Skep up!

Two of our big passions here at Marchday are Art and the environment and the seventh image in the Futurescope series highlights that in a BIG way.

The thought-provoking, head-turning image ‘Skep’ – all 45 ft of it – looks down from our Lingfield Point, Darlington project and will be seen by thousands of passers by each day.

Our artists Christian Barnes and John Kennedy from Vista Projects  are reluctant to try to explain the concept – preferring to allow people to come up with their own theories – and we’d love to hear all about them.

The image shows a man with a ‘Skep’ – a traditional beehive – on his head surrounded by beekeeping and gardening – very appropriate as Lingfield Point has its own hives and its own community allotments.

Lingfield Point offers much more than the best office space in Darlington; it offers a way of life that makes it much more interesting, exciting and pleasant to go to work every day. Marchday Director John Orchard had this to say about the image,

“It’s an arresting image; it’s slightly unsettling. Futurescope is a series of eight enormous circular images which change every 3 months. This is the seventh image so the ‘exhibition’ has been running for some time – it’s become part of the town and people always look for the new Futurescope image. We hope the use of Art is one of the things that marks Lingfiled Point out from other business environments. We try to deliver a professional, creative, customer focussed work environment which is shaped by our customers needs. Basing you company here is more than a business decision; it’s a lifestyle choice!”

Art is integral to Lingfield Life and we believe it is all about generating interest and conversation. Skep will certainly do that.

We see Lingfield Point as a 107 acre gallery and you’ll find lots of art dotted about both inside and outside helping to make Lingfield Point somewhere our customers just LOVE to work.

The review below recently featured in the prestigious ‘OnOffice’ magazine;

 3-Fold’s fit-out for Marchday.

Corridors really are the workhorses of the office design world aren’t they? While receptions have been sexed up and made multifunctional places to meet, greet, research and party in; canteens are the place you’re most likely to encounter the CEO in these days; and even the humble staircase is heralded as a place of chance encounters and encouraging movement in the office, the corridor has maintained its unremarkable mundanity.

At Yarn, a new shared office space at Darlington’s Lingfield Point completed by 3FOLD last summer, it’s the corridor’s chance to shine. The firm has transformed what was a fairly uninspiring space running right down the middle of the 930sq m space, with no natural light, into a focal point. This corridor is king now, my friend! It features an installation of nylon cord, which gives the space a rather sci-fi feel, moving to something a bit more homespun as it gives way to the word “Yarn” spelt out in giant cross-stitch. Both the name and the brand identity were conceived by 3FOLD, riffing on the fact that the space was once the ballroom for the factory of Patons & Baldwins, formerly a leading supplier of woollen yarn. The cross-stitch motif takes a number of different forms along the way using materials such as die board panels, climbing rope and coloured vinyl, keeping to the signature colours of red, grey, black and white.

“We thought about how we could make a visual impact with something that tells the story of the building and also that doesn’t cost the earth,” explains project designer Martin Cotter. “People love walking down the corridor now, it’s real talking point.” The deftly creative touch employed here was the catalyst for the rest of this workplace design project. Developers Marchday commissioned 3FOLD to produce an interior that set itself apart from the normal drabness found in multi-tenanted office spaces on industrial estates. As Marchday’s director John Orchard explains, “We’ve aimed Yarn at small- and medium-size businesses who want to be associated with something memorable and stylish. They may only want to pay for a small dedicated office space but they can have use of all the communal facilities.”

These facilities include a breakout space, which sits at a slight angle to the corridor to encourage greater usage. Here juicy red banquette seating in self-contained booths, combined with sculptural Bsweden pendants overhead, provide the perfect excuse to get away from your desk and give enough privacy without the need for a separate wall. The boardroom, meanwhile, with its perky Naughtone furniture and luxurious panelling has, says Cotter, a “light, fresh, quite punchy feel to it”.

Maintaining that connection to the building’s former use, 3FOLD has used large digital prints with images from Patons & Baldwins’ mid-20th-century heyday. Tongue-in-cheek domestic references can also be found in the lace-patterned window film, which helps to screen the less-than-enticing views over the former factory buildings. One of the challenges of the scheme – and the same goes for any shared office space – was that this space wasn’t designed for anyone in particular, but Cotter explains that his tactic was to make it “really enticing for people to take one of the units on”.

The units are all one level and range in size from 15sq m to nearly 280sq m. Leading up from the main foyer space are the large and medium-sized spaces, with a series of smaller units at the back of the building. There are also one- and two-person units in the Yarn Rooms, also at the back. Those signing on the dotted line for a lease include a variety of SMEs from software firms to healthcare providers, training companies and charities. Of those, some are expansions, others attracted by the skills-base in Darlington or they are home-based businesses taking their first tentative step on the commercial rental ladder.

Yarn tenants also benefit from a canteen, nursery, concierge service and business improvement workshops. Following 3FOLD’s work in 2008 on another Marchday-owned scheme on the same site, the Student Loans Company, they were the natural go-to guys for this project. The emphasis at the Student Loans Company on social space and working with rather than against the existing features of an industrial building is very evident in this newer scheme too. The hope for Yarn is that, with the boardroom and the breakout spaces positioned within easy access to the tenanted areas, these places (along with that corridor of course) will be where dialogue and cooperation between tenants happens. The designers used their knowledge from working on bar, hotel and restaurant projects to judge what makes people want to gather in a particular spot.

Marchday for their part, genuinely do like to do things differently from the build-it-high, convert-it-quick, rent-it-out-not-particularly-cheap approach of some developers. Its website blurb is full of talk of beekeeping on the Lingfield Point site, of them being inspired by community developments they have seen in Malmö, and their admiration of Wayne Hemingway’s similarly people-friendly approach to housing. It’s refreshing to find a good-looking, well-thought-out project like Yarn, especially in a property sector that, I would hazard a guess, is not exactly booming. Cotter says that “there are more and more office clusters of this type as they seem to work quite well.”

But to play devil’s advocate for a moment, is this simply too much towards the contemporary end of design for its audience? Would potential tenants be put off by such truly modern touches? With the best will in the world, this is Darlington, not Dalston. Hearteningly, though, most of the units are now occupied and Cotter’s having none of that argument either, saying that an ordinary fit-out wouldn’t have attracted the clientele it has: “We couldn’t play it safe.”

Visit the OnOffice website feature on http://www.onofficemagazine.com/projects/item/1469-3folds-fit-out-for-marchday

@lingfieldpoint

@marchdaygroup

 

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Offices with Soul, there’s something you don’t get every day!

So what is it that gives one building Soul and another none? We concluded that part of this must be to do with the building’s heritage; when a building has very obviously had a previous life (in Lingfield Point’s case a wool factory) and when that past is celebrated in its present form the result can be very special. Another ingredient of offices with Soul must be the amount of love and attention to detail lavished on its creation. At Marchday we don’t create average offices – just look at our offices at New Lodge, Windsor (www.newlodge.co.uk). Set in 55 acres of beautifully landscaped grounds this Victorian Manor House was built in 1857 and just oozes Soul.

“Baseing your business at New Lodge is more than a business decision, it’s a lifestyle choice.” says John Orchard, Director at Marchday, “Where else can you work wirelessly, whilst sitting in the shade of  a towering Wellingtonia tree planted by Queen Victoria? What other offices give you the choice of playing golf or tending your own allotment in your lunch hour?”

So there you are; Soul just one of the differences that make Marchday offices just a little bit better than the rest!

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Here’s a short film we made last Summer to capture the simplicity of our honey harvest at Lingfield Point Darlington.

Colin, our Beekeeper shows you how it’s done!

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Wayne and Gerardine Hemingway enjoy the tour.

We were delighted to welcome Wayne and Gerardine Hemingway of Hemingwaydesign to Lingfield Point, Darlington recently.

The founders of the ‘Red or Dead’ fashion label have designed a number of successful and innovative housing schemes.

They really liked what they saw and were particularly interested in the 1950’s wool factory heritage of Lingfield point and the spaces Marchday had created from it. Wayne said;

“We’re huge fans of stylishly upcycling stuff and this is recycling at its biggest and best. The whole place has been designed with love, attention to detail and a sense of playfulness . It’s already a thriving workplace for loads of businesses and when the housing’s built it will be a true sustainable community”

“I’m a big fan of Hemingwaydesign’, said Marchday Director John Orchard ‘and I was really delighted to be able to show Wayne and Gerardine what we’ve done at Lingfield Point. There’s an obvious vintage fashion connection and I thought they’d like the idea of re-using the original wool factory buildings as I know Wayne is a big fan of Upcycling”.

During the visit there was talk of the possibility of hosting an Upcycling Olympiad at Lingfield Point this summer. Watch this space for more details!

Over 20 regions of the UK have submitted their preliminary bids to host the Government’s Green Investment Bank when it is formed in Spring this year. Vince Cable said recently on the BIS website;

There is a great opportunity for British businesses to lead the transition to a green economy and stake a claim on a sector that has massive potential for growth. I want to set up the Bank as soon as possible, so it can start accelerating investments in these key sectors and help British companies take advantage of these opportunities. Setting out the priorities for the Bank and establishing UK Green Investments for April 2012 are a major step forward.

So, how does the Tees Valley Unlimited bid look? Here are the Government’s search criteria. The location of the GIB must;

• Be able to recruit and retain the specialist staff needed to run the organisation.

The Tess Valley is already a hot bed for public sector organisations with a critical ‘cluster’ allowing for career progression of senior executives through these organisations. The quality of life in the Tees Valley is unparalleled – whether you walk, cycle or run, you’re going to love our hills, rivers and coast. There are great houses and the schools are excellent.

• Enable the GIB to work closely with other parties involved in deals as well as other investment bodies, project developers and green technology providers.

The North East of England is already home to more specialist renewables technology companies than any other region of the UK. We have the specialist manufacturing expertise born out of our industrial heritage. Tees Valley has a strong spirit of entrepreneurship reaching back to George Stephenson and the creation of the railways.

• Be in a location that provides good value for money, to ensure that the GIB is cost effective.

What can we say,  The Tees Valley can’t be beaten on price! Marchday’s own Lingfield Point, Darlington is already home to over 50 companies, many of them public sector organisations, employing 2000 staff. This award winning business community has created premium office space from a recycled 1950′s wool factory and is the very embodiment of the Government’s vision for a sustainable mixed community. We succeed because we provide unrivalled value for money.

We’ve been saying this for some time. Back in 2010, John appeared on Sky News calling for the GIB to come to the North East. At the time John said;

The traditional skills necessary for heavy industry, once so common in the region are transferable to the manufacturing of green technologies such as wind and wave turbines. The North East is already home to a cluster of world leading sustainable technology companies. We think the Government should show its confidence in the region and bring the ‘green’ money men to sit alongside the innovators. That way all the components would be in place to allow the North East to reinvent itself.

We think that argument is still valid.

You can watch John’s interview on Sky News by clicking the the link below.

So, go on Mr Cable, make our day ….. please!

Lingfield Point has enjoyed two recent meetings from dignitaries of the design world. A group from the Design Council CABE Board visited to tour the site and visit the wool factory buildings which have been recycled into inspirational, award winning workplaces. They also heard about the first phase of residential development about to begin on site.

Last week the Northern Architecture review panel in association with CABE reviewed Taylor Wimpey’s proposed design and were mightily impressed;

The North East Design Review & Enabling Service is the CABE-Affiliated Panel which examines most major developments in the north-east with a view to ensure they achieve the maximum design value  and sustainability that is possible, given the project brief.  The Panel meets monthly in a number of venues around the region and assess four projects at each meeting. January’s meeting was held at Lingfield Point which proved to be an easy to find location well-served by parking and public transport. The managers of the venue were most helpful in meeting the Panel’s requirements and provided and excellent room and refreshments.  We hope to return when the Panel next meets in this locale.

In their proposals for the first phase of residential at the Lingfield Point site, Wimpey have built upon their track record of pursuing innovative development forms, first seen locally at The Staithes, Gatehead.

Great stuff indeed! The first new homes at Lingfield Point are planned for later this year so watch this space for details.

The Prime Minister and David Miliband have both thrown their support behind The Northern Echo’s ‘Foundation for Jobs’ campaign.

The scheme which was launched by the Bishop of Durham at Marchday’s Lingfield Point in Darlington is focussed on placing at least 100 apprentices with companies in the borough as well exposing hundreds more to the real life workplace.

David Cameron described the campaign as a ‘brilliant initiative’;

I welcome this brilliant intiative from the Northern echo; it is just the kind of thing we need to give young people the skills, training and opportunies to succeed.

Labour’s ex leader David Miliband added;

The Foundation for Jobs is just the kind of initiative that can break through the bureaucracy and develop new ideas that give access to young people to the jobs of the future.

Marchday’s John Orchard was one of the first to sign the charter underlining the commitment to create apprentice places;

At Lingfield Point we have already taken on apprentices and have gained greatly from the experience. I know that some of our customers have done the same. There’s no doubt that this scheme will raise the profile of apprenticeships and open people’s eyes to the advantages to their business.

With over 50 companies and 2000 people working in our offices at Lingfield Point we hope the initiative will make Darlington an even better place to do business.

Honey Bees stop flying when the temperature drops down into the 50s (F). They stay inside their hive in what is called a winter cluster which means they get into a big huddle. There is no point to flying outside of the hive as there are no flowers in bloom, hence no pollen or nectar is available and the cold could kill them. The colder the outside temperature, the more compact the cluster becomes.

The object of this clustering is to keep themselves warm, so warm that the temperature in the centre of this cluster, where the Queen Bee stays, is kept at about 80 (F). The outer edge of the cluster is about 46 to 48 (F).

The worker bees create heat by shivering and they also move back and forth between the inner part of the cluster and the outer part. In this way no bee will freeze.

Perhaps the most damaging aspect is the undermining of confidence in legislation relating to sustainable technologies. Potential investors are faced with making an enormous financial commitment in the face of number of uncertainties; longevity of the technologies, capital cost of the installation and financial return on that cost.

For the first time, under the FiT legislation the log jam began to clear; income was guaranteed for 25 years and Government backed, PV technology was tried and tested and had reduced in price and critically (as a result of these factors) the banks felt confident enough to start lending money for PV installations.

The first big step backwards came last year when the Government decided to limit FiT’s to installations under 5 megawatts. This meant that a number of big, commercially driven PV arrays became unviable over night. The second blow came in December with the reduction in the level of FiT’s.

The Government made the following statement in one of its recent publications;

To facilitate the investment in renewables that the country needs, investors need to have confidence in a stable and predictable commercial environment for those investments. The scale and pace of the changes now proposed was a ‘shock’ for the industry and the suddenness of their introduction has damaged investor confidence across the whole energy sector. This damage would not have occurred if the Government had recognised the unsustainable rate of the expansion of solar installations at an earlier date, something which ought to have been identified by Ministers and officials sooner than it appears to have been. The analysis of the impact on jobs in the Impact Assessment is also seriously inadequate.

We in the UK are not alone in introducing FiT’s as a way of reducing our dependency on fossil based energy generation. Most northern European countries have done the same. In Germany for instance it has led to around 13% of the nation’s energy being generated from renewable sources.

So, as the Government awaits the result of a High Court appeal on it’s decision to apply it’s Fit reduction retrospectively we’re left wondering whether the Government now see the UK’s bold carbon reduction commitments as an essential necessity or an unaffordable luxury?