Posts Tagged: trains

Boats, trains, boys – 12 April 2015

Admiring the Britannia on the last day of the Easter holiday. britania 12 april 2015It’s an interesting tour: a glimpse into a world where hierarchy must be emphasised in everything from crockery to wall panelling to drink, otherwise the illusion might slip.

We’d spent some time in York, having fun and looking at trains.

br class 31 - 09 april 2015fraser - 090415This might look like boys activities, but we all enjoyed it. stockbridge arts club - 31 march 2015Back home, the Stockbridge Arts Club had it’s first meeting. It’s a foil to our partner’s “Book Group” and might take a little while to find it’s core purpose…

dundee station - 03 april 2015Waiting for a train in Dundee, thinking about what the new station might be.

Cheshire street draftSomething we looked at earlier this year in London, but didn’t get.

 

Good Stories – Part One – 30 April 2015

You meet more interesting people on the train.

Ted Bullock - 30-3-15This is 90 year old war veteran Ted Bullock who lit up our journey between York & Berwick.

With youthful energy he told us about building landing strips for Spitfires on Gold Beach after the Normandy landings. He’ll have told the stories before, obviously, but the way he told them made them sound fresh and gripping, none more so than his recollections of listening to Churchill’s ‘We will fight them on the beaches’ speech in a bombed out West Ham. Too young, but filled with hate, he signed up and went to war.

He got off at Berwick, his new home. It all sounds serious but he was mostly a man for joke filled tales of adventures and scrapes. A pleasure and privilege to have met him.

All Duck & Waffle – 5 February 2015

With my colleagues for breakfast at Duck & Waffle 40 storeys up the Heron Tower. Planning the future of our business.Duck & Waffle - 5 February 2015 Impressive neighbours peer in the window.

Taxi - 3 February 2015Work is busy. The weather is cold and grey. Sketching will remain an indoor activity for the next month or so. This limits any outdoor views to what’s right in front of the coffee shop window as I eat breakfast. I think this is called a TX4, from the London Taxi Company.

Sleeper - 5 February 2015The weirdest way to travel remains the sleeper. In the bar at the start of the journey you can just glimpse the romance of rail travel from bygone days. Seven hours later you join the rest who’ve hardly slept to queue for a shower in Euston station.

Urban design Panel - 28 January 2015At the Edinburgh Urban Design panel in the City Chambers. Former Provosts watch over the group to remind us to do the best for this amazing city. I’m a back seat driver on this one, so I watch David H doing his professional presentations in Edinburgh… 6 Grosvenor Street - 15 January 2015 …and on Grosvenor Street in London.

Alan Hamilton - 31 January 2015Alan Hamilton in Hemma at lunchtime.

Rubicon Way & an Odd Looking Engine – 6 January 2015

We’re wrestling with the potential of some big brick buildings just now so I’m on the trail of the lauded examples. Designing buildings is hard, so it’s worth learning from those who’ve done it well, recently.Rubicon Way - 6 December 2015These are round the back of Kings Cross. Two big blocks, by Maccreanor Lavington and PRP.rubicon way 2 - 7 December 2015There’s lots to admire: consistency, bold entrances, roof lines, grand changes in scale, well considered materials and junctions. Using decent quality brick to begin with, even.Rubicon Way 3 - 6 December 2015

On the way to Leeds in the morning I caught up with this odd looking engine.

class 67 - 8 December 2015She (he?) pulls the Caledonian Sleeper up from Edinburgh in the colours of the English, Scottish and Welsh Railway, which I understand is owned by the Germans.

HTA Design LLP is One 4 April 2014

It’s more fun on the train when you bring the family. We all went to London to help celebrate HTA’s first birthday. The bairns got a first experience of family holidays in big cities: traipsing around, sore feet, trying to find somewhere cheap enough that we could have a meal each…

on the train 4 april 2014We visited a house with a hole in it.

portal 6 april 2014It’s a nice enough house characterised by fantastic vibrant colours, but we’re drawing up plans for it’s demolition.

JFI - 5 April 2014Innes isn’t here, he’s looking for the funny man.

Low cost housing at the House of Lords 13 March 2014

From the terrace of the House of Lords, our man Mike De’Ath launched the Housing Forum’s report into how to better provide low cost housing.House of Lords 13 March 2014As he talked about it I was thinking ‘what’s more important than this?’.  A society that has some making huge capital gains on rising house prices whilst others can’t afford to either rent or buy is a divided society heading for disruption.

http://housingforum.org.uk/knowledge/publications/making-place-low-cost-housing-report

Berkeley Group in the pubThe night before I stayed locally and bumped into some folk from the Berkeley Group in a bar on the Thames, beneath some unashamedly unaffordable housing. I knew Berkeley were ahead on customer service, but nice of them to go to the length of filling the pub in their development with their own friendly staff. The characters of the people matched their brand differentiation too.Brighton Train 5 MarchThe train home from Brighton after the CIH conference after talking about institutional private rent, a part of the answer.Kings Cross 5 March 2014This my view of London as I arrive. It’s the capital of the world now, or so I’m told. About 80% of the new jobs created in the UK in the last few years were in the south east, but I’m sure a good proportion of the other 20% is people servicing the London economy from the rest of the UK, like we do. If a twin track housing market with the majority priced out is divisive, a twin track economy is equally so.

http://www.pricedout.org.uk/

House of Lords 13 March 2014House of Lords 13 March 2014

A 360 Degree Appraisal of the Board. 11-12-13

Appraisals are a colossal waste of everyone’s time, says Forbes magazine. Everyone gets one in HTA, except some of the board. I don’t think they should miss out, so I did one.

HTA Board 11-12-13It’s not quite 360, but why would you put yourself through that?

My friend the 225 who I see a couple of times a week these days.225

11/01/13 Train to Edinburgh

125 & 225 waiting in King Cross.kings cross, intercity 125, intercity 225