Child Graddon Lewis Architects & Designers

Len & "The Mapping Guys" at the British Swimming Championships

2012-03-07T17:47:00.007Z

Last night I (on behalf of CGL) joined Landmark Information Group (most will know them as the mapping guys. Apart from giving us a great CPD on their Promap services recently, they took us out for dinner and front row tickets for the British Swimming Championships!

The evening started off with dinner and drinks at the new Jamie Oliver’s Italian at Westfield Stratford. The food was splendid and surprising, especially the mini-meatball carbonara which had a bit of a lemony 'twist' to it...how very Oliver (*applause please).

No doubt the best treat of the night was visiting the London Aquatics Centre! For those who haven’t seen enough of Zaha’s spectacle, plenty of photos below. The experience goes as follows:

Make your way through security, a very similar fashion as airport security. There are x-ray machines, laptops out of bags and no sharp objects.

Like in an airport, have your tickets ready to be checked again when you get in, directed to your seat.

Moments before a race start the entire centre would go silent, then a word from the marksman, a short buzz and they were off! Should you be betting on a swimmer, always pick lane 4. It, like the F1, lanes 3, 4 and 5 are pole positions according to qualifying times.

Where we were sat, we’d watch the procession of champions after each race, with the winners being picked out the line for an interview with the Britain’s golden girl of swimming, Sharron Davies!

Oddly enough, inside was dazzlingly bright and of course the air extremely warm. But once acclimatised the impressive double-curved ceiling and flowing concrete curves create a soft and comfortably space.

Sadly, after a great evening and acclimatising to the aquatics centre, stepping back into London felt a little more dreary than usual, yes just like getting off the plane.

Posted by: Lenard Wong, Architectural Assistant

The conversion of office space to new housing

2012-03-01T15:18:00.003Z

Arita Morris, Associate Director here at CGL has just written an Opinion Piece in this week's Architect's Journal.

You can read it here:

As part of the government’s plans to simplify the planning system and drive growth, one area that has been overshadowed by the debate surrounding the National Planning Policy Framework, is the separate proposal to extend permitted development rights to allow the change from offices, research & development and light industrial properties to residential.

Irrespective of the proposed legislative changes, the move is a timely reminder of the opportunities that redundant office space can offer in bringing forward much needed new housing. Child Graddon Lewis has published a report analysing the impact and opportunities of the government’s proposals. The research and analysis covering architectural, cost, planning and engineering issues was prepared together with Nathaniel Litchfield & Partners, Robinson Lowe Francis, and engineers Ramboll, with the NHBC acting as an advisory partner.

As a practice, Child Graddon Lewis has converted numerous office spaces to residential over the past 22 years. In all cases, the conversion has transformed redundant buildings and provided long term benefits in relation to the local community and townscape.

There have, however, been many circumstances where schemes such as these have faced significant barriers in the form of local policy in relation to protection of employment space. It is the cost and risk associated with these issues that the government wishes to do away with, allowing developers greater flexibility and reducing uncertainty. This policy approach would therefore seem welcome. But, some local authorities, and in particular the City of London, are rightly concerned with the loss of control over employment space and the quality of residential accommodation coming forward; not to mention the delivery of affordable housing which would, as a consequence, be outside developers’ remits. So, ultimately it appears that the government will follow a ‘softer’ policy approach, and include a presumption in favour of change of use, while allowing local authorities the opportunity to asses design, quality and delivery of affordable housing.

The government’s figures suggested as many as 22,000 new homes could be created by changing disused commercial properties to residential. But location, building suitability and financial viability are considerations likely to lower this number.

Our analysis shows that areas likely to present the greatest opportunities are in established centres or residential environments, particularly within the commuter belt round central London and the wider South East. However, regional town and city centres such as Bristol, Harrogate, Norwich and Southampton also provide opportunities given their current undersupply of housing and increases in projected households over the next 20 years.

By analysing the type and format of existing office spaces, we established post-war offices built before 1970 as the group of buildings most likely to be viable for residential conversion. To meet current building regulations re-cladding would usually be necessary, which might make the process more complicated, but would be an inevitable part of improving a building’s energy efficiency and increasing its aesthetic value.

So, the remaining question is one of finance. Does the business case make sense? With average national land values putting residential land at over £1,800,000 per hectare, commercial at around £700,000 and industrial fractionally lower at £600,000, acquiring land currently used for commercial or light industrial use is the cheaper option. We studied four cost scenarios to illustrate the possibilities open to residential developers:
• Upgrading an older commercial building to current standards and requirements
• Converting to residential to meet existing building regulations
• Converting to residential to meet 2013 building regulations
• An equivalent new build residential development

The office upgrade, unsurprisingly, is cheapest per square metre, at around £1,400. A residential conversion to Part L 2010 would come in at around £1,600, and to Part L 2013 at £1,700. Then comes the biggest hike: an equivalent new build development would cost around £2,200.

How such conversions will take place is dependent on several factors. Many urban centres have reached capacity due to previous high-density residential development and mortgage rationing. Precise location is everything for saleability post-completion, ruling out a lot of current commercial and light industrial buildings. Equally, family-sized homes which are in greatest demand are less likely to be accommodated.

As this article goes to press the results of the government’s consultation are still to be announced. Even while there are suggestions that a softer policy approach may be a preferred option though, the presumption in favour of sustainable development outlined in the NPPF, should provide a useful starting point for developers and their advisors seeking to unlock vacant buildings.

The Departments to Apartments report is available to download for free from www.cgluk.com.

Did you visit the OMA exhibition at the Barbican?

2012-02-24T09:44:00.014Z

We did. Here's what a couple of our guys here had to say:

Michael Lewis, Director: I am not a fan of OMA's built work but the exhibition that has just finished at the Barbican was fascinating, thought provoking and left me envious of the amount of time they have to develop design solutions that range from furniture design for Cornell to mega-structures in the Far East. The process looks fun and anarchic but I suspect is more controlled than they would have you believe - you don't get to construct the new HQ for Rothschilds without having QA in place. The exhibition itself was more akin to a student's crit than a polished display and was all the better for it.

Andrzej Gierak, Part 2 Architect has a slightly more detailed account:
I found that , as with most events and exhibitions held at the Barbican, was inspiring, thought provoking and thoroughly entertaining.

It began with a signed note from Rem Koolhaas, circa 1997, addressed to the rest of the practice, informing his collaborators that it was time to start collecting and cataloguing - responsibly - everything that was produced in the office without throwing anything away. Rotor, the Brussels-based design collective tasked with curating the exhibition had been given full access to the entire OMA archive - from drawings and models, to minutes from secret meetings and financial records - as well as total immersion into the working environment of offices in Rotterdam, Hong Kong, Beijing and New York.

Giving scale to the task at hand, Rotor organised the exhibition with the precision of a forensic examiner, setting up the central space with a large screened slideshow flickering 3,454,204 images from the OMA central database. Fascinating to watch, I felt like a Johnny Mnemonic (mid-Nineties Keanu Reeves vehicle anyone?) absorbing details of every OMA project at an insanely rapid rate. Actually, I was developing a migraine.

In fact, the entire lower floor was dedicated to the "current pre-occupations" of the practice: "what's on OMA's mind?" Dedicated to the practice partners, their observations, thoughts on society, the built environment and current trends; while the "secret room" showcases the importance of keeping records and tracing information by plastering walls using only the documents found in the paper bins during 1 month. This would've been much more interesting if they hadn't been heavily redacted of (juicy) sensitive information with a black marker.

Having set the scene of a practice dedicated to progress through self-reflection and critical evaluation of recorded ideas and trends to develop their designs, the upper floor exhibited the highly varied projects OMA have worked on over the past 35 years. Over 450 objects from the archives covering their completed large scale developments, including the ubiquitous CCTV building and Seattle Library to furniture designs, unrealised projects and their continuing collaboration with Prada.

Personal highlights included a video interviewing the cleaner of Maison Bordeux (completely perplexed as to how this building stands up with no solid external walls), the foldaway auditorium seating that could mechanically tuck itself into the floor void, bearings and rollers designed for Arup for a heliocentric tower in the Middle East, and the extravagant material experiments that included metal panels deliberately deformed using underwater explosions.

As with many iconic and large scale developments by OMA this (suprisingly and expressly) demonstrated a holistic design approach, not just about an exotic shape, but shows an inherent understanding of the building's function and context, whilst pushing the boundaries of tectonics and materiality by developing new material effects, patterns and techniques. It would be quite easy to build up a jealous rage while walking around the exhibition of their priviledged commissions, impressive client base, and their unique opportunity to be in a position where they can afford to develop new facade materials, but their collective work is inspiring, progressive and instils me with pride in my chosen profession.

The next major exhibition at the Barbican covers the heavily-documented Bahaus, but I'm sure with the Barbican spin this should definitely prove to be worth a visit.

Nike Man U Store featured in Lighting

2012-01-20T14:15:00.001Z

CGL worked on the Manchester United store last year with Nike.

See the article on the 'green lighting' here.

CGL Christmas Party

2011-12-16T12:46:00.005Z

Wednesday evening we had the CGL Christmas Party with dinner in the Opium Lounge at the Prince Regent Pub in Marylebone.

The night was attended by the elite at CGL (dressed to impress in the Red & Green theme) with dinner, The Jeffy Awards, Andrzej's Christmas Quiz, and the presentation of the 2010/11 Masterbake Champion......Michael Lewis!

Ronnie O'Sullivan's in the House!

2011-11-25T09:52:00.005Z

Last night the Team from Conisbee ventured over to Shoreditch for a friendly game of pool in The Water Poet on Folgate Street.

Thanks to Dan, Dave and their colleagues for coming across (again). I believe the next event is darts?

Bowling Vs Bradbrook at Sutton Superbowl

2011-11-11T09:57:00.004Z

Last night we ventured down south to Sutton, to play Bradbrook Consulting at CoPlan's newly refurbished bowling alley. Thanks to Colin and his staff for their great food, cold beer and good laughs.

Future of Urban Living - The Ove Arup Foundation

2011-10-26T14:37:00.002+01:00

The Ove Arup Foundation, in conjunction with the Guardian Newspaper has launched a micro-site about the Future of Urban Living:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/what-future-urban-living

The site is a work in progress and are adding more articles, talking heads and a poll in the next few days.

Art on our doorstep

2011-10-11T09:54:00.007+01:00

CGL has become a canvas for well-known street art....once again.
Until recently, our only piece of street art was from the artist Above, whose arrow is seen at the top left-hand corner of the photo taken a few weekend's ago at our Open House weekend.

However, last week Mexican street artist Pablo Delgado honoured us with one of his miniature paste-ups:

Characters such as these have been appearing throughout Shoreditch during the summer months, depicting a miniature world full of tigers, trampolines, elephants and Victorian curiosities.

You can read an interview with the artist here:

http://www.dontpaniconline.com/magazine/arts/pablo-delgados-paste-up-prostitutes

CGL busy for Open House

2011-09-19T12:07:00.004+01:00

It seems London's Open House was a tremendous success with the public coming out in their droves to check out London's iconic architecture.

With several buildings and spaces opened in Spitalfields alone, we too opened up our studios on Saturday and Sunday with over 350 visitors for the weekend.

On Saturday we worked with children from the Social Mobility Foundation, hosting our Annual Architecture Futures Day. On Sunday we managed to raise almost £250 for the Social Mobility Foundation from our Charity Book Sale held from midday until 5pm. Spitalfields Market revellers stopped by to browse the selection of books and then wandered through our studio, learned about our green wall, the history of our building and talk about architecture and the way we work in general.

A great event for engaging with the public, which we don't often get to do on a day-to-day basis.

Working hard at Westfield Stratford

2011-09-09T10:08:00.004+01:00

Looking down the 'street' at Nike

Boots - working on the shopfront

Vision Express fixtures and fittings beginning to take shape

Four days left and we have a few employees are suffering from mild stress and lack of sleep at the moment as we have three stores on site at the new Westfield Stratford City - in a race against time to complete for the opening on Tuesday 14th September.

We are working with Boots, Nike and Vision Express delivering their new stores and last week, Sean Collins took a few snapshots of how things are looking.

Open House in Spitalfields

2011-08-31T17:34:00.003+01:00

From previous posts, you'll note that we're opening our studio on 17th and 18th September 2011 for London's Open House weekend.

See the link below for details of all buildings and spaces open in Spitalfields:

Open House Spitalfields

On the Sunday (Market Sunday) we'll be selling used Design Books with all sales going to the Social Mobility Foundation. We've already had generous donations from the NLA and RIBA Bookshop, but still looking for a few more. If you have anything to give, including old sketches or dyeline prints, please contact Juanita Mathews at juanita.mathews@cgluk.com.

Rounders Roundup

2011-08-25T15:26:00.003+01:00

Well, it’s time for the last softball-related Rounders Roundup for the season and this week we were up against Cost Consultant’s Cyril Sweett for a rematch to claim back our pride that fizzled away like a flat, hot beer after our last encounter in June. Who would’ve thought that QS’s like sport?!

Suited and booted with ample snacks (and dip as promised) we commenced the match to bat first, sending Cyril Sweett (CS) out to field. Up steps Len to open the batting. After an impressive performance last match with 3 home runs, it was a given that he’d back that up right? No. Out! Caught, after swinging the wooden ‘east end slogger’ 3 times before connecting…brilliant start. Myself and Jon managed to get around the bases and Jonesy bags a home run on his first appearance of the season, it was a somewhat tepid, but tidy start.

Changeover of innings saw dodgy field placing (I admit that) and skills reminiscent of the Indian Test Cricket side (sorry Lena). Apparently, my first mistake was asking Jeffy to pitch – a fine pitcher he is, his low, flat pacers seemed to connect with every single batter from the CS side – there was nothing we could do. We were parched due to the lack of beer, Jonesy and Jon were dodging prams, couples and a football match to chase down the big hitters and Toby on first base proved absolute, pure comedy. Then…….Laura came in to replace Jeffy with an out after a few deliveries, thanks Laura! Bottom of the first innings we were up the proverbial creek without a paddle and a 35-4 deficit.

We were depleted and dejected? Yes, did we have a few more beers and sausage rolls and start finger pointing? Yes. But back in to bat we went trying to pull back the 31 runs we needed for victory. We made 7, with home runs to Jon and once again, Jonesy. I’m sure the pink socks were a distraction (see photo). In CS go again to bat. Bracing ourselves with plenty of beer to see out another fielding marathon, Jonesy took up the pitching. Well goodness me, we’ve found a winner! CS did not score for the innings…What The? Bottom of the second CS 35 – CGL 11.

A little more perky on our feet we shoot an impressive 11 runs with Jeffy and Chris contributing homers and we managed to keep the same field placing – don’t fix it if it ain’t broke, to keep CS to only 2 runs for the innings with a very impressive catch to Len in right field who had an eternity to line it up, have a sip of his beer and think about his excuses if he wasn’t to stick in his glove! What a turnaround and bottom of the 3rd scores were CGL 22 – CS 37. With still enough light in, CS sent us back in to bat to see if we can actually win this – it looked good there for a moment, but Len was out (again) with an up and under to the pitcher, as was Jon – Greg scored yet another homer (where have you been this season??) and Jeffy tied it off nicely to make up for his poor pitching with a homer too. Only making 6 runs, taking us to 28 we didn’t quite get there.

As usual, après-ball was the usual affair with the CS crew with beers-a-plenty, quality banter and office gossip. We were once again kicked out of the Edinboro Castle at stumps. Good times.

A very special shout out must go to the CGL Cheer Squad in Lena and Natasha who came along, sat on the side, drank the beer and kind of said Go Team (under their breath).

Table tennis against these guys where, if I say, we are suitably more consistent will happen in September, so keep those lunch times practice sessions in James!

Over and out

Juansy

Rounders Roundup

2011-08-18T12:30:00.002+01:00

Hello

Another Rounders Roundup for this week, and yes, it's on time for once.

We were pimped and primed to play Terry Farrells (TF) this week, where the sledging began a good two months ago, thanks to my trusty cricket lover and Vice Captain, Greg Jones. But just after lunch yesterday, I find an email with TF conceding that their numbers were severely depleted this week and that they must forfeit!

If only they had waited for the weather - but alas, I'm extremely grateful for the win.

In lieu of softball, off to the pub we went to discuss tactics for next week's final softball (re)match against the competitive Cyril Sweett, where I'm hoping that my 'trusty Vice Captain' will make an appearance for his first match of the season.

All players, clear your schedules because it's GAME ON!

Until next week
Juansy

Breakfast at Kennedy's

2011-08-18T12:19:00.003+01:00

This morning started with a breakfast talk held by Women in Property where Katrine Sporle, former Chief Executive of the Planning Inspectorate gave a warm and frank address.

Hosted at Kennedy's – the view was as inspirational as the discussion:

Helen Cooper
Associate
Child Graddon Lewis

Growth, Localism and ........Riots?

2011-08-18T11:52:00.006+01:00

I recently attended the New London Architecture conference The New Planning Agenda – Growth versus Localism? It was a hotbed of ideas and opinions on localism its practicalities.

Last week we were all subjected to group/groups within our local communities rising up as a self destructive force. The riots have no doubt added another (unexpected) level of complexity to the Government's aspirations.

At the conference Shona Dun from the Department of Communities and Local Government gave the key note speech. Insisting that localism and growth are not incongruent, she went on to outline the Localism Bill, the National Planning Policy Framework and the Growth Review all with the aim to help implement the Government's vision: 'Freedom, fairness and responsibility.'

There was heated debate and a number of questions were raised:
- Do Local Authorities have the resources to create Local Plans where local policy is not already in place?

- How do disparate groups within the community, with contrasting agendas and without experience put forward considered Neighborhood Plans? How do they pay for this? Will it only be those with resources who are heard – or even care to take part?

- Will developers be able to claim costs on successful appeals after Planning Committees refuse? How are committee members to become more educated on the multitude of elements which come together to form a large scale planning submission?

- Has design been lost from the NPPF and LB? Is the future designing by committee?

I fear that although decentralizing power and responsibility can empower communities, without the necessary support and resources how will that empowerment (and the related sense of responsibility) get to where it is needed most?

A painted poster on a boarded up shop on Mare Street, Hackney says: "Give us our Youth Clubs back".

As the Bank of England down grades its economic growth forecast for 2011 to 1.5%, not only are the Local Authorities being asked to do more with less but Developers are as well.

By Helen Cooper
Associate
Child Graddon Lewis

We're looking for donations.....

2011-08-17T14:55:00.005+01:00

We are participating in this year’s Open House, opening our Studio to the masses! To offer something a little different on ‘Market Sunday in Spitalfields' we have decided to set up a CHARITY DESIGN BOOK STALL.

Even if it’s just one book that your company may not use – it will all be helpful to stock our stall.

We are offering a pick-up service on specified days, so you needn’t leave your office!

If you have books/magazines to donate, please send an email with DONATE in the subject field to juanita.mathews@cgluk and we will contact you to arrange it further.

CGL Rounders Roundup

2011-08-11T18:19:00.004+01:00

Hi All

Time for another belated report. Unfortunately my guest writer wasn't able to complete the task, so I've stepped in last minute to keep you abreast of CGL's Sporting Prowess (or lack thereof).

This time round was the softball match against Cartwright Pickard Architects (CPA), organised by Huw.

Arriving at Regents Park on the fine summer's evening of last Wednesday, we settled into a pitch amongst families, prams and loved-up couples, only to find the opposition sitting on a picnic blanket tucking into crisps, dips and sarnies! This provoked an internal uproar of why our 'refreshments' weren't as refined - which was quickly settled after a promise to provide dips for the future.

With CPA, severley depleted in numbers, Huw switched sides and we lent them a few fielders. The score at the end of the 1st innings was a respectable 3 - 3.

CGL out to field at the beginning of the second saw a BIG batting spree by CPA - their runs totalling 29 for the innings!. Home run, after home run - but Mike (Lewis), Simon (Child) and Matt (Burroughs) did a stirling job in the outfield - especially Simon whose right field position seemed to be 'smack bang' in the middle of another match.

Time for us to step up to the plate (sorry!) and see if we can narrow the huge deficit. We didn't do too bad, our newbies, Lauren and Eva, both made it home for runs, Len's (Wong) double home run and Matt, Simon, Mark (Jeffery) and Jon (Keysell) all contributing to the home runs too. Unfortunately We fell just short. Bottom of the 2nd the scores were CGL 25 - CPA 32 and the loved-up couple finally realised they weren't going to last very long in left field unless they picked up a glove!

The 3rd innings was much the same we kept CPA to a respectable 11 runs, but couldn't quite take the win having made 14 runs. A special mention must go to Mike who scored his first 'homer' of the season, much to his relief.

The final scores were CGL 39, CPA 43. It was that 2nd innings! Oh well, a narrow loss, but a great game.

Cheers

Juansy

Rounders Roundup

2011-08-01T17:44:00.003+01:00

Hello All

Yes, it me again with another CGL Sporting Roundup.

After a dreary losing streak, we were keen to set our reputation back to top-dog form, so last week we were scheduled for a light-hearted Ping Pong match against engineering firm, Conisbee.

Having spent the previous week being rounded up in the courtyard by James for lunch time practice sessions, the team were at their utmost prime to prevail this Wednesday, or so I thought….

Conisbee came to the party with an All Men’s side, polished and primed for a night of competition. Beers in hand, they held back to size up their competition and by the looks of things, anything other than a win for these lads, would be unacceptable.

After the introductions to team and the rules of the game: ‘CGL Standard Lunch Time Rules’, the doubles kicked off relatively positive for CGL with James and Len beating the Conisbee combination of Richard and Dave 11 to 7. From then on, it seemed to go south for us. Much like the Indian Test Cricket Team we couldn’t quite get off the mark, Matt and Sophie and Laura and Jon suffered narrow losses; the Aussie combination of Juansy and Colby suffered a big defeat at the hands of Rob and Dan and the end of Round 1 saw Conisbee lead 3-1.

Instead of a pep-talk, I’d decided that more alcohol was needed. This meant the singles proved a little more entertaining with rallies and shots rivalling that of a Nadal V Federer match. Wins to our top seeds: James, Jon, Juansy helped things along, Matt however had a marathon of a match against Ikem losing 12-14 Temper, temper Matthew! Len brought us back into the game beating Dan and this result bringing the set score CGL 5 – Conisbee 6.

After a quick Nando’s meal break and several beer breaks, we proceeded forward with re-matches and doubles and by the end of it, or more accurately - what was evident in my scorebook, was that the scores were tied at 7 sets all! Being the opposing team and no access to the scorebook I would've asked the same question as Dave did the next day..."are you sure it was a draw?" We both couldn't believe it and had we known about this, I'm sure this would have been rectified after another 1 or 2 matches.No one likes a draw. Well, no one that's not half competitive anyway.

Unfortunately or fortunately, I’m not sure which one, more (warm) beer was consumed and then a swift few at The Commercial Tavern where the post-match analysis occurred.

Perhaps a re-match against the Conisbee team is in order just to clarify who is deserving of the crown. I’ll keep you posted.

This week we have softball against Cartwright Pickard Architects. Game on people!

Until next week.
Juansy

Nike 1948 - done and dusted

2011-07-18T10:01:00.004+01:00

So the dust has settled, the ‘right’ people have toasted and the new Nike 1948 store has emerged…………

Rounders Roundup

2011-07-14T17:01:00.002+01:00

The 13th of July will always be a famous day:

• In 1923 the Hollywood sign was officially dedicated in the hills above Hollywood.
• In 100 BC Julius Caesar was born
• In 1942 Harrison Ford was born (yes thats right Indiana Jones!!!!)

The next reason for this being such a famous day is not such a nice one... it was the day that my 100% softball win record came to a close... It hurts!!!

So here we are on the 14th july, the dust has settled and it’s time for a Super fantastic softball round up!!

I think it was Spiderman who once said.. ‘with great power comes great responsibility’.

So let’s get down to the cold hard facts! We lost 26-31, it didn’t feel very nice and we were all pretty ashamed...

But it could have been so very different! First ball of the night was my responsibility and after leaving the first one (NEVER EVER EVER SWING ON THE FIRST BALL!!!!) I closed my eyes swung my bat and hit a home run. The rest of the innings was pretty good too except for Len smashing the ball at poor Laura’s arm we managed to score quite a few runs.

Then we fielded............. what can i say............. it didn’t go well..... it’s not that it was totally Jeffy’s fault...

So we found ourselves a long way behind, Juansy stepped up to spur on the team...

"Good evening. Good evening. We are about to launch the largest softball comeback in the history of mankind. Mankind, that word should have new meaning for all of us today. We can't be consumed by our petty differences any more. We will be united in our common interest. Perhaps it's fate that today is the 13th of July, and you will once again be fighting for our freedom. Not from tyranny, oppression, or persecution, but from annihilation. We're fighting for our right to live, to exist and should we win the day, the 13th of July will no longer be known as an American holiday, but as the day when the world declared in one voice, 'We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight! We're going to live on, we're going to survive.' Today we celebrate our playing a bit of softball day!" (genuine quote, in no way ripped off from the film independence day)

Spurred on by this EPIC speech we went back into bat..

As you can see from the before mentioned score we didn’t quite come back but gave it a darn good go!

Oh and Jon had a very successful spell as pitcher......

Good Night

Written by Matt Burroughs

New CGL report preview – making the most of new commercial to residential planning proposals

2011-07-07T14:49:00.001+01:00

The Government’s proposal to allow commercial to residential conversions without applying for planning permission will benefit some towns and suburban areas but is unlikely to achieve improvements to housing numbers on the scale anticipated, particularly for family housing.

These are the headline findings of a report being produced by Child Graddon Lewis, leading a consortium including planners Nathaniel Lichfield & Partners, cost consultants Robinson Low Francis, and engineering and environmental consultant Gifford, now part of Ramboll, as well as NHBC in an advisory role on building control issues.

The report, which will be published later this summer, will be the first in depth report for property owners and developers wanting to tap into the new opportunities this policy will provide.

Arita Morris, Associate Director at Child Graddon Lewis said:
“These proposals are to be welcomed in principle – they will increase supply, help address the huge shortage of 750,000 dwellings forecast in the next 15 years, and improve the appearance and vitality of the UK’s towns and cities.

“For owners of relatively modern offices in parts of London, suburban areas and some towns, these proposals will be a golden opportunity to bring their properties back into use and help meet housing demand while seeing a return on investment.

“However, these opportunities could be limited unless further detail and guidance accompanies the change in law. The key to all this is a thorough analysis of any property up front to ensure that it can meet market demands as well as planning policy requirements.”

For further information or to request details of the report when it is published please contact Arita Morris at arita.morris@cgluk.com.

The Nike 1948 Evolution

2011-06-16T17:57:00.009+01:00

In the beginning (2008) there was a car park in the railway arches in a back street of Shoreditch...

...But under the industrial grime Nike could see the potential for a new ‘Shoreditch chic’ pop up shop...

...Starting life in a temporary fashion didn’t hold it back. Nike 1948 became a neighborhood hub holding community events including screen printing and dance workshops and supporting local artist installations...

...2008 Mister Batlow and friends Courtyard Commission...

...Feb 2009 - After great success Nike 1948 reopened as a more permanent space with a retail installation by Oscar and Ben Wilson entitled ‘Raise The Game'...

...July 2009 - INSA Street artist installation ‘Looking for love in all the wrong places’...

...Aug 2009 - The installation by Kustaa Saksi was all about the historical fun journey of the Nike running shoe...

...Oct 2010 - Rosie Lees took over the Nike 1948 space with a full scale installation related to the Nike Lunar Eclipse running shoe...

By the end of 2010 Nike 1948 had come a long way from the run down car lot. Not only a base for the local running club the ‘RUN DEM CREW’ but also place to hold high profile events with the likes of Dizee Rascal and Rio Ferdinand.

This all ended when the shop closed late 2010 to undergo a new transformation, one which CGL is excited to be a large part of.

Watch this space...

Ping Pong Post Production

2011-06-09T11:48:00.004+01:00

Hi Y’all

Back for another round up of this week’s sport which had the CGL Sloggers hosting the Westfield Warriors at Table Tennis on CGL’s home turf.

Jo (my mate at Westfield) posted a sign in Westfield’s communal kitchen and managed to scrounge up a team almost worthy to take on China in next year’s Olympics. After much debate about rules and alternate hits in doubles we were away with James and Len opening the tournament with a CGL win and a fine display of skill. Progressing through the doubles with another 6 matches which included a tight match with Dave & Anj only losing 11-13 and Laura playing in high heels and neckware that rivalled an African Tribeswoman, she still managed to hit the ball with a couple of winners. Quite nimble is she in those shoes!

With CGL down 3 sets to 4 it was time for the singles. Pitting the equal seeded players against each other, first to 11. IT WAS ON!

James had two easy wins in the doubles so went into the singles quietly confident, only to find his equal at putting extreme spin on a ping pong ball that I didn’t think was possible. I won’t highlight his score (see below), but the end of the match he was heard saying…”Juansy, we need to get out here at lunchtime more often…”.

I was seeded at No.3 and came up against a fellow countryman who is equally as competitive as me (it is possible) and I found out today he has a table tennis table in his house? Steve (IT Guy), is this true? If so, my loss at 9-11 didn’t seem so bad. I didn’t quite believe the first loss, so challenged him and lost…again. Our only winners for the singles were Dave, thrashing his opponent 11-5 and Albert (a Westfield ring-in as we didn’t have enough players) beating Jo 11-5. Len had a close match and James re-challenged his opponent saving face slightly by only losing 7-11.

All in all the Westfiled Warriors kicked our bottoms, but a good night was had and thanks to all who stayed for a beer, sausages and chat. It was a good night and I’ve since heard from my source at Westfield that they are somewhat jubilant today, looking forward to the next game at the beginning of July. In the meantime, please refer to schedule of rigorous lunch time practice.

Over and out.

Capt JJ

Here are the scores:
Doubles
James & Len Vs Jo & Steve = 11-5

Juansy & Laura Vs Chris & Zarina = 6-11

Dave & Anj Vs Tannj & Elizabeth = 11-13

Albert & Juansy Vs Matt & Jo = 11-5

Steve & James Vs Steve & Zarina = 11-1

Dave & Len Vs Chris & Elizabeth = 1-11

Albert & Anj Vs Tannj & Matt = 8-11

Singles
James Vs Chris = 3-11 and 7-11

Dave Vs Elizabeth = 11-5

Juansy Vs Steve = 9-11 and 9-11

Anj Vs Tannj = 9-11

Albert Vs Jo = 11-5

Len Vs Matt = 10-12

Laura Vs Zarina – 7-11

Rounders Roundup

2011-05-26T17:41:00.001+01:00

This is my first column after taking over from the success of Captain Jones of the CGL Sloggers last season. So let’s be clear from the outset that this column will be no-where near as long or detailed, or attempt to be as humorous. However, I will endeavour to provide you with a light-hearted piece that will hopefully fill your Thursdays with a warm fuzzy feeling. If we lose…not so warm and fuzzy.

A last minute game set up by Andrzej and his Part 3 study group buddy, called Paul O’Grady (yes, true!) against one of Jon’s old playgrounds – Gibberd.

We won 44-12 – a white wash, you could say.

First: 8-5
Second: 19-9
Third: 19-11 - Nope, we didn’t score a Jatz cracker. I blame the lack of beer.
Fourth: 44-12

Highlights – the new blood. CGL’s fresh talent scored big. Money well spent:

‘Huw the Hustler’ who from the beginning never saw the deep-rooted talent he’s got scored two home runs. This did make up for the two outs he got in the other innings.
Len – who runs like a whippet between bases
Matt & Neil – proving that the only way is Essex
Jeffy – who made 3 home runs…whatever
Jon’s double brush with Karma. Ask how his shin is. As all of Regent’s Park heard the sound ball on bone last night, followed by his face-plant between running first and second base. This is what happens when you hit a girl in the previous innings and wear a cyan sweater.
Zee – who gave away her base to make sure we got to the pub before midnight.

Next week we will hopefully have a re-match against VHH who scared off after a little rain last week.

C’mon!!

Capt’n JJ signing off.

Homework Highly Commended

2011-05-23T12:04:00.004+01:00

We submitted a design entry for the British Council for Offices/Property Week: Rethinking the future competition held in early 2011.

The brief called for the design of a campus environment for up to 5000 employees to live and work on the fictional island of Riduna in 2018.

Our vision of 2018 is that technology will mediate almost all aspects of human experience: our five senses, personal relationships, cognition, emotion and memory. The concept focuses heavily on this culture and how it is manifested through the close integration of architecture and technology. The design ideas centre on ‘the home’ where zones are provided for a variety of activities and working patterns. Collectively these ‘homes’ will create a ‘town’ where all employees can meet, mingle and share ideas and inspiration.

The entry was shortlisted and highly commended and was part of the exhibition of winning designs at the annual British Council for Offices conference held in Geneva.

We're in Architecture Today!

2011-04-21T13:47:00.003+01:00

Well, our store is...Hobbs Flagship Store in Covent Garden is highlighted in a lighting feature in April 2011 Architecture Today. On this occasion, we're also mentioned!!

Our bit for charity

2011-04-11T12:26:00.005+01:00

CGL participated in RED BRICK DAY on Friday 8th April, an initiative by CRASH, the construction industry's charity for the homeless.

Red Brick Day is a day where all professionals working in the industry get a chance to raise money using 'loosely' the theme 'Red'. CGL's social team liaised with CRASH and organised events within the office to raise money for the charity.

With the 'Red' theme running throughout the day, we hosted our usual CGL Masterbake round, but with a (red) twist: Chocolate & Red Raspberry Muffins and a Rapberry & Almond Pithivier, with Mike Lewis winning with his muffins and proceeding to the third round.

We then had a 'red-themed' BBQ and Booze in the evening, enjoying the first sunny evening in our courtyard. Burgers with salads; beer n' red; red wine and red fire trucks were available to drink throughout the evening.

We raised a shave under £300 with proceeds of the sweepstake for the Grand National topping up the coffers.

A big thank you must go to the Directors for donating the food and drink and to our Wonder Chef Barbara for organising the sumptuous salads.

Nobody puts Beiber in the corner!

2011-03-24T10:37:00.006Z

On Wednesday evening I stepped out of the office and headed over to West London for an evening with the stars. Imagine my excitement at rubbing shoulders with the likes of David & Victoria Beckham, George Clooney – I might even meet the Queen!

No, I wasn’t suddenly taking to the stage and doing a turn at the Royal Variety Show, I was heading to at Madam Tussauds hosted by our clients, Eversholt Rail Group. The party was to say a big thanks to all their clients, suppliers and new investors. Lucky for me I was included on the guest list!

Now, I have only been to Madame Tussauds once – when I was 15 – so it had been, ahem, a few years and I didn’t know quite what to expect. We started off with the Spirit of London ride – a merry-go round ride in mini London taxis travelling through historic London scenes – animated by mobile waxworks marking achievements in the history of London. It was bizarre and at times grotesque - seeing things like a waxwork of Sir Christopher Wren jerkily moving from side to side swinging empty hands…not sure if he’d dropped his protractor or French curves, but he’d probably do well on a net-working golf day in current times…sadly no photography allowed in this section.

Moving up to the A list Party Room we were treated to drinks and canapés mingling with the stars. And the funny thing I had forgotten about standing next to the waxworks is that they make them full size. I can tell you Tom Cruise is not a tall man, Russell Brand is huge, George Clooney is… well he is just George Clooney (swoon) and Jennifer Lopez does have a very curvy figure. Down to the World stage ballroom for more drinks and food, we encountered Shrek (massive), the late great John Wayne, David Beckham (again - in England strip – not as tall as you might think), Ronaldo (very tanned) and Wayne Rooney – who appeared to be wearing a tam’o’shanter quality hairpiece… hmmm. I had a nice moment with Johnny Wilkinson, was astounded at how diminutive Lady Gaga was (even in platforms). The poor Queen was positioned behind the food serving counter so I didn’t get a chance to curtsy. We ate with important world leaders such as Ghandi (tiny), Colonel Gadaffi (before the cosmetic surgery), discussing the height of Indira Ghandi and Margaret Thatcher’s hair and finally found Justin Beiber. In a corner! Nobody puts Beiber in a corner!

It was a great night and for just a couple of hours I felt 15 again.

Sarah Harkins
Associate

Jonathan Keysell guest blogs for Architect's Journal

2011-03-15T10:26:00.004Z

Our very Jonathan Keysell, Associate Director at CGL has just had his first piece of journalistic reporting published as a guest blogger for AJ: Hattie Harman's Footprint Sustainability blog.

Jonathan reported on our Commercial Spring Greens talk early this month for the AJ, who were unable to attend the event.

You can see it here, along with photos of the event, and our projects for Eversholt Rail Group and Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea also feature.

http://blog.emap.com/footprint/2011/03/14/the-ins-and-out-of-green-leases/

How was MIPIM for you?

2011-03-14T11:01:00.005Z

Well, how was MIPIM for you? The general mood was positive and far less 'BS' was being distributed. However, the overall property market was a little like the Casino next to the 'bunker' (see photo), not quite there, not quite finished! Clearly the operators thought the property industry did not have much spare cash to lose on their tables and this is an accurate assessment although it did not expose 15,000 delegates to walking in the busiest road in Cannes, so there may be less delegates next year! I thought the red carpet was a nice touch though.

The two ladies (shown above) not only dispel the myth that most French people are vertically challenged but also that the industry is looking onwards and upwards with far greater optimism. However, the warm sunshine of Thursday morning was later challenged by another biting wind and this perfectly summed up the state of the property world in the UK.

It has been an immensely busy and rewarding week, but now the more challenging part: to follow up on all the leads and contacts and to create some inspiring projects with all the great people I met.

Simon Child, Director

from MIPIM

At last! An hour off.

2011-03-10T13:18:00.005Z

Once again, the traffic is something else! We head back to the hotel to recharge before travelling into the city again.

At last an hour to sit in the sun..... Only 37 degrees today Simon!

Last night was a late one again meeting some really interesting people including CEO's of some major retailers at a small event organised by Third Eyesight on behalf of UKTI London. This was networking Indian style where everyone was given the microphone and had to introduce themselves and their companies. Something none of us were prepared for! It was a great icebreaker though and led to some interesting conversations. Such as, "how can you do business here if it takes 2 hours to get across town?"

This morning was all about high street retail, Mumbai style. A visit to Linking Road in Bandra. A chance to see some local department stores, major international brands, local chains, arcades and street stalls. Followed by a Chinese lunch!

Tonight we have been invited by the chairman of the British Business Group, whom we met on Monday, to attend the monthly Cigar Club, apparently smoking is not essential but drinking is!
It is at the Bombay Royal Yacht Club overlooking the gateway to India so should be interesting.

Sean Collins, Director

from Mumbai

The sun has arrived!

2011-03-10T09:45:00.003Z

The overcoats are off this morning and this certainly feels more like MIPIM and less like a CIA convention in Alaska. The dark suits and sunglasses are here but it is a little quieter this morning as two days and three nights of 'networking' takes its toll. Sadly I was tempted by the devil last night to survey the exhausted networkers in the Martinez bar at 2am. It was still packed when I left despite the €10 bottles of beer, elegantly served of course.

Everything was in full swing yesterday. I started at The Majestic to hear about the enormity of The Royal Dock scheme in Newham. An amazing opportunity to create a whole new urban area but 'where are the new low level bridges?' Sir Terry Farrell asked. The lack of a convincing answer was telling. Basically, the urban areas north and south of the river cannot be easily connected while the Port of London Authority assume big ships are regularly going up and down the Thames. Which century are they living in?

The London Stand very busy again and a string of presentations extolling the virtues of each scheme continued throughout the day. Caught up with some old, but quite a few new contacts before a fated trip to Cafe Roma.

Packed as usual spilling over the newly installed barriers it took 10 minutes to find our client, partly due to bumping into contractors, sub-contractors, consultants we know and partly using a mobile phone, is impossible. After too many beers we agreed to meet for breakfast.

Off to the next reception via Rue d'Antibes. The shops are doing very well. You feel poor just looking through the windows. Arrived in shock but a drink is thrust in my hand and I'm off round the room like a spring chicken (I wish). An interesting developer here, a planning consultant there and quite a few PR men and women looking for our business. My goodness they were so impressive!!!! I realise I am not thinking straight and leave.

Final meeting. Lovely man, concerned I would mention him in this blog. Suffice it to say we had a good evening, put the property world to right and headed for the Martinez. The walk down The Croisette is always fun whatever time of day or night. Tonight, it is two ladies with a male friend trying to keep them up in their high heels. Their state obviously due to a lack of alcohol as they reach the bar before us to refuel. On the way the less fortunate residents of Cannes are trying to be sociable with everyone and to share our 'wealth'. 'NEED PETROL FOR MY PORCHE' the sign says. Why don't they ask in French? Rue d'Antibes clearly shows who has the money down here. The UK property world would just like some of it too.

Simon Child, Director

from MIPIM

Another day of contrasts

2011-03-09T11:42:00.008Z

Gateway to India

Market Stalls

The Palladium

The Taj

Mumbai is said to have the most obvious extremes in poverty right next to wealth. Slums right up next to some of the most expensive property, people living on the pavement alongside nice apartment buildings.

Today we started at the Gateway to India, where I got to appear in a few Indian tourists snaps as a friendly foreigner they met on holiday, before crossing the road to The Taj to visit their exclusive shopping arcade with stores such as Louis Vuitton and Versace. Then off to what must be the Mumbai equivalent of TK Maxx, Fashion Street. Here, small stalls appear daily selling excess export goods or rejects at bargain prices. Many are brands familiar in the US and Europe but not in the Indian retail market, such as American Eagle and Abercrombie.

Back on the bus to head for Palladium Mall and Phoenix High Street. Palladium is one of Mumbai's newest malls with glitzy stores spread over four floors. Many international brands were located on the lower levels with more home grown brands on the upper floors. Next door, Phoenix High Street featured Big Bazaar and Pantaloon who are both part of the successful Future Group. Big Bazaar is interesting as it like a street market polished up a bit brought under one roof.

And yes, Simon it is much warmer here, 31 degrees at least and I have an hour break for a quick dip in the pool before heading out for an evening of networking with local retailers and developers.

Sean Collins, Director

from Mumbai

Cold winds from Russia

2011-03-09T09:55:00.004Z

Very envious of Sean's trip to India. Probably swanning around in shorts and shirtsleeves while everyone here is freeeeeezing. Cold winds from Russia apparently at least it's not snowing like it is in the Adriatic. Not a very auspicious start to the week but then our Mayor arrives and the mood changes.

Boris delivered the key note address for the whole event. In a worldwind tour of London's opportunity areas he managed to insult our hosts numerous times with anecdotes about more bikes being stolen in Paris than London and cakes being exported from Waltham Forest to Paris. The hosts seemed amused while the many Chinese delegates looked bemused. The key message: Invest in London, the fastest growing city (by GDP) in the world.

Back in the real world the London Stand was humming. Several new large projects on show from Earls Court to Southall Gasworks. I immediately bumped into a potential new client before bumping into some existing ones. Boldly whipping out the iPad with their project on it certainly created an impression. Lots of our consultants on the stand. General mood, cautious optimism but where is the funding?

Of course it was International Women's Day. The 100th Anniversary! As you can see from the photo, MIPIM's recognition of it was summed up by this sign. Pathetic and from the proliferation of dark suited men Sylvia Pankhurst will be turning in her grave. At least this situation is partly redressed through a number of female directors at St Georges and St James. They have a brilliant stand.

Outside on the terrace was freezing yesterday but will it will no doubt hit the spot when it's due to warm up today and tomorrow.

Simon Child

Director

from MIPIM

Retail Research: India

2011-03-08T15:27:00.006Z

Arrived early in the morning after a night long flight to Mumbai to attend a Retail Forum hosted by the UKTI and Third Eyesight. With a full agenda for the coming week, I don't think 2 hours sleep on the flight and hotel will cut it.

The morning in Mumbai brings chaos, with amazing contrasts and lots of building work going on. After a 45 minute introduction to traffic it was a morning of seminars before heading out into the 32 degree heat to visit an Indian retailer at their HQ. This is then followed by an evening of networking and a talk of the new budget!

Tomorrow will bring another full agenda. We're due to visit In-Orbit Mall, Hypercity with the Indian Embassy Networking Dinner that evening.

Sean Collins

Director

CGL Hosts Commercial Spring Greens talk

2011-03-07T12:37:00.004Z

Child Graddon Lewis (CGL) hosted a talk last Thursday evening on the promotion of sustainability in commercial fit outs. Four speakers were invited to cover the various aspects of this issue, in front of a crowd of guest consultants, developers and landlords.

The evening started with Miles Keeping of GVA giving an insightful presentation on the disparity between tenant's aspirations and landlord's concerns with regard to a green agenda. Miles presented statistics showing how occupiers yearn for more energy efficient spaces, with lower running costs being the major driver, whilst equivalent research in owners’ priorities showed a relative lack of concern. As a result, designers are often not tasked with designing with the occupiers in mind, often due to the lack of empirical evidence out there underlining the virtues of designing in such a way. Future-proofing the office premises is the way forward, which could be best promoted by proving to tenants and landlords alike that productivity will be increased as a result.

The next speaker was Phil Shearer of RLF, asking the question “Can we afford zero carbon buildings?” According to Phil, the answer is “Yes”, so long as the right decisions are made at the earliest possible opportunities. There needs to be a holistic approach to the design of office premises, allowing each discipline to provide its most efficient solutions to be coordinated with the rest. Statistics demonstrated the ‘quick wins’ available to anyone refitting an office in a sustainable fashion, and also proved that, however unpleasant the end result may be, it would be so much cheaper to omit all windows from your design… It was also pointed out that most of the green initiatives discussed can actually be implemented while the tenant is in occupation. As well as an attractive proposition to well established occupiers, this also avoids the unnecessary stripping out of office premises, which currently is wasting £400 million a year in London alone.

Ed Keeble of Slaughter & May was up next presenting the positives and negatives of ‘Green Leases’. These leases vary from the highly demanding (Dark Green) to the near-tokenistic (Light Green). Ed made it clear that there is an inherent danger in scaring off a potential occupier by stressing the green requirements of the lease up front, and that its best for these elements to be included in the small print, or at least tucked under the headlines. Responsibility of implementation was also discussed – be it the landlord’s or tenant’s – and how the pay-back incentives and their relative time scales need to be considered when the lease is drawn up.

Last up was CGL’s own Sarah Harkins, delivering a presentation from the office designer’s point of view, on the usual struggle to persuade the client to implement green initiatives at the right stage. Education was the crux of Sarah’s talk – education of ourselves as designers and architects in order to be armed with the knowledge and the backup to push sustainable solutions, and education of our clients to be aware of what they can, should, and need to be implementing for their portfolio. A good designer should be able to demonstrate their ability to provide flexible working spaces in an efficient manner, using durable materials and surfaces in order to provide longevity, all the while minimising waste and the unnecessary demolition of the existing building fabric.

Before the post-presentation canapés and drinks began to flow, a lively Q&A followed for all speakers, the highlight of which was a debate over the use and value of BREEAM. Robert Rotbart of Derwent London questioned how its emphasis currently is on the initial achievement of the finished product, without considering the ongoing use of the space. If an ’excellent’ is won, perhaps should it be consequently lost if the tenant and occupier haven’t maintained the building in a similarly environmentally responsible manner? This would certainly keep the industry on its toes, avoiding the 'one hit wonder' mentality, and would maintain the prominence of green issues throughout the duration of the building's lifecycle.

West Heath Drive features in BD Online

2011-03-01T10:58:00.004Z

After winning an appeal for a five-storey resi development in Barnet for a private client, West Heath Drive has appeared in BD Online today.

The project won an appeal on the grounds of design and scale with the Inspectorate stating that the design would 'add interest to the street-scene' and be 'perceived as a confident but generally respectful new addition to the locality'.

Commercial Spring Greens talk held at our studio

2011-02-23T17:25:00.005Z

We're hosting a talk next week, 3rd March 2011, on how sustainable fit out can add value. We have four speakers line up, including our own Sarah Harkins.

If this interests you, we still have places available so please contact Juanita on 0207 539 1200 or email rsvp@cgluk.com before the 1st March.

CGL Staff Promotions

2011-02-15T10:02:00.004Z

Child Graddon Lewis would like to congratulate the following staff members (pictured) on their recent promotions:

James Felstead and Gillian Green were promoted to Director;
Jon Keysell and Arita Morris were promoted to Associate Director and
Helen Cooper and Greg Jones were promoted to Associate

(pictured back L to R: James, Gillian, Jon and Greg; front L to R: Arita and Helen)

Baking DOESN'T Get Tougher Than This!

2010-12-06T12:19:00.002Z

Ok, so we may have ripped off the catchphrase - and the notion of a baking competition - but the CGL MASTERBAKE has become the office's most popular new initiative. Allowing colleagues to display their culinary skills, bringing the office together for a Friday morning cake 'n' coffee natter, causing near-biblical rifts over the respective virtues of a Black Forest Gateaux versus a Battenburg, it has become the most eagerly awaited fortnightly event since the lottery syndicate’s (consistently disappointing) results announcements.

Over the past few months two members of staff at a time have been randomly selected to anonymously produce baked goods for the delectation of the whole office, to be devoured, deliberated over, then voted on. The winner of each bout then gets held aloft by his or her peers, congratulated on their Nigella Domestic Goddessness, and goes forth, confident, into the next round. The loser simply enjoys the fact they don't have to bother baking for these unappreciative philistines ever again.

The latest contest saw two mightily fine delicacies up against each other: a classic coffee & walnut sponge versus an exotic lime drizzle cake with coconut icing. Despite both offerings being worthy of a win any other week, it was the lime drizzle that won through in the end, with the coffee & walnut suffering a lack of votes from the more unrefined members of staff that “don’t really like coffee”. There’s no accounting for taste. Congratulations Amber, commiserations Paul.

With half of the office yet to bake, the competition is still in Round Oone, and by my calculations at this rate we won’t see an overall winner for another 38 weeks. The big question isn’t over who will be crowned CGL MASTERBAKER 2010–2011…it’s over how much fatter we will all become.

Only time will tell.

Jon ‘Greg Wallace’ Keysell

CGL Masterbake Coordinator

The Camel Cup

2010-11-17T11:18:00.002Z

After the 'site inspection', Michael then enjoyed some quality time with the locals.

Oasis House

2010-11-17T10:47:00.009Z

Siwa, an oasis in Egypt's Western Desert, must be the most unusual location for a CGL project to date (no pun intended). Michael Lewis recently travelled there to review the progress of the house sketched out on the back of an envelope for his nephew, Edward and his partner Fanny, in this amazing town close to the Libyan border. The basic design drew on the local Berber tradition with simple cuboid forms, a central double height wind tower and utilising Kershef, large chunks of salt mixed with rock and plastered with local mud, as the main building material.

Amazingly, the house is nearing completion and the local craftsmen have done a superb job with the house fitting in beautifully with the surrounding vegetable garden and pool. From the roof terrace there are stunning views over the local Gebel Dakrur rock formations. Water is not a problem as the water table is just 30cm below the surface and the building will eventually be self sufficient with the addition of solar water heaters and photovoltaic cells.

Any press is good press

2010-10-27T12:38:00.004+01:00

An emotional fan informing Rooney of their views on our hoarding at the new Nike store in Manchester, due to open soon.

CGL Hosts Retrofitting Talk

2010-10-27T12:19:00.004+01:00

A fantastic presentation on the challenges and opportunities of retrofitting our existing building stock was given by Andrew Eagles of Sustainable Homes. The detailed summary of the issues relating to feed-in tariffs was of particular interest and generated some intense debate after the presentation. It was great to see the clients in the audience, see the potential of these schemes with plenty of discussions on the government's carrot and stick approach to driving change. It seems the message is grab the carrots whilst they are available!

The other really useful aspect of the presentation was an overview of the effectiveness of different retrofit measures. As suspected, the common sense measures such as upgrading insulation to external fabric have the greatest impact and it’s important not to lose sight of this. A big challenge ahead for the industry.

BBQ's & Table Tennis

2010-09-16T17:47:00.003+01:00

After the success of our Summer Drinks in June and not a company to shy away from the odd event, CGL’s Committee for Fun (CGLCFF) decided it was time the staff were in need of a well deserved night of BBQ and Table Tennis in the courtyard at our offices last Thursday 9th September.

The table tennis brought out competitiveness and tantrums alike and after a closely fought semi final with fellow Director Simon Child, Michael Lewis went on to win the Tournament, defeating Jon Keysell 21-17.

As a side line event, but no less exciting, was the 2nd Round of the CGL Baked Goods Bake-Off (CGLBGBO) where two staff members are pitched against one another (anonymously to themselves and the staff) to bake a cake or the like to be voted on by their peers. With the standard set high after the first round winner Tami Lim’s Buttermilk Cake, Arita Morris then proceeded to the next round with her tasty Chocolate and Walnut Cake only beating a batch of Chocolate Brownies by the narrowest of margins.

Juanita
for CGLCFF

Rounders Roundup #04

2010-08-23T14:20:00.006+01:00

I couldn't let the performance of Team CGL go undocumented when the evening of 18th August 2010 was replete with so many instances of sportsmanship, tolerance and magnanimity.

But where to start the tale?

Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin...

Arriving at a distinctly grey looking Regent's Park we set about laying our grass coloured carpet-samples on the carpet-sample coloured field and had begun our usual pre-match warm up by throwing the ball as hard as we could at Matt Burrough's ankles. He showed remarkable dexterity in catching almost all of them (to the point that no-one remained convinced there was anything wrong with his ankle at all). CEN showed up with three bicycles, one glove and three Americans (though two of them hid it quite well). We had been warned about one of them being 'quite enthusiastic', but nothing could prepare us for the tidal wave.

We won the toss again (I'm touting myself as the anti-Nasser of coin calling, having won every toss this year) and chose to bat second, so in they went with more than a little razzmatazz, hollering and a couple of whoop-whoops. A very short while later they were out for two. We went in to bat and after Jeffy and Amber got us off the mark, Matt spent four or five minutes swinging at the ball before finally connecting with one... and getting caught. Jon (who seems to have picked the wrong week to complain about not being mentioned in the Roundup), lost our last wicket.

In the second innings they got going and scored a massive six, cheered all the way by Uncle Sam. We went in to bat and smashed them all over the place. Despite 'banter' between most of our team and the softball/baseball enthusiast (though Amber deserves a special mention) on the subjects of rules, fair-play, 'friendly' games and not-taking-things-too-seriously, we popped a very respectable thirteen on the scorecard before Jon got out, again.

The third innings was much better for them, as they outscored us 12-6. Then Jon got out again.

With the scores at 26-20 in our favour we started a final innings. They got twelve, and we knew we needed at least six to draw. Our resolve, stiffened and we sent Ozzie Jo-Anne in to bat wearing a rather nice black dress and some donated plimsols. Whallop! Home run. Then it was my turn...another homer! "What a guy" they cheered! Mike knocked one into deep centre field, but not far enough to get home, so with "two ducks on the pond"(?) Jon goes in to bat...can he stay safe for the first time in the evening? A towering six from the middle of his bat screamed YES! He cleared all the bases on his way home to give us our seven runs for the win! Two more, from Jeffy and Amber, sealed the victory for Team CGL, and we went off happy with our evening's endeavour to savour success at the pub.

Greg 'What a Guy' Jones
Captain

Rounders Roundup #03

2010-07-30T10:33:00.005+01:00

Please read the following in the voice of Stuart Hall doing a match summary for Sports Report on Radio 5:

The sky, dark and brooding over a dusky Regent's Park, set the mood for last night's titanic clash. Three teams entered the field, knowing only one (and a half) could leave victorious, so with grim determination the pre-war formalities were undertaken, the TP Bennett contingent divided between CGL and Eric Parry Architects, and the match commenced.

Round one started well: Mike Lewis bounded across the outfield in the manner of a particularly balletic antelope before crashing to his knees and rolling over twice generating a cloud of dust, only to emerge with the ball grasped firmly in a talon like clasp. A first base run-out and a simple catch later and EPA along with two of the three TPB lads had scored a total of one from their innings! This ought to be over by half-past we thought, plenty of time in the pub Juansy thought, however, the CGLian horde failed to capitalise on their advantage and suffered a devastating middle order collapse for only three runs.

Round two began with EPA limited to six runs by some simply remarkable fielding from team new girl Zee Mok: with two stops and two catches from close-in left field she was single-handedly destroying their innings. To wrap it up, a simple though beautifully executed catch of a looping high ball was snaffled by the handsome and capable pitcher. CGL's innings: off went Zee to show us what she could do with the bat and we were soon off the mark. Sometime after that it was Kerstin's chance to bat again and that was the last of the second innings wickets. We were out for ten.

EPA remained unbowed despite their 13-7 run deficit and in they went to bat again, hitting this time into a rather sparsely populated outfield. A few of our lot were exhibiting a mixture of magnanimous fair-play and simple laziness by suggesting we had extra players so they'd sit out this round and guard the beers. The resulting shortfall in fielders opened up gaps in the outfield wide enough to roll a Zorb through, let alone the brand new hard as a depleted uranium CGL ball: the effect of these chasms in the fielding cover was a seven run innings from EPA! Their best yet. Further succour was given to their improving morale when heroically diving to stop a nasty bobbling groundball from getting past, Zee flung herself into harm's way without a thought for personal safety, and stopped the ball with her wrist bone. She screamed expletives. The game stopped. Silence descended on the park. Most of north London looked in our direction and a child started to cry.

Their fourth innings under way, we felt it was time to tighten our grip on the prize and so, with the field set, the analytical mind of the CGL captain was bent on securing a critical advantage through tactical field placing. As he was pondering the myriad options available to him, two of their batsmen knocked balls along the ground which were picked up and tossed to first base for outs. Steve Atkinson on first base took both with aplomb, even making sure both feet were on the carpet sample which, whilst technically unnecessary, does make doubly sure of the 'out call' and was also fairly amusing to watch as he attempted to keep balance with his feet together. After a superb catch was held by Amber Davey on third base and a (slightly ropey) run out ruling was given by the notionally independent umpire/CGL captain, their innings was over for a total of six runs.

The brief break in play between innings was used to assess our injury situation: Zee wrist strapped tightly to an ice-cold Red Stripe, and Jeffy who had knackered his right hand on a high ball (to add to his damaged left wrist, still bandaged up from last week). With two superstars of the team on the ropes, all hopes rested on Andrzej Gierak, who was to be third in to bat in the final innings of the game. The scores stood at 20-14 in EPA's favour with our final innings in hand. And so he walked to the crease, barely showing the pressure of expectation that he must have known was on him. Swing and a miss. Swing and a miss. We were all used to Andrzej's technique by now, but the pitcher was failing to hide his bemusement. The next ball came down the line, Andrzej winds up another massive slog and this time it connects. A PING echoes off the trees as the ball rockets off the aluminium bat. WHOOSH! As it soars into the air. CRACK! As the ball ricochets off his teeth into his cheekbone, smearing his nose across his face. An angry mother watches on, covering her infant's ears but not a word was uttered. Silent, stoic, Andrzej stands with hand gripping a bloody rag to his face. Juansy offers a medical aid in the form of another cold Red Stripe, which was gratefully received, but it's not enough: he's out of the game.

There's no let up in the pressure though and the game must go on. Atkinson stands to take up the mantle. So, like a scouse Hulk, he strides forward bat in hand and smashes one tamely to a fielder and is out. Don't make him angry, we warned, but they didn't listen. The pressure's really on now. Up steps Mike with a massive strike that looked certain to be caught, but wasn't and home he ran clearing the bases as he went. With a further few runs from Jeffy and Jo-Anne we had secured the victory in time for Atkinson to toss another one up for an easy catch, and thereby bring out innings to a close.

27-20 in our favour, and time for the pub on the way to A&E.

Rounders Roundup #02

2010-07-23T10:54:00.004+01:00

We played Cyril Sweett on Wednesday night and after turning up with a team of seven, to their eleven, and watching them warm up by pitching fast balls at each other with barely a dropped catch, I was sweating a bit about how badly the match might go.

As we had lied to them that we still had a couple of people to arrive, we said we'd bat first and hopefully the latecomers would show up (I don't know where they could have got to). The first innings went quite well, we scored 13 from our three outs, not bad but probably not good enough. We'd just have to see how they got on........3. Three! I let a sigh of relief, it was alright.

We proceeded to smash them all over the place, even managing over 30 in one innings. It was a rout. They didn't stand a chance. Jeffy stuck a couple of superb catches (though his bowling was comical) and Andrzej's swing action is developing nicely towards a dislocated pelvis before the end of the season. On the subject of injuries, Jo-Anne (Juansy's uber-competetive Ozzie mate) managed to run at full pelt into the back of a random bystander and knock her jaw out of alignment, apparently she's woken up with a swollen face and two black eyes. As far as I'm aware, all of us woke up with headaches, but that may have been more to do with the apres-ski, than the match itself.

Amber, in addition to scoring heavily for Team CGL, acted in the role of photo-journalist, recording the triumph from the battle-front.

All down to the pub after for one (or two) cheeky pints and a bit of banter on the way home, resulting in a rematch having been arranged for late August.

Greg

Child Graddon Lewis published in The Bursar's Review

2010-07-22T12:00:00.003+01:00

Child Graddon Lewis' James Felstead has written an article for the Summer 2010 edition of The Bursar's Review titled 'Empty Rooms - Could we do Better?

James' article addresses the question of space audits and rooms standing empty in schools. This comes at an opportune time for Bursars who are always looking to operate more efficiently.

The Bursar’s Review is a quarterly publication by the Independent Schools’ Bursars Association.

Retail Week Interior Awards Finalist

2010-07-09T16:06:00.003+01:00

Yesterday afternoon we received some exciting news from the Retail Week Awards Team in that our entry for the Hobbs Flagship Store in Covent Garden is a finalist in the Fashion Retail Interior of the Year category.

Naturally we proceeded to bounce off the walls and struggled to contain our excitement. It's a big well done to the team involved and we look forward to seeing the project up on the big screen at the awards ceremony on 28th September and better yet, to actually win!

Big decisions are needed in the coming months, like who will collect the award and if won, what designer will Simon and Gillian wear!

Rounders Roundup #01

2010-06-18T17:34:00.004+01:00

Softball was an outrageously successful evening for Team CGL (Shoreditch Sloggers? Commercial Cougars? The E1 Six?).

In fairness to CEN they had never played before but, in fairness to CGL, it showed.

We smacked them all over the park for three innings, on the last of which we even put them in for two rounds of batting and they still lost! All the team played well, but special mention ought to go to… me… and the belle of the (soft)ball, the debutant, Mr Andrzej Gierak, who swung the bat like his spine wasn’t there. At one point his torso did a full rotation, and on a couple of occasions he even managed to make contact with the ball.

After humiliating them for an hour and a bit, three of their team left so we had even numbers (six-a-side) and we agreed to a single innings play-off. We only scored six runs! Nail biting tension, I’m sure you’ll agree. More so when they got four off the first three batters, without losing a wicket. Despite staring defeat in the face we “let them have” a couple of chances by missing a high ball catching opportunity with a spectacular dive and roll by Mike, dropped balls on bases and a bit of arms out in front running by your correspondent, resulting in another missed catch. So CEN were perched on the very brink of victory, teetering in the updraft on the precipice, only needing to stumble forward another inch to win…and they knock an easy catch to third base! One down, two runs required… Home run for CEN! Scores even, two wickets in hand…massive hit…Jon’s in the deep…CAAATCHIM!!!! They scream! HE’S OUT! HE’S OUT! HE’S OUT! Scores even, no lives left. Ohmygodohmygodohmygod…swing and a miss…swing and a miss…swing and a caught and bowled! Juansy snaffles it!

Game over, match saved…technically a draw, but the moral victory was ours.

Then we all went to the pub for a beer and to wait for the open top bus to arrive.

Full match scorecard:

1st : CGL 10 – 3 CEN
2nd : CGL 8 – 3 CEN
3rd : CGL 14 – 3 CEN (even though they were allowed six outs)

At CGL’s magnanimous suggestion, it was agreed that the first three innings were only a warm-up, and the next inning wins all.

4th : CGL 6 – 6 CEN

The D *haus by David Grunberg

2010-06-18T17:23:00.005+01:00

I was lucky enough to spend an amazing 6 month internship at CGL, there I was able to concentrate on the D*haus project and had so much help, advise and support in doing so. We entered competitions and was introduced to many people that are now in the design team. CGL is more like a family than an office and full of talented lovely people. It is a real pleaseure to say that I started the D*haus company there.

The D*Haus Project

The original brief was to design a house from cross laminated timber that could be versatile enough to adapt to the harsh extreme weather conditions of Lapland. The D*Haus concept is based on Ernest Dudeney’s 1908 mathematical formula, that allows a perfect square in to be turned in to a perfect triangle, by translating his formula in to architectural form - in the winter the house is in a closed perfect square form with a pyramid roof to deal with snow, minimal windows to conserve heat and high thermal mass. It then unfolds itself in one move into the triangle: now the house is completely open with high solar gain.

Eight formations can be reached from the formula so the house can suit different styles for the different seasons.

The model is at the Royal Academy Summer Show this year and designed and built to show how digital manufacturing can be used all the way through the architectural story, it was designed in 3-D CAD programs then cut at scale 1:20 using a 5 axis CNC machine.

This prototype demonstrates that houses of the future can be truly flexible and yet highly sustainable.

www.thedhaus.com

By David Grunberg

Do you hear a phone ringing?

2010-04-09T10:19:00.002+01:00

CGL are now appointed to do a lift feasibility study at the Kingston Wilkinson Hardware Store which acts as a backdrop to this piece of street art ‘Out of Order’ by artist David Mach and which was installed in 1989.

The boxes have proved a popular landmark and recently were voted by Londoners as an Olympic Icon and are being depicted on pin badges for the Olympics. Each borough is represented by an iconic image and the boxes represent Kingston, others include the Globe Theatre and Battersea Power Station.

Bizarrely, the OS map for the area has Telephone Call Boxes (TCBs) identified in this area but there are no actual working phones here – perhaps they have left this in as a little joke.

Wilkinson have plans to refurbish this prominent and very popular store in the future but initially CGL are looking at how to upgrade the lift provision to serve the increasing numbers of customers.

Peter Hegarty

DIY (or do yourself in) at Easter

2010-04-07T17:14:00.004+01:00

Holy Saturday

Just like milk in your fridge, there are valuable lessons to be learned from looking at ‘use by dates’ on non-edible items, but alas it is an expensive lesson to be learned if you don’t pay attention to those very important dates.

Having agreed to pay a fair amount out to our friendly plasterer to spend his Easter weekend plastering the hallway and stairs of our never-ending DIY project, we arranged to get all the materials in. He is a very professional young man, who looked most bemused when presented with a couple of bags of pre-mixed lime mortar, ‘Er, how old is this stuff?’ he asked. Our blasé reply was ‘oooh it’s a few years old, but it should be ok!’. He looks very worried and says as much but we convince him it will be fine.

Later that day

Scratch coat on...
Bonding coat on...
Plaster dust in most places but happy plasterer & his mate clear up.
Marvellous.

Easter Sunday

Skim coat on...
Glass finish...
Perfect...
Plasterer happy. We’re happy.

Easter Monday

10am - Think I can see a bulge in the new plastered hallway but maybe it’s the light?

12noon - Say to other half, 'is that wall bulging? Or is it just me?' He confirms it’s not me and wall is bulging, we are very worried.

4pm - Small hole made into new plaster to investigate.

4.05pm - Plaster starts peeling off wall like a banana skin, but bigger and heavier.

Back to Work Tuesday

We still have an un-finished brick wall, a pile of empty plaster bags in the skip and are feeling the loss.

We have learned the error of our ways… check those dates!!! After all, no good crying over spilt milk.

Sarah Harkins

Back to School

2010-04-06T11:08:00.006+01:00

Back in Manchester for a few days I decided to call in and see what was going on at the Manchester School of Architecture where I’d studied. Each of the year groups had ‘crit’s’ going on in preparation for the end of year submissions. For those not familiar with the crit process it essentially involves pinning up as much (or as little) work as you have and trying desperately to justify the design decisions that were probably made at four in the morning the previous day. Typically it then involves public humiliation at the hands of the tutors (and any other students who are feeling brave) who will ridicule your proposals and question the merit of your very existence. Character building stuff and great preparation for client presentations or planning committees.

I gratefully sat in on a crit with Dr Nick Dunn and an old friend from college, Harbinder Birdi (now working at Hawkins Brown). Sensing that emotions were a little frayed and the pressures of impending deadlines meant all were a touch fragile I tried to keep any comments on the constructive side. It was reassuring to see that all the familiar mistakes, pitfalls and character types are all still there, as well as some fantastic work. Of course technology has moved on since my day and large format screens are the predominant order of the day.

The degree and diploma shows run from the 18th till the 23rd June.

James Felstead

Simon's final words

2010-03-19T17:16:00.003Z

So I am sitting on the bus in a massive traffic jam and exchange pleasantries with the gentleman next to me. He's from Geneva and just like us Brits he's been at MIPIM meeting existing and potential new clients from, yes, Geneva. For all the same reasons, that you can meet so many people in a very short space of time and in a relaxed, convivial and focused atmosphere. Business is steady but good in Geneva. I should look him up next time I'm there or at MIPIM next year. I thank him, we arrive at the airport, we exchange cards and say goodbye.

I'm checking in. I look at his card. JM is Managing Director of a very well known Swiss bank. Eh Voila. The magic of MIPIM.

Postcards from Cannes

2010-03-19T11:08:00.013Z

Well, it's over for another year. Was it worth it? Is the sun rising on the UK property world or shrouded in looming black clouds? Time will tell on question number 1.

I have about 20 new contacts, a third are people who want work from us, a third from companies we know we can help each other find work and a third are new potential clients or people who could lead us to them.

Spending some time with our relatively new client was great fun and will hopefully build our relationship with them and lead to more work. Meeting GLA, LDA, and LA in the space in a few hours discussing one of our projects could never happen in the UK within a month = a pleased client.

There clearly is work around. The banks are lending again but conservatively and to long standing trusted clients. Public bodies are very worried about funding issues but are now getting better organised at encouraging and working with private developers. However, the competition is tough there were a lot of new architectural practices here for the first time but will they be here next year?

Now it's off to catch the bus to airport. The helicopter service doesn't seem to be running this year.

As MIPIM draws to a close I can't leave Cannes without visiting the tea stall to find some amazing infusions to bring home for my much better half who seems to think networking for 48 hrs in the sun by the beach is a holiday. Why would she think that?

Who needs a Ferrari? Need I say more...

This is the way business is done, MIPIM-style! Thank goodness I brought the CGL dinghy and my mobile phone.

Simon

Four cameos from MIPIM yesterday

2010-03-18T17:02:00.005Z

10.00am: Just arrived. Go to Majestic to look at which property forums to attend. Before I can even look, spotted by a property contact I haven't spoken to for six months. We go for coffee. Before we sit down one of his property developer clients walks by, we exchange chit chat and then business cards exchanged, meeting in London arranged. MAGIC!

10.15am: Was he drunk? No. Did I imagine it? Check iPhone, nope, diary says it's real. Battery already running low and yet to send first blog!

1.00pm: Lunch with Structural Engineer and M&E Engineer. Convivial atmosphere. Good to exchange information and update on what we are all doing. BUT, too many very good architects in attendance, so I say my thank you's and leave after a great conversation with excellent Project Manager.

1.30pm: General feedback; loads of architects here some established but many new ones. A common phrase amongst professionals here 'yes, I have started my own firm. It's going really well. I (note the 'I') am very busy'. True or False?

4.00pm: Grand Hotel lobby. Stop to catch up with emails. 1 metre away a deal is being done. Arab investor. Dutch middle man. UK Contractor. Sounds great. This is MIPIM. Sadly no architect required.

8.00pm On board the Attimo. Beautiful sailing yacht. Shoes off of course to preserve the timber deck. Phew. No holes in socks. Very wobbly gangway. Will I make it coming off later?

Don't know anyone but hey ho, the champagne arrives to save the day. Then in front of me a vision, one of our newer clients, no, two of them. Must I be seeing double? No, I haven't sipped the bubbly yet. Really good to catch up with these guys socially as it's been all work and no play since we started the project. After a while though MIPIMitus sets in. Sunburnt faces glaze over, eyes start to shut. Is it me? Probably, but graciously they say they have been hard at it day and night and make polite excuses to leave. It's only Wednesday evening but this is MIPIM.

More friendly faces to catch up with and then the property developer I met 10 hours ago. Finally one more hurdle... The gangway seems to be swinging more violently now!

Simon

Pooches & Porsches

2010-03-18T11:49:00.006Z

This is the life... Sitting in Cafe Poet with my petit dejeuner and €20 in my pocket. What more do we need? Sadly, coffee induced reality kicks in. Where are the clients? Suggested MIPIM attendees are 18,000 but the local Cannites are much more obvious this year with their facelifts and fidos, gucci and galliardos, pooches and porsches.
It feels much more cosmopolitan as the Brit numbers have dwindled and the Europeans particularly like doing business here. Much more like the real world.

Simon

Simon Child from MIPIM

2010-03-18T09:58:00.001Z

Good morning from Cannes!

Contrary to pre-MIPIM rumour, Caffe Roma is open again for business. Not as much business here as previous years, but still managed four-deep into the road at great risk to our construction industry professional elite! No risk assessments here but a large traffic jam.

The overall MIPIM mood? Cautious, however the sun (and alcohol) brings optimism by 10.00pm and then pessimism by midnight.

C'est la vie!

Simon

2010-03-17T15:10:00.000Z

The Tories have published a Planning Green Paper which proposes amongst other measures, the right for residents and third parties to appeal against planning consents that they do not agree with.

Clearly this will only further delay the planning process and yet, in many ways it redresses the balance that the applicants have to appeal against a decision that goes against them.

The answer is to have a planning system that works, with proper pre-application consultation and no right to appeal by either party.

CGL CHAT

2010-03-11T16:49:00.000Z

Have you ever collected a string of sentences and sayings you hear on a day-to-day basis?

Here's some of ours:

Has anyone seen the RAL Chart?

Planning portal!

Bronze is the new zinc

The never ending snagging list

PDF, DWG, JPEG and hard copies

Cuppa tea, coffee?

Who's going to the shop?

I think the blue is more impactful

Got to 130mph yesterday!

Please, no more PooQQ's!

You'll just have to count the bricks

Can you pass the scale rule?

Anyone watch Silent Witness?

Who's got the laser?

Cuppa tea, coffee?

Coffee? Real or instant?

What do you want for dinner?

Phone the planners

Hard hat, high vis, boots

Laser, camera, action!

Squeek, squeek, squeek!

Is is that time already?

Don't stay too late!

Gillian Green

Allow us to introduce ourselves.

2010-03-08T17:22:00.000Z

At last! The new CGL Blog.

This is something we've thought about for a while and wondered "does anybody really care what a bunch of architects and designers want to talk about?"

So we've decided to give it a go.

Those of you who know us, or have worked with us know that we're quite an amiable lot. We hope there will be something in the coming months that will either inform or amuse. There may be some debate, something that has inspired us and even the occasional rant. In any case, we hope you enjoy reading it as much as we will writing it.