Getting to the core

I spoke with the mezzanine fabricators and they are forwarding new prices for a concrete core (only) test rather than the full concrete and pile test. We have now gone down in price from above £1200 to below £800 and I will deal with the testing company direct to save any additional handling fees from the mezzanine people. I have had several emails today from structural engineers and will be replying to them shortly with sketches plans and short briefs to see what services they might offer and what alternatives we can talk through. Who knows the concrete may be good enough for the timber build but not the steel? The timber version measuring a full 500 sqft larger than the steel mezzanine with weight loading stud walls, fire resistant mdf, fire retardant paint, I joist etc etc...

We continue.

To begin at the beginning…almost.

Firstly the background. If you want to know more about who we are then visit T.H.I.S, all the information is already therefor you to digest in your own time. We decided to build a mezzanine floor to increase our capital revenue stream by £1000 a month, money we could then pour back into the local/ arts community in the form of workshops residency schemes and publications etc. We submitted a funding proposal to A.C.E and we received an offer of £14,900. Now we just need to build the mezzanine… This blog will serve as both a diary for the day to project and also as a detailed report at the end of the three years at which point we will need to report back to the arts council. I will attempt to attach or link to our application so that anyone crazy enough to attempt a similar project can see where we went right and were we went wrong.

Where are we right now? I sent back the funding acceptance docs to the arts council and have since had the mezzanine engineers back on site to do a full survey. We will need to dig several bore holes to test the concrete slab for load baring before finishing the final plans and going into a fabrication stage. The bore holes will cost around £1200 to dig and test while the mezzanine will now have to be fire strengthened due to constant working access being required. As with all projects costs are already going up and while the A.C.E funding is going to cover the lions share we will now have to find another £4000 of private finance. We are working on this as we speak and remain very hopeful given the 3 month testing, fabrication and build time.

Electric and lighting points needed. We have surveyors who are willing to do any needed work on a pro-bono basis and I have a corporate law firm and conveyancing firm standing by to do the same if and when anything turns up that needs an opinion taking. The Church (our landlords) have so far asked their surveyors to take a lead and they have come back with a starting estimate cost of £2500. We will (once testing has taken place on the floor) be renegotiating this down to as close to £0 as possible as we already have surveyors who will do this for free. Today I spoke with engineers and asked for a break down of the bore costs and stipulated that we would not be paying £1200 if the first hole showed that the floor was completely unsuitable. If its too thin then why test or dig further holes? For now this is all that there is to report and I shall, as we go, introduce the people involved in the project as and when they appear but so far there is me - Steven Allbutt (Secretary and founder of T.H.I.S) and Tim Phillips (Director). More to follow.