Hello?

I’m still here.  Coming to the end of my degree therefore this blog is on the back burner so I can concerntrate on my final assignments and exams, new posts may be somewhat infrequent.

Soweto Kinch follow-up from Creative Networks meeting

I unfortunately missed this months Create Networks and Birmingham Music Network meeting due to having to complete my dissertation for my degree.

They keynote this month was from Soweto Kinch, I wish I hadn’t missed it, sounded very good.

My good friend Andy Derrick and Bobbie have covered the story in their blogs.

2,400 Apartments at a Cost of £215m Deal Signed

It has been made public that Bank of Scotland Corporate have agreed funding of £215 million for Aston Universities new student apartment blocks.

These new apartments are part of the “Aston Triangle Masterplan” and will replace the current 20 storey accommodation blocks with new 17 storey ones.  The scheme is said to be completed by 2014.

The full article can be read at the Aston University web site.

Masshouse Block M update

Thank you Simon Felton for the update.  Hey it’s shooting up, there are still three floors missing though.  I will look into this.

Student Rent Prices to Rise

With the current climate of property, student accomodation prices are still holding strong and are set to rise according to aboutproperty.co.uk.

This is great news for developers, especially for Eastside’s Etna House and the huge 700 student apartment blocks at Curzon Gate.  Downside this is bad for the students, however prices for Birmingham are very attractive with below national average figures.  You can read the full article here.

Quote:

The average weekly student rent in the UK is now £61.48 per week, according to the latest research.

This represents a 1.5 per cent increase on the figure recorded for April 2007, following a study of 44,000 properties in 76 cities across the UK.

Over the past four years the average student rent has risen 17 per cent, from £52.44 in 2004, according to AccommodationforStudents.com.

“Now, with the current UK economic climate, the biggest factor affecting the student lettings market is the fact mortgage rates have increased and 90-100 per cent mortgages are no longer available.

“Because of this, young professionals are finding it increasingly difficult to get on the property ladder and many landlords are accordingly transferring previous student rented accommodation to professional letting, putting student rented accommodation under pressure, particularly in some cities.”

Some traditional English redbrick universities – including Liverpool (£50.52), Birmingham (£54.28), Manchester (£56.65), and Sheffield (£57.12) – remain below the UK average.

CSJ Brooke Smith appointed advisers to new Magistrates Court at Masshouse

The Birmingham Post have reported that CSJ Brooke Smith, a leading development and planning practice based in Edgbaston, have been apointed by Denton Corker Marshall as advisers to the new £80m Magistrates Court at Masshouse.  You can read the full article here.

Quote:

“Louise Brooke-Smith, of CSJ Brooke Smith, said: “The Manchester Civil Justice Centre is one of the UK’s most innovative, ambitiously designed buildings and has earned numerous awards.

“It’s fabulous that architects of this quality have been appointed to bring something equally ambitious to Birmingham.

“We’ll be working closely together to provide the highest level of professional advice to ensure this building becomes a reality that Birmingham can be proud of.“

I hope they do pull something out of the hat to make us proud.  I have an air of confidence in this project.

Outline Designs for Eastside Campus

Just come through, BDP have been chosen as the official masterplanners for Birmingham City University’s Eastside campus, which will be home the the Birmingham Institute of Art and Design (BIAD) and the Conservatoire.

More information later, however here are the outline designs:

Height ranging from 5-8 floors.

Thank you Biosonic for the quick scoop.

Fire at Millennium Point

I thought I would spend some time and tell you about the groovy fire alarm system at Millennium Point.  It was installed by Solid State Security for those who want to know.

Ok, first, watch the video:

Some notes;  No ordinary alarm.  What you can hear is one of two annouced alarms.  This one, the most annoying as it can go on for almost ten minutes when it is a false alarm, is addressed by a female.  The students have heard it, however we have heard it so many times we tend not to care (for the female voice anyway).  If there is a real “situation” then the building is evacuation in stages.  The second of the messages is read by a male, and tells you to evacuate by the nearest fire exit.  If a real fire is happening in the building, the male will evacuate you straigt away in the area where the situation is present, and the women tells the rest of the building to wait.  The women will then change to a male (hehe oops), and then tells you to evacuate.  One simple reason - to avoid crushing at exits.  It’s very neat, very clear, very loud but very good.

This time it was a false alarm.  I have know plumes of smoke to come from HVAC before though.

EDIT:  As of 12:32 15th April, the alarm went again.

Blog is fine

Some people have been asking me about my chat with the Dean of TIC faculty regarding this blog.

It was a quick chat to make sure I know not to overstep any lines regarding inaccurate information and that  I need to keep a sense of balance to it all.  I’m not out to be libeling/slanderous or negative, so no need to worry.

I do have my own opinions on some matters, and I will not be censored.

Sometimes good things can come from negative comments; I know from a couple of chats with developers that action was made due to posts made on this blog and elsewhere and they have been rectified as a consequence.

Where there is £multi-million developments comes large legal teams (hello there if you’re reading).   This blog is for no commercial gains and is out of my own pure interest.

I quickly had the blog checked over, all seems to be fine.  I’ll cary on from where I was.