Progress

We have finalised the plans and they have been sent off to the engineers, we await their feedback. The studio members have all been brought up to date and informed of what lies ahead for us both as a group and individually as far as moving belongings and chipping in with cleaning, painting and general help.

Tim and me sat down and discussed the various options for the residency scheme and we went through several websites of studio groups in London who are doing aspirational things. We talked about the website being rejigged and updated together with possible links to institutions as far a field as Japan and as close to home as Ireland. We have since made tentative connections to people in the Tokyo art scene as well as giving a formal invite to a Southern Irish Arts organization/ studio group to plan and implement a studio swap.

This week we also started the slow clear out of debris/ detritus from the studios communal areas as well as some of the things that have been lingering in each of our studios for too long. Next we just need to convince the other artists to do the same thing.

Drawing up a new battle plan

They say that any battle plan never survives the first shot. I guess thats what we are discovering right now…but we are now at least winning the battle. We received a second quote form the mezzanine company detailing a mezzanine with fewer legs and therefore reducing the need or amount of platforms we would have to sink into the floor if indeed that is the way we decide to go. We will keep this in the background as our “C” option, as the cost of the steals and the foundation piles is now somewhat prohibitive. Tim Phillips sourced an engineer and contacted the builders, costing out a stud walled timber mezzanine based upon my initial plans and ideas. I put together some initial drawings and requirements to submit to the architect. We got the green light on the weight baring aspects and the load placed on the floor so we paid in advance for the architect to complete their drawing and send off to the engineers to complete the calculations. This came at a cost of £750 to deliver technical drawings and buildings regulation standard plans. We have since had two lots of drawings completed and I have had to make changes to each one. The next set will undoubtedly be the last draft as we have now ironed out problems concerning the roof joist and the studio layout together with the location of the stairwell. The useable space upstairs will be in the region of 1200sqft once we have taken the corridor and stairwell out of the equation. The timber fabricators have quoted in the region of £12,000 for the entire build including materials and labour. Once we have the technical drawings complete we will hammer this cost into a final amount.

So far we aim to do the build during the early Christmas period as the builder is free then and also the studios are very quiet. We will however have to move all of our things out of the studio so as to provide the best and quickest working environment for he builders. I will be onsite throughout to help out and oversee.