_space to re-join the fold

Welcome Home: Darren Purvis re-joins _space group as an interior designer

Northern architecture firm _space group, has strengthened its interior design team, _space interiors, with the appointment of a former employee, Darren Purvis.

He will jointly oversee the _space interiors team alongside Sophia Barton, based in the company’s Manchester office. With 12 years’ experience, across the hospitality, commercial, education and healthcare sectors, Darren will lead key projects in these sectors.

Darren said: “When I heard _space group was looking for another interior designer to boost the team, I got in touch straight away. They were keen to have me back and the rest is history.

“The company may have grown since I’ve been away, opening new offices and working further afield, but it is still the same friendly and open organisation I used to know and I can’t wait to get immersed in that again.”

Darren, 35, worked for the company under its former name, Waring and Netts, before joining specialist interiors firm, Ward Robinson.

Andy Roberts, _space group’s Managing Director of Architecture, said of the appointment: “Thanks to a number of project wins with a significant interior design element, we needed to increase our interiors team and we were very lucky that Darren was keen to work for us again.

“He is a great addition to the team, and we’re extremely happy to have him back. He’s a capable, confident individual who delivers exemplary projects of the highest standard. I am sure that he will settle back in very quickly.”

As well as a successful interior designer, having worked on projects nationwide, Darren is a keen distance runner, running for his local team, Birtley Athletics Club, as well as participating in distance races such as the London Marathon and the Great North Run, having completed the latter in under 71 minutes in 2010.

Darren continued: “What I’m passionate about is the challenge that interior design brings. I have been lucky enough to work on projects as diverse as the Corn Exchange in Leeds, and _space group’s Newcastle office, with the former being a listed building and the latter my future workplace. It is this diversity that interests me and keeps work fresh and exciting.”

Darren will also be involved in helping _space interiors to pursue new business opportunities and grow its offer in different sectors.

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.