COVID 19, Sketchbook 62
The sketch above is on Leith Walk, a couple of days before lockdown one was announced. I’d just been on the phone to my partners discussing what might happen and looking at the sketch brings back all the feelings of uncertainty.
24th March. The remaining food rescued from the HTA fridge and the first day in fifty years that HTA hadn’t made lunch for everyone who was in the office.
In the house, it was like this:
Edinburgh Festival month.
Fireworks
Sketch Club in London
and my mum taking Jessie Bowden’s funeral. Jessie was 101.
Collecting the Business Breakthrough of the Year award at the AJ 100 dinner.
Listening to provoking debate organised by the Architectural Workers in Cressingham Gardens, designed by Edward Hollamby.
On holiday. Meeting the uniquely engaging Monsieur Girod.
Standing where Cezanne stood, in Aix.
Sitting where the Romans (or at least their subjects) sat, in Orange.
People I’ve spent time listening to in the last month or so:
Joelle Mae David and others in Barking & Dagenham.
A day by Tower Bridge, business planning.
It’s an awayday, so there are some ‘Post It’ notes on the wall and someone’s armed with a whiteboard marker.
But how do you decide what you want to do?
and wise heads with a life time of experience to pass on.
Visit stimulating places,
Chat it through with your colleagues…
… and reflect over coffee.
Resi 2016 launched into the bad news about the economy and the affordability of housing. If governments and voters are heavily indebted then why would you raise interest rates and if you don’t raise interest rates then how do people save for their old age? Some people alive now will live to 150 I was told. But I didn’t believe it.
Far more reliable stats came from the entertaining Lucian Cook.
Interesting contributions from many others.
I think the next couple of years will be about combining our off site manufacturing expertise with our Build to Rent knowledge. At the end of the day I was well looked after by the Property Week team, so many thanks to them.
HTA Design LLP employs about 140 people. There’s always plenty to consider when the board meets each month. Here are my partners, considering the issues.
We spend a lot of time in each others’ company so it’s nice to draw them from time to time, just to see them in a different way.
In reverse:
The last event of the break, my dad’s 88th birthday.
New years day, a brass band in the livingroom.
Angus visited from France.
Catching up with old school pals in Dunfermline. The same as we were, a little more tired but a little better at communication.
Innes hid behind the sofa for the Queen’s speech.
Fun box was fun.
The only person on a plane to London City the week before Christmas.
Actually these are the things I did in between riding the bike and painting portraits, in preparation for cycling from London to Cannes in March. I’ll show you the portraits next time.
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