At rra architects…

The first month of 2012 - change is definitely in the air and it feels much more positive, given it’s the year of the Olympics, the Queen's Jubilee and more project enquiries.
 
• We see the completion of a residential scheme on a flood plain in Wales
• We add to the Mary Portas review of the High Street and offer her advice
• Chris Preece captures below the magic of RRA’s riverside cottage
• Find out how to make money out of energy
• And you thought concrete blocks were boring think again
• And find out below when to do ecology surveys so that you don’t hold up development plans.

More Bits and Pieces

Hereford • Cheltenham • London

Portas High Street – Reviewed

David Cameron has promised a response to the Mary Portas review of Britain’s high streets. At RRA we believe whilst Portas is doing a great job to highlight the crisis, she falls short in understanding the hurdles that could bring development forward. So we have pre-empted the Govt. response and come up with our own review of what is needed to re-energise Britain’s High Streets. See the report here. You can also tweet your views at #UnlockHighSt.

Wales - A Watery Solution

The Environment Agency flood mapping has rendered much of the British Isles off limits to residential building. This has meant homeowners find it harder to secure insurance for their homes and we have a housing crisis due to land limitation. But at RRA we believe there is a third way – this is to design properties that can accommodate flooding. We have applied this philosophy both at RRA’s head office in Hereford and in the design for a recently completed holiday home adjacent to the River Edw in Wales.

Renewable Heat Incentive - Biomass

If you are planning a biomass project the tendency is to rule out projects because of high upfront infrastructure costs. The maintenance and back-up systems are by no means easy to integrate, and projects are not for the faint hearted. At RRA we believe projects suit large-scale institutional projects that have onsite caretaker maintenance schedules. If you need to know more about the scheme click the on the web site.

Thermal Innovation – Concrete

There are very few innovations in concrete block technology, but this month we are designing a new build house using the Durisol block. It is a part insulated part formwork concrete block that allows for full fill cavity shuttering of mass concrete - the whole integrated structure becomes an internal concrete thermal mass with an insulated jacket externally. Cold bridging is limited as the block provides modest insulation qualities. It suits the self-builder – more about Durisol can be found here.

Ecology Season – RRA is here to help

A reminder of the imminent ecology survey season. Check out the survey planner, which explains when ecology surveys should take place. Bird nesting potential might hold up site clearance and pre-bat season work needs to be completed by the 1st of April. So now is also the time to undertake your visual baseline appraisals whilst the trees are without leaves and visibility is at its greatest. Do give us a call if you have a specific query you need help with.