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What is the Azure way?

Wed, 26 Feb 2020 19:42:20 GMT

Some projects are far too important to leave to chance, when your project is far more than 'just a building', let us help to make your vision a reality.

To do this, we help streamline your procurement and delivery processes by going about things 'the Azure way' .

It really is about passion...

We are a family owned and operated business that cares about the success of your project - the relationship that you build when we are (jointly) looking at the details that make up your wish-list will be the same relationship that hands you the keys, the O&M pack and the biscuits, mugs, tea and coffee to start you off in your new building.

We really can offer a one-stop shop, a full turn-key package

We are very good at steel framed buildings - best of all, we are very good indeed at large steel framed buildings with specific drivers and requirements, whether these are theatres, ice rinks or biomass sheds. We then support this knowledge with a wealth of tried and tested partners who share our ethos and integrate seamlessly into the delivery of your project.

This includes Architects, cost consultants (there's no need to tender your project as we can demonstrate value for money and benchmark our performance), innovative M&E packages, groundworks, roadways and landscaping and a host of options for internal fit-out and finishes.

We get involved

By involved, we mean truly involved. It's in the name - bespoke. No-one else will have a building like yours and we will devote our time to your project - there may well be times where we challenge you, but we promise that this will only happen where we can clearly demonstrate tangible whole-life benefits.

Our heritage can be traced back over 30 years of delivering time-sensitive projects both on-time and on-budget, whether in the high octane world of Formula One, equally high profile sporting events or creating commercial space for blue-chip clients. In each instance, successful delivery to time-bound targets has been critical and this ethos is cascaded through our entire supply chain.

You're delighted with the bill

OK, delighted may be taking things too far, but we will guarantee there won't be any nasty surprises.

The fastest Final Account submission was agreed before the kettle had boiled - it was a £2.5m project, with the first steel delivery on site less than six weeks from order and a number of additional client requirements over our time on site but crystal clear communication meant there were no unresolved queries.

Let's discuss your vision, let's discuss your project

Hopefully you are keen to add value to your project - Call Robert now on +44 (0)7730 777708 to review your next steps of drop us an e-mail with your requirements.

Why it pays to optimise your steel-framed building

Mon, 24 Feb 2020 19:42:20 GMT

How many companies go to a structural engineer with a concept for their building and end up with a design that is only ever tested at tender stage?

This ignores the efficiencies that may be possible within the structure itself and simply works on the contractor with lowest margin or cheapest supply chain (also, itself, possibly existing on slim margins).

This can be a risky process - constant squeezing of margins impacts on long-term project delivery and rarely serves you, the client, well as there is no real review of the whole-life costs of the steel design.

Our system allows us to save you both time and money...

We will optimise the steel frame design, offering the most efficient use of steel whilst balancing costs of foundations and associated groundworks in order to offer tangible cost benefits to your project.

How is this possible?

We can adjust bay spacing to suit the project requirements - one recent client enquiry had an engineer designed option that resulted in columns being placed within a glazed shopfront. This would have been both ugly and intrusive into the proposed retail space whereas our system allowed us to define a first bay of 9.7m to bring the second axis in line with the end of the glazing and start of the cladding system.

By optimising the steel frame, we often find it’s possible to reduce the number of bays - taking out a pair of columns and the associated roof beams reduces overall steel weights, reduces costs and simplifies the erection process. Quite often we find that we can eliminate at least two complete bays from the design, delivering very real savings in steel costs.

We can start to identify these benefits at early costing stage - this is before you need to approach a Structural Engineer and allows an early assessment of the project.

Following on from this, the steel frame design and foundation loads arising from this design are all carried out in-house, thereby saving clients the costs and time of engaging an external consultant.

Design for Manufacture runs through the entire process - from initial concept to full fabrication drawings, all aspects of the steel design and optimisation are carried out by the same team, allowing full oversight of the benefits delivered to the end client.

Once signed-off, fabrication drawings are used in the ISO 9001 production facility - computerised production techniques and robot welding ensure timely delivery of quality assured materials time after time.

Optimisation starts with the initial view of client requirements, continues into the fabrication process and continues into the on-site delivery of an efficient and aesthetically pleasing building.

Let's discuss your vision, let's discuss your project

Hopefully you are keen to add value to your project - Call Robert now on +44 (0)7730 777708 to review your next steps of drop us an e-mail with your requirements.

Meantime Developments - adding value to your project

Wed, 22 Jan 2020 19:42:20 GMT

There's a tried and tested way to add value to your project if you (or your clients) are in the fortunate position of having vacant land and development plans that stretch over several years...

Clients come to us with a problem, quite often as part of a far larger scheme but typically also involving a patch of land that might otherwise stand idle for a number of years.

Clearly, this can be a challenge as leaving it idle actually has a cost of maintenance - fencing, security, the risks associated with fly-tipping on the vacant plot and the general look and feel that an empty site can create.

The further challenge is, of course, how to make economic sense out of a Meantime Development and this is where we are often able to assist.

Your Council will probably take a favourable view on anything that adds value to the locality - whether this is in terms of employment, bringing customer spend and revenue to the area or whether your activities simply assist with place-making and developing a ‘buzz’ around the development.

One recent project involved a patch of land that formed part of a Masterplan zone but it had been identified that this area wouldn’t be required for 10-12 years. An earlier meantime development on a nearby plot (as a golf driving range) had been a huge success, delivering both footfall and revenue to the area and the land owner viewed this as another opportunity to create an interim facility that could be cost-neutral over the expected period of use.

In reality, payback may well turn out to be far earlier, potentially 6-8 years, allowing the developer to work with various parties to create longer term value with the added benefit that profit generation into later years (likely to be years 9 through to 12) is boosted as the development becomes more and more established.

Whilst use of a Meantime Development space adds variety to an active development, this process can also play a part in creating a decant space that allows the main development to take place.

We have previously been involved in providing a temporary ice rink (duration of around 2 years) which acted as an enabling project to allow the £115m development of a new retail area, leisure facilities, a car park and 210 apartments to proceed without delays to the overarching programme.

If you have vacant land, there’s now so much more that can be achieved by creating an interim use for the space – far more than just another coach park! Share your vision with us and let us create your space.

Let's discuss your vision, let's discuss your project

Hopefully you are keen to add value to your project - Call Robert now on +44 (0)7730 777708 to review your next steps of drop us an e-mail with your requirements.