Monday 26 April:

The first set of precast rings are in place and the excavations for the ring beam completed. The structure's timber ribs have all had baseplates fitted.

Day two, Tuesday 27 April:

Precast rings have been placed and sunk. The students have also placed reinforcement and column formers into the structure.

Day three, Wednesday 28 April:

Students have sunk the precast rings to the correct depth, set the scaffold rails and poured concrete to the columns.

Day four, Thursday 29 April:

Baseplate holes have been set out and drilling for fixings carried out. However, some of the columns are out of position and this may be due to the movement of the concrete during its placement yesterday, as the formers were not held at the base.

Day five, Friday 30 April:

The students completed the project by mid-afternoon.

The completed structure

Project 4 - Barcelona Tower

Day one, Monday 26 April:

The project has proceeded well, despite some survey equipment not being available on the first day. The students haven't let these problems delay them and have instead used trigonometry and tape measurements to set out their project.

Day two, Tuesday 27 April:

Central column based and reinforcements were put in place. The students also continued with the pre-fabrication of the external metal structure (started yesterday), which was a complex and very time consuming process.

Day three, Wednesday 28 April:

A scaffold and shuttering were both erected and two seperate pours of concrete were completed. The students also cast the perimeter foundations for the cable ties and provided temporary props for the central column.

Day four, Thursday 29 April:

The scaffold was lifted and the final pour of concrete for the central column cast. The students were also able to add external features - a _space sign and seating, painted "_space pink".

Day five, Friday 30 April:

Shuttering was struck, the scaffold adjusted, main structure lifted into place,tie cables installed and tensioned. By mid afternoon the shuttering was removed and the project completed.

To see more images from the week, check out our flickr uploads - http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=Constructionarium. We've also got video footage of the site, which we're currently in the process of editing. We'll be putting this footage up on our youtube channel shortly, so watch this _space for more on Constructionarium.

Political _space

The leaders of the big three - Brown, Cameron and Clegg. But who will be the next PM? Image from www.politics.co.uk

At _space group, we're always keen to engage with the world around us, and when one of our people was offered the chance to get involved in the election from the ground up, she jumped at it.

Danielle Gibson, our Communication Coordinator, got the chance to sit in the audience of a BBC Look North Question Time election special and question Nick Brown (Labour), Sir Alan Beith (Liberal Democrats) and William Hague (Conservative) on their views on the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme and what their parties’ plans would be with it after the election.

Danielle said: "It was great to be able to discuss a matter that directly affects me, and _space group, with some of the people who will be charged with decision making in the months to come, and I liked having the chance to get some honest answers from the party representatives.

"Each party representative agreed that education was important, but didn't give any clear indication about their level of commitment to BSF going forward, so whatever party gets handed the keys to number 10, that's something that we'll be watching very closely.”

The TV show, chaired by Look North's Richard Moss, also saw the political candidates questioned on their parties' thoughts on regional jobs, healthcare and transport, with some interesting debates had, particularly with regards to making the A1 North of Morpeth a dual carriageway (all three parties agree that it should be done...but that the money to do it would be hard to come by and that it must be done in stages) and the handling of the Corus closure on Teesside.

Danielle continued: "It was also interesting to hear their different perspectives on jobs in the North East and how people would be affected by the inevitable public sector cuts. As I'm sure you can imagine, Nick Brown and Sir Alan Beith were keen to ensure that government took an active role in ensuring that people who stood to lose their jobs as a direct result of the cuts were helped by the government, while William Hague felt that the government's role was to provide help to the private sector, to make sure they could pick up the slack."

Members of the Green Party, UKIP and the BNP were also offered the chance to give their opinions on these key regional subjects, although, some (notably the BNP representative) managed to show the murky side of their political values.

There are already rumours that Hollywood may come knocking on Danielle's (or "woman in the tartan dress" as she was referred to by Richard Moss on Tuesday) door in the not too distant future. With this, and an extras part in Byker Grove behind her, we're sure she'll be up there amongst Kate Winslet and Judi Dench in no time.

To watch Danielle's starring moment, log onto http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00s8qct/Election_2010_The_Look_North_Debate/ , where the debate will be available until May 7.