team

5th Birthday Party Celebrations!

The sun shone all day long for our Birthday Celebrations held in the garden on Friday 6^thJuly.

Thanks to all our guests who found time in their busy schedules to join us for a glass of something cold together with an amazing paella prepared on site by the guys from The Little Catering Co.

The afternoon was a big success with fellow consultants, clients, friends and family joining the festivities. The birthday cake was unveiled and had to be eaten quickly before our sugar figures began melting in the heat!!

Notwithstanding the preparation for the party it’s been a busy time in the office with new leads and commissions being worked on in Romsey, Northampton and Luton.

Finally big thanks go to Claire, Loretta and Kaeren for organising the day and ensuring it was such a hit.

Looking forward to the next 5!!

Call For Sites!

We are delighted to receive two new instructions to prepare outline feasibility proposals for sites within Test Valley Borough Council.

Working with Adrian Barker of Lucid Planning we are preparing initial material for consideration under the recent Call for Sites issued by the Local Authority. Developing the links set out by our involvement with our colleagues in the Connected Collective this is a perfect example of our ability to help our clients from the most strategic level through to the delivery of detailed planning and construction advice.

Details of the process are set out in the extract from the Local Authorities website as follows –

SHELAA & Brownfield Sites Call for Sites Submission Form 2017

This process should be used to promote land for the Strategic Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment (SHELAA). The information you submit will be used by the Council to inform future housing and economic land allocations within future Planning Documents and on-going monitoring within the Borough including calculating the five-year deliverable housing land supply position.

With regards to residential and economic uses, the Council will accept sites for a net gain of 5 or more dwellings and sites that are 0.25ha (or likely to provide at least 500m² of economic floor space) and above.

This form should also be used to put forward Brownfield sites for inclusion on the Brownfield Register.

Attached are the aerial shots of the sites which need to remain anonymous at this stage. Should you or your client need any similar advice please contact the office.

Forge Design’s Open Studio Today!!

Preparations are in place for the Forge Design Studio Open Day. True to form we have made sure that visitors will be looked after … tea and cakes looking spectacular. It will be a great chance to show off our work … come and join us if you can!

Please see the ‘Contact Us’ for information on where to find us!

Even the puppy is ready to go!

A303 CPD Tour!

We enjoyed a great staff day out of the office on Thursday. It was CPD, honest!

After much discussion in the office about an away day, our lovely Director Mike, set up a top secret tour of three mystery locations. The team were only told to be ready by 8:30 and to wear sensible shoes!

Rendezvousing bright and early, Claire, Loretta, Mike and Nick, set off from Salisbury just before 9.00am and headed to the new Denton Corker Marshall, Visitor Centre at Stonehenge. Arriving before the crowds it was good to see the building and overall masterplan coping with the hordes of tourists who began descending on the site. The trip out to the stones was enjoyed by all, and as we had 3 out of 4 first-timers, it led to a lot of interesting discussion and speculation.

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We all hoped that the plans for tunnelling part of the adjacent A303 will go ahead. (Click here to find out more)

From Stonehenge we headed west to Durslade Farm, home of Hauser and Wirth. For those that don’t know –

“Hauser & Wirth Somerset is a pioneering world-class gallery and multi-purpose arts centre, which acts as a destination for experiencing art, architecture and the remarkable Somerset landscape through new and innovative exhibitions of contemporary art. A landscaped garden, designed for the gallery by internationally renowned landscape architect Piet Oudolf, includes a 1.5 acre perennial meadow, which sits behind the gallery buildings”

The buildings, garden and exhibits were a revelation and were much admired by all. It also provides a really nice lunch!!

For the last stop of the day we came back to Salisbury and made our way along to Roche Court to admire the work of Stephen Marshall Architects at the NewArtCentre. The range of projects, attention to detail and accessibility are admirable. Great to see a long-lasting relationship between architect and client. The obvious trust and understanding between the parties was plain to see.

The Artist’s House was a firm favourite – if you haven’t visited you should try and get along to see it.

A great day out with a chance to see 3 world class projects within a 45 or so miles of the office. Nice.

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Our Director Mike, always full of bright ideas!

Please see the links for further information on all of the locations we visited yesterday!

Hauser and Wirth

Roche Court

Forge Design’s ‘Open Studio’

We are looking forward to holding an ‘Open Studio’ event on Saturday 17th September.

Over the last three years we have been lucky enough to have worked on a great variety of projects including schemes for a number of our neighbours! The ‘Open Studio’ will be an opportunity for us to meet a wider cross-section of the local community, whilst inviting them into the office to see, and learn more about, what we do.

Further details will be released shortly. Watch local press for details

Please see our contact page for our address and other details.

Feeling Proud

1.30pm round 3b

Mike completed the MacMillan Cancer Support 72 hole golf challenge on Thursday 23^rd at Broadstone Golf Club. It was a double whammy as Barry Mutter, one of the other pros in the shop, had completed the task with a variety of partners on Monday 20^th. All together we have raised more than £1000 for a great charity, with contributions still being added!

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Mike teamed up with son Chris and the Club Captain Mark Dowland for the whole day, with Chris Roberts joining us for the final 36 holes. A great experience with fantastic support from everyone at the club. The weather held (just about!) and the golf was consistent in its inconsistency!!

Plans are already been hatched for next year’s occasion with lots of ideas for a multi-course event.

Please feel free to give what you can, click here to donate to our JustGiving page

Longest-Day-Golf-Challenge

Latest Edition To The Forge Team!

We’d like to welcome Dexter, Dexy for short to our expanding team! Dexy specialises in looking handsome 24/7, snoozing and will do anything for a treat and a belly rub! In his spare time Dexy enjoys chewing wires and jumping up on sofas!

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Dexy loves siting in the sun and finding cosy spots in the office, and it didn’t take him long to discover the heater was nice and toasty! Contrary to health and safety guidelines! He is growing up fast and has already outgrown his heater and still insists on sleeping in his baby bed which is far too small for him now!