Salford Council goes extra mile for disabled child

salfordsurveyors.co.uk – Salford Council have used part of their £3.5m a year ‘home adaptations programme’ to assist a mother and child in their area, by building an inedible extension. The child suffers from rare disorder ‘Pica Disorder’ which means he has an appetite for non-edible substances.

If you are building an extension, with special requirements or not, contact your local surveyor here.

Nottingham Site Restarted After Four Year Hiatus

nottinghamsurveyors – Willmott Dixon has won the contract to complete the construction of a £40m mixed-use development in central Nottingham, that has remained unfinished since 2008.

The complex – formerly known as Southreef – is structurally complete and partially occupied. When finished it will provide 237 residential apartments as well as office, restaurant, leisure and retail facilities.

Chartered Surveyors don’t just provide reports for home buyers. Many are qualified to provide project management and commercial services to. Contact a local surveyor here to find out more.

Mold development put on hold by flood risk assessment

moldsurveyors.co.uk – A long delay in assessing the flood risk of a reservoir in Greenfield, near Mold, is claimed by a local property developer to be putting homes and lives at risk.

The flooding risk of Flour Mill Reservoir must be determined, before work on eight new townhouses can begin. The Environment Agency instructed Flintshire County Council to complete an inundation map, but this has still not been done, despite a deadline of December 31, 2012.

If you are a developer in the Mold area, or elsewhere in England and Wales, contact your local surveyor to help navigate these difficult issues and ask them about how they can help elsewhere in the development.

Brighton to house homeless in shipping containers

Brightonbuildingsurveyors.co.uk – In a clever move to reduce their pressing homeless list, Brighton has taken inspiration from a Dutch solution – converting old shipping containers into temporary homes.

36 converted shipping containers to be installed in the city centre has been submitted to Brighton and Hove City Council by housing charity, Brighton Housing Trust, and local developers, QED. The response is reported to have been overwhelmingly positive, and the solution may see further interest in cities across the country as a result.

Can a shipping container form a structuraly sound home? Ask your local surveyor.

Man in Cardiff reduces own home to rubble with sledgehammer

cardiffbuildingsurveyors.co.uk – A brother has demolished his own home in Cardiff over a will dispute that has dragged on 7 years.

Reaching the end of his wits, Mr McGuire took a sledgehammer to his semi-detached house to demolish the extensions and additions he had made to it during an 8 year residency (for which he had reputedly invested £200,000).  Police stood by powerless as he destroyed the private property.

If you have a property issue in Cardiff, put down the sledgehammer and call your local Chartered Surveyor to assist and represent you.

Willmott Dixon opens new Skills Centre

Birminghamsurveyors.com – Construction giant Willmott Dixon has now formally opened a skills centre in Birmingham to train over 2,000 students a year. That is despite a tough few years for the company that employes 1,000 people in the midlands and manages long-term repairs and maintenance of 60,000 properties for Birmingham City Council.

The Willmott Dixon 4Life Academy is housed in a 14,000 square foot office complex at Electric Avenue, Aston. Click on either link for local surveyors working with companies like this, as well as private clients.

Parkour

PropertySurveying.co.uk – Parkour is a training discipline that developed out of military obstacle course training. It has since developed into a craze across Europe.

Practitioners aim to move from one place to another, negotiating the obstacles in between. These obstacles are typically mundane objects of the built environment (houses, buildings, fences, ramps etc.) It hit the news lately with the death of a 24 year old girl, who plunged to her death 17 storeys below on her first Parkour lesson.

Basic construction error results in £25k+ in fines after tenant nearly poisoned

Chesterfield Surveyors– In a case that came to fruition just before Christmas 2012; Chesterfield Borough Council has been ordered to pay more than £25,000 in fines and costs after a cataclysmic construction error almost cost the life of a tenant on Stand Road, Newbold, Chesterfield.

Find out the full story in our newsletter, to be sent out to all subscribers next week.

For details on how to subscribe to our newsletter, follow this link.

Two Year Wait Ends for Whitehaven Hospital Redevelopment

Cumbria Surveyors – After a two year wait, Laing O’Rourke, one of the UK’s leading construction firms, has finally signed the contract for the £90m West Cumberland Hospital redevelopment in Whitehaven. The signing of the deal means that a £70m contribution from the Treasury can now be unlocked and will be released throughout the project in phases.

The project should have a wider benefit to the economy, including to related industries like property surveying. To find a local surveyor in Cumbria, click here.