One of the coldest Februarys on record has slowed the recent recovery in house building seen in the latter part of 2009, according to a report by the NHBC. Yet RRA has secured a number of new residential commissions in the Cotswolds – could this be the green shoots of recovery. What with Cheltenham festival fever only 3 weeks away it looks like the odds are on for RRA’s new Cheltenham office being a winner.

This month RRA also attended the BSEC school building convention at Excel.

Blair’s pledge in 1997 that Education, Education, Education would underpin his government, was evident at the event. The secondary and primary school building renewal programme across the UK has been very successful – so much so, the event audience were made clearly aware that the world now looks to UK standards in school building procurement.

Lord Putnam introduced the event and summarised the mammoth task the UK still faces in terms of addressing tomorrows technology and environmental needs. School design will play a big part.

Watch the trailer for Lord Puttnam's new film about education here.

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RRA supporting a Wish

Directors Mark and Garry presented Winston’s Wish representative Kate with money raised during RRA’s Cheltenham exhibition event. Kate from Winston’s Cheltenham office expresses a huge thank you to RRA and all their guests and business associates for the generosity in supporting this very worthwhile charity.

Contact Winston’s Wish at www.winstonswish.org.uk

Seeding an Agricultural College

RRA is working with Herefordshire College of Technology to masterplan development of the Agricultural College at Holme Lacy. The project seeks to phase development of new college buildings over a period of time. The end result will provide Herefordshire and the region with a superb agricultural, land and sports based college facility right in the heart of the county. RRA are appointed to submit the planning application later this spring.

St Stephens - First look

Redditch town centre in Worcestershire is to receive an exciting new RRA church and landscaping project. St Stephens, a 19th Century church building, in the heart of Redditch has a largely underused interior space. Early design options seek to maximise this space potential bringing innovative new uses into what is otherwise an empty void within the building – stunning.

For more information contact Tim.

Bishops Cleeve - Completion

RRA has just signed off completion of a community centre in Bishops Cleeve. Built for Tewkesbury Borough Council by the Cheltenham Office of Beam Construction ltd. The facility, part sponsored by Tesco, delivers an exciting new space for the parish. RRA’s completion certificate follows the 12 months defects liability period and confirms the building fit for purpose – well done all those involved in bringing this project to a successful conclusion. See RRA’s portfolio of project images on our website.

Housing - that figures

The number of new home registrations during January 2010 was 7,400, up from 4,752 and a 56 per cent increase on last year, but still well below the levels seen in January 2008 at 11,512 and 17,770 in January 2007. NHBC statistics for the three months to the end of January 2010 also show that the recovery is largely due to the private sector, which was most dramatically affected by the recession.

Landlords - Beware!

New Planning legislation imposes a new use class for houses in ‘multiple occupation’ - designed to control the conversion of houses into multiple occupancy and the demands this places on local amenities and seasonal occupation particularly in student towns. Houses, which are converted to places with more than three unrelated tenants, will be covered by the use class and will now require a planning application.

Building Regs Part G – Pressure

Changes to part G which come into force on the 1st April will require that baths in new homes are fitted with protective measures such as: a thermostatic mixing valve limiting the temperature of hot water and a water efficiency standard limited to 125 litres per person per day for new homes. This extends existing safety measures to all types of hot water systems. The regulations also define where grey-water and harvested rainwater can be used safely. To find out more contact Mark.

EuroVision or EuroTrash

Last month's Eurovision/Eurotrash,  84% of our readers voted the Barton Road housing a Euro Trash and 85% voted the Dutch Housing a Euro Vision.

This month we consider a new building at the Vitra site in Germany. It is a new showroom called Vitra Haus, for the furniture manufacturer whose name it shares. Dubbed as a casually stacked pile of like objects. In design terms casual it certainly is not. What do you think - is it a Eurovison or Euro Trash? Follow the link and let us know.

Answer our survey here and next month we will let you know what our readers think.