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Winter Warmers #1

1/27/2015

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We were challenged by Nick Knowles, presenter of DIY SOS, to share our knowledge when we disagreed with his comments that only very rich people can afford to insulate and make their homes warmer and more energy efficient. This is first in a series of blog posts where we will share effective DIY tips that you can use to improve the comfort and energy efficiency of your home or property for free or very cheaply.

If you would like us to help you make your home or property feel warmer and more comfortable and reduce your energy bills contact us. We specialise in eco refurbishing - making existing buildings work better and more efficiently for you. We also design extensions and new builds following passive house principles and a fabric first approach.

DIY Air Tightness with Sticky Tape
Air tightness is a growing area of knowledge in the construction industry. We now know that up to 40% of heat loss can be due to leaky buildings.

We often feel cool draughts from the uncontrolled air leaking in and out of cracks, holes and gaps in our buildings. By blocking up some of these we can both feel warmer and save on heating bills.

What you will need for this DIY project is a simple roll of sellotape.

Look at your doors and windows and stick a piece of sellotape over any keyholes that are either unused or not used very often. This might be some patio doors to the living room which you can easily reuse again in the summer by removing the sellotape.

This is an almost invisible and simple fix to quickly reduce draughts.

Warning! We do need some ventilation in our buildings to keep our indoor air healthy so don't block up everything!

Share your
DIY draught excluding tips in the comments below. #winterwarmers



 
Reducing Draughts with Sticky Tape
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New Year. New You. New Home

1/8/2015

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The beginning of a New Year is always busy with new projects and resolutions. Starting the year afresh and make it better than the year before.

After a fortnight at home with the family, many homeowners decide that they need to make changes or add more space. Space to host large dinners for a growing family, a spare room for visitors or somewhere to work on all those new years resolutions - perhaps a home gym or project room.


There are lots of things to consider when improving your home. You need to think strategically when deciding what work to have done to make sure you get what you want and need and it's within your budget.

To help you with your decision making here are some tips to consider when deciding how to improve your home.



1. Decide what you need

I often find that through carefully questioning my clients during our first meetings, to understand the bigger picture, I find solutions that they hadn't imagined and that can be much better value for money.

Sometimes a big extension is not the answer to giving you the home you need. Ask yourself the following questions to help identify what you need and how your home can meet this:


  • What do you want to be able to do but your space is not allowing you to do?
  • How many people does the space need to work for?
  • What spaces do you have now and how do you use them?
  • Are there any unused or underused spaces?
  • Where do you get the best light and views and are these important to you?


2. Set a Budget

It's best to be realistic about money. Once the budget is set make sure that the works are chosen carefully to fit within this budget. Be aware that sometimes spending a little extra in some areas can save you money in the long run. It's not always necessary to carry out all the work at once but it is usually best to have it all designed together so that the final result is a harmonious whole.

When considering how much to spend make sure you include costs for the following:
  • professional fees: architect, structural engineer, quantity surveyor, party wall surveyor, etc
  • local authority applications: planning and building control
  • possible extras: storage, rental / holiday elsewhere during the work, professional deep cleaning afterwards, more takeaways and meals out while the kitchen is out of action
  • VAT: remember to take into account the likely extra 20%
  • contingency: setting aside an extra 5-15% is wise, particularly if the work involves an existing building

I recommend getting cost estimates based on sketch designs early on to ensure that the works carried out are in budget and give you the best value. The Home Design Workshop gives you sketch designs that meet your needs and are a good basis to check out practicalities like cost.

To give a finger in the air idea of how much the extra space might cost to build I use a rate of £2k per m2. Although nowhere near as accurate as a quantity surveyors estimate, this calculation helps guide initial decisions on how much space is worked on to suit the budget.



3. Consider build options

How you choose to have your project built can have a huge impact on the cost and speed of the construction and the quality of the end result. Consider how much time you have to devote to the project yourself and what skills you have. Do you want to get hands on and self-build or do you want to hand over the keys and come back to a completed project?

These are some of your build options with pros and cons:
  • design and build: one company that carries out everything from the design to the completion of the build. This gives you the least design and quality control but the most cost certainty. Typically this is the most expensive option as the companies which deliver this option take on all the risks of keeping the project on time and in budget. There is the potential that they may reduce quality to offset unexpected expenses incurred during construction.
  • main contractor: you employ a design team to carry out the design and apply for permissions, then a contractor to manage and carry out the construction. This gives you full control of the design and quality and allows you to make changes during construction. However, I recommend that changes during construction be avoided by making the right decisions during the design stage. Be aware that the later changes are made the greater they impact on cost and time.
  • self managed with sub contractors: you employ each member of the design and construction team separately, giving you maximum control on design, quality and cost. For inexperienced project managers there is a big risk that the project will take longer and cost a lot more.
  • self-build: you employ specialists as required but largely carry out the work yourself. This gives maximum control of design and cost but quality can suffer unless you have sufficient skills and it can take a lot longer to complete construction, especially if you have a full time job to fit the build around. Remember that to comply with legal requirements some work must be carried out by a fully qualified tradesperson.



To give you more help with your early decision making I have created the Design Your Home Vision Checklist.

This helps you address key decisions from the start so that you can take your project forward with confidence. You can get that like-new home you've dreamed of!

Click on the button below to get your copy of the checklist.
I want to make a start on my new home!
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We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

12/19/2014

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Eco Art Installation at St Luke's Liverpool
We've had a fantastic 2014 and 2015 promises to be even better. Thank you to all our clients, extended design team members and collaborators who have made this such a memorable year. We're looking forward to continuing with more good work in the New Year and producing more of our special blend of eco friendly and heritage sensitive designs.

Our office will close for a 2 week holiday from 19th December to 5th January.








Photograph of our winter light and colour installation at St Luke's "Bombed Out" Church, Liverpool

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Before You're 30

11/18/2014

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Last night was a really well organised event as part of the student led series of Before You're 30 talks. I was very privileged to be invited to talk and share my experiences of becoming an architect with the choices and lessons learned on my journey. I also touched on the contradictions between architectural heritage conservation and energy conservation - getting the balance right is going to be a huge challenge for our future built environment.

The other speakers were CJ Lim, author of Food City and architecture lecturer at the Bartlett, and Michelle Martin, who worked on some fantastic community projects in Malaysia with Arkitrek. It was a really inspirational series as I understand they always are. These events are definitely the place to be if you want architectural inspiration and a new way of looking at the world around you in Manchester.
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Using Pinterest for Home Design

7/24/2014

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Pinterest is a fantastic way to organise and share images and videos in “boards” online. We find it a very useful way to collect images to inspire our projects, most importantly it's a brilliant way to discuss ideas with our clients.

We can discuss or create clients boards during our Home Design Consultation and refer back to them throughout the design of the project. If you're considering any home improvements creating your own Pinterest board of ideas is a great way to start.

You can see what inspires us by following our Pinterest account.


Pinterest for Home Design Inspiration
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Find us on Facebook

7/18/2014

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Here at iarchitect we're all au fait with social media and we regularly put out information through both twitter and Facebook.

Why not find us on Facebook and like us. You can comment on our posts and let us know what you think. Also feel free to follow us on twitter and if you mention @ArchitectJane in your tweet we'll get back to you.

This is what our principal architect, Jane Leach, looks like so you can be sure that you've found the right architect.
Jane Leach, chartered architect, iarchitect
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Open Studio

2/20/2014

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This Saturday we are opening our studio as part of the Grumpy Open Studio in Manchester City Centre.
Come along between 10am and 5pm to see behind the scenes of these artist studios.

Grumpy in the City, Brazennose Street, M2 5AS
iarchitect is on the 3rd Floor West

Bring along that bag of plastic shopping bags that you keep in a cupboard to learn how to transform them with a quick and easy creative craft.
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Spotlight Event at Manchester School of Art

1/29/2014

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Jane Leach, principal chartered architect at i-architect, gave a brief talk to architectural students and practitioners at this interesting event last week.

It was a great opportunity to hear heads of local practices talking about their work and research as well as hearing students at the school of architecture discussing their exciting and innovative ideas.

A brief clip of the talks can be viewed here:
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Installation Launch

12/9/2013

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Consumer Spirit - Life and Death of a Plastic Bag at St Luke's Church

This installation project will be launched on Thursday 12th December with a switching on of lights to bring the front of the church to life with light and colour. This is the culmination of a year of workshops and designwork to create plastic panels out of plastic shopping bags.

Working in collaboration with Urban Strawberry Lunch we have held workshops with homeless people, young people (NEETs) and members of the public. All the panels have been made in these workshops and represent a diverse group of local people and their stories.
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Open Public Workshop at St Luke's "Bombed Out" Church
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Making the recycled plastic "stained glass" panels
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"Backstage" view of the installation
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Concept Sketch for Consumer Spirit
This project has caught the imagination of many people and we would like to thank everyone who has been involved and helped to make this happen including though not limited to:
  • The Arts Council England and 23 Foundation for funding
  • Crisis and especially Annie MacLean for help with recruitment of perticipants and volunteers and running our initial workshops
  • Becka Griffin for general support and advice on recruiting workshop participants
  • Sam Kent, Lobster Productions Ltd, for creating the steel frame that supports the panels
  • Spencer Lee Kelly for help with recruiting student volunteers from LJMU to facilitate workshops
  • all the volunteers who have helped facilitate workshops, setting up equipment, helping prepare the church front to look good for the installation, especially Tesco
  • News From Nowhere for providing us particularly good clear plastic

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Website Replaced

12/9/2013

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i-architect has launched this new website to showcase more of our work and make it clear what we can deliver. Please get in touch, we'd love to know what you think.
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    Design Your Home Vision

    The Design Your Home Vision Checklist will help you kickstart your home improvements.

    Download yours with the button below to get your home project off to a great start:
    • make the fundamental decisions
    • gather the essential information
    • set your priorities
    • define your wishlist​ ​

    Get started with the free Design Your Home Vision checklist.
    I want the Checklist!

    Author

    Jane Leach, principal architect at i-architect

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