Taylor Tuxford Associates

What a busy week we have planned!

2012-02-27T17:14:00.000Z

In the next seven days we are: -

Going to Gretna Green for wedding;
Sponsoring the Real Ale festival at Magna, Rotherham;
Visiting a recently completed straw bale house;
Rehearsing for a forthcoming Charity Show/Quiz night;
Travelling to Northampton to the headquarters of the Association of Building Engineers (and back again);
Presenting a design project (Canal basin restaurant conversion) at Sheffield Hallam University;

...and that’s not counting our day to day workload! Not that we’re complaining, it’s great to be busy.

Rotherham Real Ale & Music Festival

2012-02-23T09:13:00.000Z

We are very pleased to be sponsoring a barrel at the Real Ale & Music Festival to be held at MAGNA, running from Wednesday 29th February to Saturday 3rd March 2012. The Festival is 20 years old this year and there will be over 200 Real Ales for you to choose from with a good range of real cider and a huge choice of wines.

The purpose of the festival is to support local charities that help children throughout South Yorkshire. Last year, £35,000 was shared between their nominated good causes. This year the Festival profits will go to the Rotherham Hospice, Weston Park Hospital, MAGNA Trust and Bluebell Wood Children's Hospice (of whom we are a supporter via our activities with BluCrew).

The whole event is organised and run by volunteers. From the people in the "back office" to the bar staff serving your beer, all are unpaid helpers. Thanks to everyone and we hope to see you there.

Life long learning.

2012-02-03T13:26:00.000Z

Michelle is currently almost half way through the third year of her part time degree in Architectural Technology at Sheffield Hallam University and has been anxiously awaiting the result of a recent exam which she sat in mid January. She’s pleased to have received confirmation that she has attained an excellent pass mark in not only the exam but also the first semester assignments.

The project this semester takes the form of conversion works to a Grade II listed building in the Peak Park to create a new restaurant; this will entail research into conservation methods and practices as well as an element of interior design.

Michelle decided to study for the degree course as part of her commitment to life long learning, she also wanted to expand her knowledge base in the field of Architectural Technology and to challenge her preconceptions and to develop an understanding of the industries emerging innovations and techniques. Of course studying with a group of younger students helps keep the ideas fresh and the subject matter interesting.

Association of Building Engineers Yorkshire and Humber Region

2012-01-27T13:47:00.000Z

Last night we attended an evening seminar by Cupa Natural Slate – Specifying Natural Roofing Slate at Niagara Conference & Leisure, Hillsborough, Sheffield. This event was hosted by the Association of Building Engineers Yorkshire and Humber regional committee and followed their Annual General Meeting.

Rhys and Michelle, as well as being full members of the Association of Building Engineers, both served as active members on the regional committee. Rhys has made the decision however to stand down and to bring to an end 11 consecutive years of representation. He served initially on the regional branch committee followed by the National Council and Presidential team where he served as President of the Association of Building Engineers and latterly on the regional committee finishing as its Chairman.

The Regional committee would like to thank Rhys for all his hard work; a fellow committee member had this to say:

“It’s a shame he is stepping back because he is a real driving force to the ABE and a credit to the region. I shall miss him because he is a real character and always a pleasure to have been involved with the ABE along side of him.”

Michelle is pleased to have been elected to serve as the Region’s Secretary and takes over the role from Mike Hardeman and our thanks go to him; we would also like to congratulate Basil Parylo on his election to Chairman and to thank Bernard Henry for agreeing to continue as regional treasurer.

You can find the regional Committee on Facebook: -

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Association-of-Building-Engineers-Yorkshire-Humber-Region/188054554562668

Wow, doesn’t time fly?

2012-01-24T12:59:00.000Z

We hadn’t realised it had been so long since our last blog. Since the beginning of October not only have we been busy in the office but everyone at Taylor Tuxford has been heavily involved with a local fundraising group named BluCrew. This group was set up in September 2009 as an independent fund-raising group with primary ties to Bluebell Wood Children's hospice. They host social evenings, concerts, duck races and all manner of fundraising events.

BluCrew’s objective is very simple – to raise as much money as possible by organising entertainment and fundraising events. Typically they put on Variety Shows and Concerts at venues in the local area and invite members of the public to come along and enjoy the entertainment whilst primarily supporting charity. Their aim is to raise at least £10,000 per year and we are very pleased to announce that the target was surpassed for 2011...well done to all involved but especially to the supporters, without you it would not have been possible.

If you would like more information you can visit BluCrew’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/BluCrew

What is the difference between an Architect and an Architectural Technologist?

2011-09-30T19:48:00.000+01:00

At a recent industry conference we were asked the question ‘What is an Architectural Technologist? I’ve heard of an Architect but not of an Architectural Technologist.’ It seems to us that the wider public really have no idea what the role of an Architectural Technologist is and so we thought that perhaps we should try to set the record straight and explain the difference.

My dictionary defines an Architect as:

‘One who plans and draws the designs of buildings and superintends their erection; a designer of some complex work; a contriver, planner.’

The Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologists (CIAT) defines the Technologist’s role thus:

‘Architectural Technologists,’ ‘are experts concerned primarily with the sound technical performance of buildings. They are specialists in building design and construction and can initiate and complete a building project from conception through to final certification. They undertake a wide range of work including domestic, commercial and industrial projects.’

So based on these definitions we could argue that in many respects there is no material difference between the two professions, although I have often heard the difference described thus; ‘An architect delivers the conceptual design and the technologist delivers the technical design, that is, the nuts and bolts of how a building is constructed not just how it will look and be used.’

Technologists often work closely with Architects and can form the link between the Architect’s concept and the completed construction, of course many Technologists work as sole practitioners and have full responsibility for the conceptual design normally associated with Architects and are very successful at it. Equally many Architects are fully equipped to deliver complex construction detailing to compliment their conceptual design.

The CIAT defines the difference as:

‘...Architectural Technologists and architects are qualified and competent to lead construction projects from design through to completion. The difference is within the specialisms that they will bring to a project. Chartered Architectural Technologists’ training and emphasis is the science and technology of architecture and architects’ training and emphasis is the design and philosophy of architecture. Whilst both disciplines have their own distinct training and specialism, there is considerable overlap between the two professions.’

Whether a particular project needs an Architect or an Architectural Technologist to lead the design team is a matter for the client to decide based upon the individual practitioner’s experience, capabilities and portfolio.

first blog

2011-09-16T19:50:00.000+01:00

Well, where to start? We're completely new to blogging so it might take us a while to get into the swing of things. I guess we'll start of with a short summary of this week's events....two of the company's directors have enjoyed a well earned break from the office and despite being on leave one of them still attended the Association of Building Engineers Yorkshire and Humber regional committee meeting and seminar yesterday evening at Scunthorpe.

We have been involved with a number of interesting domestic projects this week requiring flood risk assessments. It seems that this requirement is becoming more and more frequent as the incidences of heavy rainfall events increase in the UK and flood mapping and associated flood risks become more well used and publicised. Some estimates predict that a 20% increase in flood levels could be on the cards! The Summer's certainly seem shorter these days.

We've begun prelimary designs for a new warehouse development in Sheffield and have several interesting planning applicaitons under consideration with differing Planning Authorities.

The Rotherham Advertiser has published a short article today reporting on the proposed conversion works at a former public house for which we are the designers and agents. Although the article seems to suggest that we have been interviewed for the piece we can advise that they have taken all of their information from the supporting documentation available to view on Rotherham MBC's public access website and not from us directly.

Well, that's all for now. Thanks for reading.