A Step in the Right Direction.

I'm not sure where the two weeks have gone since I last posted but there you go. It seems time just runs away with you if you're not careful and so I promised myself I would sit down this afternoon and write a little bit about the eco friendly solutions we are looking at in our conversions. It seems the media are obsessed with the climate and so on at the moment but if you look around, it seems that not a lot of people are actively making a real effort to do their bit. How many times have you used plastic bags at the supermarket? Have you reduced your car usage? Do you buy products with less packaging on them? I'm no angel myself and I often have to remind myself that there are quite simple things I can do to help out.

So we took this philosophy into our loft conversions as well. It's pretty easy to do things the simple way and just do a standard conversion, but when you view the process from the outside, it can be a disappointment. Skip loads of waste being sent to landfill, timber being imported from the other side of the world to reduce cost, materials being used which require a great deal of chemical treatment and processing. If you want to do the conversion as cheaply as possible, then corners will be cut. It is inevitable. And in these times of recession, many people are looking for a bargain to see them through the lean times.

Our aim though is to look beyond the monetary cost of these processes and also to see the environmental cost. This is why all our timber is sourced from replenishable sources as close to the UK as possible. Why we are looking to partner with firms like Xella who make the recycled range of Fermacell plasterboard and flooring. Why we are off to Ecobuild to meet Ecodomus and discuss their range of hemp insulation bats. To us it's no good just saying you want to be green, it's the action that matters most.

Now we know that not everyone can develop their loft to the specification we'd like and include solar panels and rainwater harvesting for instance. But that doesn't mean you have to just accept the cheaper alternatives and destroy the planet in the process. Our mission is to create loft conversions that come with eco friendly methods as standard. Sure we can add all sorts of fancy extras in if you want them (and we hope you do) but we want to provide green methods in even the most simple of our conversions. Going green needn't be about having to spend loads more money. It's about choosing who you do business with and looking around to make sure you choose the right option for what you believe in. Because the things that you purchase dictate the way that companies behave. You control this.

As we go along the track and develop these methods, I will discuss them in more detail on this blog and on the website. It isn't something we can just do overnight but it is something we have got a fair way into already and which we hope to have finished after our visit to Ecobuild in a couple of weeks. Until then, keep taking your own bag to the supermarket and walk to the shops once in a while. It's all about starting somewhere.

Have a good weekend.

Dan.

Creating Space Lofts - The Blog!

So, we thought a blog might be a nice way of keeping you up to date about the work we are doing and the type of things we are currently getting on with. Currently we've been putting a lot of time into getting the website ready to go live whilst converting the loft of our managing director Steve Dalton. Steve knows he's in safe hands though as he's seen how we work before.

His loft has gone quite smoothly so far. The shell is really taking shape now and you can get an essence of the living space that will make us his master bedroom and ensuite shower already. It's amazing how quickly the work can be done if the project is managed correctly. We always use a tin lid on our work which is a large temporary roof made of scaffolding. Lots of companies say you don't need them, that they are an unnecessary expense but we disagree. It protects the house from the elements (snow anyone?!) and allows the team to work uninterrupted as the weather turns from bad to worse. It might cost us more but it gets the job done on time and protects the customer's house. Important factors in any company relying on happy customers and word of mouth recommendations.

Steve is happy with the work so far. More importantly so is his fiancee. Chris our joiner has been liasing with Wandsworth Building Control and making sure all our work is compliant and so far, so good. There are always some problems along the way when undertaking a project of this nature but our main aim is to always react to them early and make sure a small issue stays that way. No one could have predicted the snow that stopped the team from working for a day but we just work harder to make it up and get back on schedule. Seeing and reacting to issues is what sets us apart from other companies. It would be boring if everything went as planned. Maybe not for Steve's fiancee. The wedding is in two months so I think going exactly to plan would suit her just fine! Overall though we are ahead of schedule and hoping to have their new conversion ready in plenty of time for the wedding plans to take over.

So the blog will be updated every week or so and just give you an idea of what we are doing and different projects we have on the go. Next week I'll try and run down the eco-friendly options we have been working on lately. For us, converting a loft should never come at the expense of the environment, and so we've been putting massive amounts of work into making our company as green as possible. I'll talk about that next week. Now I have to go and make sure my client Steve is happy with the work!

Have a good weekend.

Cheers.

Dan.