Fort Road Hotel Phase II Tender

Tenders are due back mid February for the the Restoration and extension of Fort Road Hotel project in Margate.

The second phase of the project follows an enabling contract which has been ongoing for a year and has witnessed the painstaking and piecemeal removal of much of the collapsed timber roof and floor structures from overhead gantries.

During the works an additional basement level (-2) and several unusual vaults and wells have been discovered. The second phase of the works is expected to take 12 months with opening planned for Easter 2022.

Hat Works Phase 2 Site Progress

Despite the continuing disruption of the Covid pandemic, our refurbishment of Luton’s oldest standing hat factory is progressing well and is still on schedule for completion in March this year.

Our contractor partner, Nevilles Construction have been excellent at ensuring safety and social distancing on site, and have had no Covid related staffing issues.  In order to maintain this record, we have had to minimise in-person interactions that could potentially shut the site down, and visits have been stripped to a bare minimum.  Consequently the close lines of communication we have forged with Nevilles have been vital to the smooth running and reviewing of site works.  Given the age and Grade II listing of the property there are many niggly details that have been promptly resolved with plenty of video and photos being shared and discussed.

These remote methods of interaction have also propagated to our exchanges with clients and funders and have been vital to keep them in the loop and confident that we are all clear and happy with how the proposals are developing and being realised.

Of course none of this can truly replace regular visits animating the site progress of sketches and drawings into a completed building, and we all look forward to when we will be able to get back into our PPE for future visits.

Royal Crescent Launches on The Modern House

Fleet have recently completed the conversion of the grade II listed Regency Hotel within Ramsgate’s Royal Crescent into 9 generous apartments, 7 within the existing building and 2 newbuild flats.

The properties are being marketed by The Modern House, and the broachure is available for download here:

https://www.themodernhouse.com/pdf/royal-crescent.pdf

More text and images to follow.

Healthcare Estates Online : The Polyclinic to the Civic Supermarket

Jaime Bishop took part in the Healthcare Estates Online event replacing the event with is usually hosted by IHEEM at this time of year.

Jaime chaired the talk discussing the importance of staffing environments to attracting and retaining staff and then presented in the final session of the Architects for Health day; The Holistic Health Hub where he featured Fleets work to bring community health facilities to the “high street of services” in the large span vacant stores.

The presentation can be viewed here without commentary:

HERE

The recording form the day will be available via the Healthcare Estates website shortly.

RISK OF IMMINENT AND CATOSTROPHIC COLLAPSE

The UK urgently needs to move to an evidence based, building specific and risk assessed approach to social distancing measures. OUR HOSPITALITY, ARTS AND CULTURE INDUSTRIES ARE AT RISK OF IMMINENT AND CATOSTROPHIC COLLAPSE.

The Museum of Place for International Museum Day 2020

Fleet are partners in the Place and Purpose CIC and have contributed to this beta project to celebrate International Museum Day.   The project has been developed with the Place and Purpose team including Dan Moscrop and the branding agency Them.

Visit and create your own Museum of Place here: https://museum.placeandpurpose.co.uk/

Primary Care Design Post CoViD 19

Before the bank holiday weekend I was asked to prepare a quick presentation on how the design of primary care premises in the UK may be changed by the Corona Virus pandemic. Here are some of the ideas we came up with…

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jaimerbishop_medicalarchitecture-healthcaredesign-healthcarearchitecture-activity-6666027170269282304-2Lt5

(c) Fleet Architects Ltd

Listed Building Permission for Petersons Smoke ‘ouses!

The Fleet Architects led team including our friends at Bernadette Bone Heritage Studio and YOU&ME have successfully achieved planning and listed building permission for the proposed refurbishment of the Peterson’s smokehouse and adjacent 89 Wharncliffe Road, both buildings within the Kazbah Heritage Action Zone of Grimsby’s historic docks.

The Project is funded by NLHF and AHF .More to follow.

Fleet Architects – Digital First Corona Virus Update

Fleet Architects have adopted a ‘digital first’ approach to client external meetings and site visits.

We are currently still able to attend key site visits upon a full risk assessment on buildings that are essentially open air sites, but only with Director level approval. However, all other meetings and site inspections will take place via Skype, Zoom, or other equivalent technologies. If you can advise which best suits your team in order to serve the project we will ensure we are prepared.

We are committed to working with you to ensure the continued delivery of quality services to all our clients, whilst protecting the health and wellbeing of everyone.

The entire Fleet team is now working from home and, as much as this allows, business will continue as normal.

Please do contact us if you have any queries regarding your project. In the meantime, we hope that you, your colleagues and families stay safe and well.

HatHouse – The First Tenants Move in

The first tenants have moved into the HatHouse in Luton.  The project is led by Fleet Architects working with our friends and collaborators at YOU&ME.

The project was part funded by SEMLEP and is part of the wider Hat District Project for the Culture Trust Luton which includes our HatWorks Project (see scaffold image below) and is also funded by NLHF, Heritage England and Architectural Heritage Fund.

More images to follow.