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As we celebrate our 30th year in practice, we hope you’ll forgive us for rounding the year off with an element of nostalgia. We’ve raked over the warm embers of our work predominantly in the fields of masterplanning, regeneration and housing to see what we can find.

The project that started it all off, back in 1982, was a series of shopfitting contracts carried out on behalf of Walter Smith butchers. A total refit over a Bank Holiday weekend, 24 hour working and a team spirit which predated Egan procurement and partnering by close to a decade.

Our longest running project has got to be the regeneration of the Pype Hayes Estate which began back in the summer of ‘89 addressing a bunch of disgruntled local residents who were going to lose their defective Boswell Houses, but were worried about what they might be getting in their place… and this year Birmingham City Council have just completed the handover (pictured left) of the last phase of work under the Birmingham Municipal Housing Trust umbrella.

The strangest project we’ve worked on has got to be looking for buried WW2 aircraft while pretending to be doing drainage survey work – the only job that did not carry a job number or any correspondence references. Not quite in line with the RIBA project management guidance!

The most expensive project per square metre has got to be Wigan Metropolitan Council Chamber: an interior refit of the former Mining College in the town. Bespoke light poles, silk heraldic banners suspended in specially designed Perspex frames (pictured right) and a three storey hexagonal glass tower made out of Reynolds 531 tube.

The cheapest per square metre must be the Balsall Heath Tree Centre: an A-framed community space sitting within a community tree nursery (left).

The one that got us in the media for the wrong reasons: Wadbury Mill and the threat to our refurbishment of an old mill was thanks to a colony of Long-eared Bats. We made the front page of the Guardian as we recall.

Our most challenging project was probably the reconstruction of the grade 2 listed roof trusses in Crosby Court (right). Between English Heritage, imminent roof collapse and pigeons we still managed to jack the roof up and pull the lantern back into position… mind you, the roof had survived a direct hit during the war but the bomb failed to go off. It was never found and could be under our conference room for all we know. A great way of keeping client meetings short.

The one that got us in the media for all the right reasons: Eco Terraces – a radical refurbishment of terraced houses which predated the government focus on improving existing stock and the current Green Deal.

Our most embarrassing project has to be the cedar clad courtyard of bungalows in Castle Vale. They were great when new but now look miserable, grey, streaked, and shed-like in appearance – not at all what we intended.

The project we miss most: Midlands Art Centre café and its play wall which included a built-in noughts & crosses game (pictured left) – an attempt to create an interactive art space for users of every age with the in-house artists making the cushions, banners and ceramic tiles.

Our most popular project with the wider public is probably Brandwood End (pictured right), which met its core objectives of being ‘tenure blind’ and a 21st century reinvention of Bournville Village Trust housing. Our homage to Harvey and Bedford Tyler is ageing quite gracefully (unlike some of us).

The most satisfying project has got to be the one project that delighted the client, had architectural integrity, enriched the lives of its users, had us showered in accolades and earned us a mandatory scale 10% fee plus expenses… We can’t quite recall which project that would be.

Finally, the strangest coincidence in this our 30th year, is that we find ourselves working on a development in Monument Road, Ladywood, having spent much of the ‘80s and ‘90s working on the regeneration framework for the area. What’s even stranger is that we are looking at the refurbishment of the Schoolhouse, a small school building which the two founding partners looked at in the year preceding the formation of Axis Design… what goes around comes around.

We’d like to add our thanks to all our clients, collaborators, colleagues and fellow consultants for all their input, support and trust over the last 30 years. Most of all we hope that the residents we’ve met along the way have all enjoyed living in the places we’ve helped to create; we’ve certainly enjoyed being a part of their communities during our work together. We’re looking forward to the next 30 years and more projects as challenging as the ones described above.

Many poor families around the world are financially unable to purchase a house that meets their needs. Housing loans give families access to capital to improve their homes and an opportunity to pay loans back at a pace that they can handle. Last Christmas we made a donation to Kiva, and over the subsequent 12 months we helped a total of 4 families.

We’ve added to our Kiva loan fund again this Christmas and our donation will help another two families. We’re helping Primetiva (right) from a small village in the Philippines. She is 62 years old, is married and has seven children. Primetiva has a hog fattening business and she has requested a modest loan to renovate her house. In the future, she hopes to have more savings.

We’re also helping Megi (left) and her family from West Georgia. They are involved in an agricultural business and Megi works hard to do her best for her family. In particular, they run a small dairy farm with a milk cow whose milk is used in cheese products. The cheese is sold at the local open market. In addition, Megi has a pig and sells piglets seasonally. A loan will create better conditions for Megi and her son, and enable them to enjoy living in their house.

As Megi and Primetiva’s loans are repaid, along with the final repayments from the other borrowers we’ve helped, our lending portfolio will grow and we’re looking forward to reinvesting the money with other needy families.

UPDATE: We’ve now received notification that the loans we made last christmas have been repaid in full. This means we’re ready to reinvest and help more families around the world.

As experts in sustainable design, through all our activities and working practices we look for ways to protect and enhance the environment. This includes getting out and about in the course of our work, so in an attempt to further lessen our carbon emissions we’re pleased to announce that the latest addition to the Axis Design team is a fully electric Citroen C-Zero car.

Most of the team here at Axis are regular users of public transport for getting to and from work, and to site visits, but there are occasions when a car is the most suitable form of transport because it saves time, and because some sites are difficult to access using public transport. Free parking for electric vehicles is available in many towns too, allowing for cost savings to be made.

We’ve been able to take advantage of a grant made available for small businesses allowing us to take the leap into fully electric zero-carbon transport. We’ll also be encouraging our clients to lead the way by installing charge points for electric vehicles on new housing developments, again, taking advantage of grants available to keep costs to a minimum.

The car itself is powered by a 16kW/h battery that generates enough electricity to power the motor, air conditioning and heating system. On a full charge it is expected to reach a total distance of 79 miles and can be charged in 7 hours (or 30 minutes when connected to special terminal delivering a 125a monophase current). It has an automatic gearbox, and reaches top speeds of up to 80mph – not bad for a little electric car, eh?

This week we learned that our friend Mel Starrs passed away suddenly at her home over the weekend. Mel was an Engineer who was passionate about good quality low-carbon construction. She was a keen blogger and tweeter, and was an advocate of technology and the web. Mel was staunchly dedicated to her work – if there was something to know about sustainability or environmental design, Mel would have the answer. She was highly respected: online and in person Mel was brave and outspoken, she challenged people and she sought answers.

Rather than attempting to write something here, we’re pointing you towards Phil Clarke’s tribute to Mel over on Building Design. His writing has neatly summed up how we’re all feeling.

Her untimely death has left us stunned and our deepest condolences go to her partner Mark along with her friends and family. Mark has shared his thoughts on Mel’s blog and provided a suggestion for commemorative donations to her favourite charity. We’ll be making a donation and hope that anyone who knew Mel or has benefited from her tireless work to improve the environment will do the same.

We’ll miss you Mel.

Remember the loan we made at Christmas? We donated money to help a couple of families in South America…? Well, the money is slowly creeping back into our “Kiva” loan account as repayments are made and we thought it might be nice to reinvest the money with someone else. This time we’ve chosen Mr Yadamdorj in Mongolia:

Mr. Yadamdorj, 33, is an auto repairman and driver. He lives with his wife and his daughter in a ger (a ger is a Mongolian traditional nomadic yurt). He has been building a new house for his family with his brother and needs some money to cover the cost of windows and wall insulation materials for his new house.

This loan is part of Credit Mongol’s green loan program, which helps clients to gain access to electricity through solar panel kits, as well as other products for improving their heating and ventilation systems, reducing pollution and health problems caused by burning fuel.

Full details about Mr Yadamdorj and his family are here: http://www.kiva.org/lend/447855

We rather like the idea that we’re helping someone build an eco-friendly house – it fits nicely with our ethos.

Mike Menzies, Director here at Axis was lucky enough to be offered a trip of a lifetime…

“Are you up for a Singapore Sling in Raffles Hotel?”

Now that’s an offer you don’t hear everyday but it’s how John Cave: Sustainability Manager at E.H.Smith., introduced the idea of a short break in Singapore to visit the REC solar cells manufacturing complex overlooking the Straits of Malacca.

The trip brought together a number of European teams all of us linked via Sunconnex, the Dutch PV project developer and product distributor. A night flight and quick crash nap at Traders Hotel were the prelude to four days of remarkable hospitality. Highlights must include an early Sunday morning walk in the renowned Singapore Botanic Gardens & National Orchid House and a late night visit to the top floor panoramic Ku De Ta Lounge (photo on left, taken by John Cave of EH Smith), Marina Bay Sands, Singapore. If clubbing floats your boat, this is the place to be seen – any doubts, contact John M or Phil for details of just how things liven up at around 3am.

The REC manufacturing plant gave a fascinating insight into how silicon mined in Butte, Montana, ends up in Singapore, cooking in crucibles for 48hrs, sliced into micron thin wafers using 750km of stainless steel wire and then chemically coated to become fully tested high performance PV cells. The whole process is managed by REC in 3 adjacent and integrated state of the art factories where they manufacture silicon wafers, PV cells and their REC Solar branded PV modules.

My thanks goes to John Cave, John Milston of Sunconnex UK, Phil Roberts of GMI Renewables and Pierre Cesbron and his colleagues at REC Solar.

John Cave is a photo buff (see photo above left) so watch out for his Flickr stream including some amazing telephoto shots crossing India and Afghanistan.

L-R: Phil Roberts, John Milston & John Cave

We’ve been working on our latest newspaper, and it is now available to view online:

Axis Design News – issue 2 – 2012

In week #5 of 2012 we’ve been talking about drawing in 2012 and how it should speak of the poetry and the data in our architecture…

Last week we took part in the WMCCE seminar on Building Information Modelling and presented a talk on how our decision to adopt BIM across the office has improved our work. We’re interested in how better use of our computer processors can help us raise our game and provide a better service, as well as helping us consider the quality of the way we draw.

Here’s a copy of the slides:

Week notes #3 & #4…

Lately it’s been all about http://affordablepassivhaus.info:

Over the last few months we have been carrying out a detailed R&D project into making Passivhaus design principles a financially viable option for social housing. Working alongside environmental designers, and certified European Passivhaus consultants Brooks Devlin, our proposals for an affordable Passivhaus were created initially in response to a call for solutions by the BRE Passivhaus competition in 2011.

We took up the challenge to develop our proposals further because we think that construction standards in the UK will require a significant move towards Passivhaus principles. We are launching the project at an event in February aimed at local authorities and housing associations in order to disprove the myths surrounding Passivhaus build costs and share our research.

If you’re involved in delivering new build affordable housing and would like to come along to our event on 21st February in Birmingham, please register your interest via the Affordable Passivhaus website, get updates from the twitter account or drop us a line on email.

Week 2 of 2012 has brought with it a reminder that this is in fact week number 1500 and something. An early spring clean is unearthing drawings and files of past projects, including some promotional material that reminded us all that 2012 is our 30th anniversary. Plans are afoot for a celebration later in the year…

We’ve finally taken the decision to clear some space in the office of old magazines and rather than dispose of them we’d really like them to go to a good home. Birmingham School of Architecture may be taking some, but if you’d like to have some copies of the Architect’s Journal from the last couple of decades, drop us a line.

So, this week we have been mostly…

If you’re a resident of Sutton Coldfield then you’ll have perhaps seen the progress of our work at Chase Farm Shop. As the extension to create a cafe nears completion Mike has been visiting site to help the client and contractor with some of the final design decisions.

In the drawing department there’s been more detailing – early work to help guide an as yet undecided upon contractor. Finding the right level of detail in the early stages isn’t easy, with all lines and junctions being interconnected, all product and material choices being interdependent, it’s not simply a matter of general arrangement. As an ex-partner at Axis once told me, the problem with starting a shadow gap on a buildings surface is knowing how to find the other end of it.

We’ve got some new SAP calculation software in the office, so the learning curve for that has begun with testing on a domestic extension project to compare the before and after results of our intervention. We still like to collaborate with specialists in this field, such as our fellow Passivhaus team members Brooks Devlin, but it’s important to have the basic skills in-house too.

The joys of public sector procurement are upon us, as we wrestle with another web site for tender submissions. To keep our spirits up we’ve been pushing forward with our Passivhaus seminar plans – confirming the team, agreeing the venue and even (dare I say it) starting a web site, because clearly there aren’t enough of them in the world.

The most important news of the week however, for all of us in this business, was the sad loss of both John Madin and Isi Metzstein. With our office and lives based in Birmingham and the founder member of the practice learning his craft in Scotland, the work of both architects had an important place in our history.

A review of Madin’s local housing work is long overdue for us and Mike is promising to dig out his slides of St Peter’s Seminary in Cardross. We’ll share them in a future week note.