Congratulations to our Client Bolsover District Council for being shortlisted as a finalist at the National Urban Design Awards 2018. The shortlisting recognises the exemplar approach taken for the Sharing Bolsover Regeneration Framework for the four towns of Shirecliffe, Clowne, Bolsover and South Normanton. Read more about the project on our website link: http://baumanlyons.co.uk/projects/bolsover
MassBespoke shortlisted for Offsite Pioneer of the Year
We’re delighted that MassBespoke was shortlisted in the Pioneer of the Year category at the Offsite Construction Awards 2018.
Find out more about the organisation and the other finalists via this link www.offsiteawards.co.uk and more about our MassBespoke system on this PDF download.

The Thinking Series – Event 1: Coherent connections
North Wales Society of Architects are inaugurating a series of events on a thoughtful approach to architecture and community problem-solving with Coherent Connections. Irena will be in discussion with Andy Goodman and John Parkinson examining aspects of ‘environment-focused learning and operative platform’- a new approach to teaching for complex future.

Built InCommon – Double Whammy workshop
To inaugurate the research project Built InCommon funded by the Royal Commission 1851 Fellowship, BLA hosted a workshop exploring the challenges of delivering affordable housing on difficult to develop sites and to consider how new collaborative procurement methods and digital technologies might help to unlock some of the challenges.
Thank you all who attended from Goodwin Development Trust, Doncaster Central Development Trust, Leeds Community Homes, Calder Valley Land Development Trust, Locality and Hull City Council and for making the conversation so valuable. The next conversation will be Show and Tell – sharing information about specific projects.

The Good, The Bad and The Fantastic: 2017
There was so much good: we finished a cluster of listed buildings at Princess Building, Halifax for offices for Calderdale; we are completing work on a glorious Grade 1 Listed Hull Minster refurbishment; and we are finalising a complex options appraisal for EUREKA! Children’s Museum.
We also had some bad times. Our first (and we have made it our last) experience of working with an unscrupulous developer who exploits the supply chain – we lost fantastic people – Brexit, UK being dropped in the European Capital of Culture Contest in the 11th hour, losing some tenders which we should have got – these are some of the lows.
But we also had some fantastic times: we have worked with the Silk Mill Museum of Making in Derby to secure planning permission and all the funding. We will be delivering this £16M project through a new partnering contract in which ‘conflict’ and ‘risk avoidance’ are replaced by ‘co-production’ and ‘risk and opportunities’. We have taken steps to diversify the practice by forming a new company, MassBespoke, to develop and fabricate our own timber cassette construction system and we have built our second MassBespoke prototype with Innovate UK funding. We have secured a 2 year long fellowship from Royal Commission 1851 to develop models for neighbourhood based factories for affordable housing. But the most fantastic experience has been working with residential clients, the visionary motivated community land trusts, with the team at Derby Museum Trust, and with all of the long term collaborators who add so much value to our everyday work. And of course our own BLA team.
We thank you all and wish you only The Good and The Fantastic for 2018.
Hull Minster hosts Turner Prize 2017
We’re delighted that Hull Minster is providing the impressive backdrop for the Turner Prize 2017. The transformation project is currently in the construction phase with the new stone floor, glazed narthex and refurbished pews being the most recent works to complete.
Read more about the project by following this link: http://hullminster.org/transformation-project/

MassBespoke featured in Yorkshire Evening Post
We’re delighted that our offsite structural timber system MassBespokeTM has been featured in YEP’s series on alternative housing in Leeds.
MassBespokeTM is being developed to enable more people to carry out their own custom designed self-build projects.
Read the full article by following this link: http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/leeds-housing-focus-amazing-tech-could-see-houses-being-printed-1-8735480
Seeking exemplars of projects using offsite technologies
Bauman Lyons are working with the Construction Leadership Council to develop ROADMAP FOR SMART construction.
We are looking for exemplar schemes that have used offsite construction and have data on speed, costs, productivity and performance that can be evaluated.
Please get in touch if you know of any.

Leeds European City of Culture 2023
Irena is honoured to be invited to join the bid team for Leeds European Capital of Culture 2023. Read more about all the exciting plans via the Leeds 2023 website: http://leeds2023.co.uk/

Festival of the Future City: New Thinking about Cities
Catch up on Irena’s talk Neighbourhoods Redefining Prosperity from Bristol Festival of Ideas 2015 – available to watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/zb3sM0vjWtA