Holiday Pics!

We're on holiday! I'm sitting in the lounge of a hotel that has internet, so that I can access e-mails, etc. and find out what's happening on site (sad, really, I suppose, as I should be by the pool on a sun lounger, reading the latest Dan Brown novel, but instead, I'm agog to see the latest pictures Jon has sent, one or two of which I will attach to this post).

According to Jon, "Gary has reached the top of the second lift and the first floor steels have been fitted. Gary was meticulous in the positioning of the padstones, the concrete pads that the steels sit on. Where they normally allow a 10-20mm tolerance, they are actually close to millimetre perfect on both height and lateral position. This will result in a very flat structural first floor, which is not necessarily critical, as the level is always corrected in the screed, but it's better practice as it avoids shallow areas in the screed, which could potentially lead to cracking."

All the scaffolding has been lifted to within 750mm of first floor slab to avoid the fitters falling from a height. Osborne insisted that all the rooms were swept to allow for airbags to be inflated on the ground floor, to act as a fall arrest for the floor fitters.

Scaling the Dizzy Heights

I recently took a fellow interior designer friend around the site and under Jon's supervision, we scaled the scaffolding and walked around the property, looking down into the rooms. Both internal and external walls are going up fast now. By the time we get back from our summer holiday, no doubt we'll see a huge difference. The first floor will be in!

We've Turned A Corner!

The quoins (corners of the building that stand out from the rest of the brickwork) are going up. Gary, the head brickie, spent an afternoon of his spare time, drawing out the design of the quoins, to ensure that long bricks met with short bricks and vice versa, as you can see from the photograph.

Frame structures, showing where the windows will eventually go in, have been installed, so that brickwork can be erected around the framework, thus leaving the openings for the windows.

The fireplace in the hallway has posed an interesting dilemma. Because the house is on three storeys, we've been told by Osborne's technical architect that on no account can we have a gas/open fire. We've been advised that our only option is to go for a glass-fronted fireplace. I didn't like the sound of that and so Paul and I spoke to Yemisi, our architect, the borough council, and my main fireplace supplier, for confirmation. Whilst it is not illegal to install a gas fire, it would be inadvisable. A certain amount of time has to be allowed for anyone on the top floor to be able to vacate the house safely, in the event of a fire. So there is it. Jon, our Project Manager, called me to say that he had spoken to one of Osborne Developments' suppliers, Marble Hill Fireplaces, and that his contact there, Robert, had been extremely helpful and had convinced Jon that glass was the way to go - in an extremely stylish manner!

I called Marble Hill, got in the car and drove to Twickenham, to the company's showroom. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised. Instead of the cheap, tacky, glass front I had envisaged, the fireplaces looked smart and very classy, at home both in a modern as well as a traditional surround. I left Robert, feeling that we wouldn't, after all, have to compromise on either looks or safety. Of course, these things come at a cost! (Well, there's a surprise!) Robert has since sent over a quote to Andy who, I understand, took a sharp intake of breath on reading the quote. I don't know what the costings are yet, but will obviously get my supplier to do a comparative quote.