Roll for the Soul Cafe

Roll for the Soul is a not-for-profit bike café for Bristol which is for Bristol cyclists, by Bristol cyclists. WIA provided advice on layout and regulatory issues for the Roll for the Soul cafe during the concept stages of the project.  Roll for the Soul has a cafe and workshop side by side, so you can get a good feed, a quality coffee, and get your bike fixed up all at the same time, it also acts as a hub for all things bike-related.

You can get more information here http://www.rollforthesoul.org/

Paula Willmore MBA

Congratulations to Paula for getting her Masters in Business Administration (MBA) with Merit from UWE. Paula has managed to juggle all her other commitments and is due to graduate at Bristol Cathedral in July. The rest of the Willmore Iles team have been told in no uncertain terms that any form of heckling will be deemed gross misconduct and is a sackable offence.

Staff update

Congratulations to Robbie for passing his RIBA Part 2 Diploma in Architecture at Oxford Brooks University. Only the Part 3 to go before he is a fully fledged Architect and won't be allowed to do any fun stuff like 3D modelling and photoshopping anymore!

In honour of Robbie's achievements, here is a photograph of him showing off his moves to a slightly disinterested audience in his new "kung Fu" slippers.

In other news, we would like to belatedly welcome Andrew Furzeland, Joe Penn, Matt Spencer Small (not as posh as he sounds) and Simon Baker to the practice. These guys are all Architectural assistants at different stages of their Architectural education, but have already proved themselves incredibly competent in the work they have done. Matt and Andrew are considering forming a boyband with Tim, dubbed Team Handsome. Without wanting to take anything away from the younger two, Tim thinks this might just be a little ironic. 

Celebrating Hertfordshire

The team working on the University of Hertfordshire project were invited to attend a party to celebrate the signing of the deal and the start on site. Now this is, perhaps, not something I'd normally highlight on the blog, but in this case two of the directors Andrew and Steve and the always (normally) immaculately (compared to the rest of the office) turned out Carla had a load of photos taken looking a little stupid in fancy dress. So here are the pics.

Office Trip!

Hold on a second: Willmore Iles Architects went on their annual office outing and they decided to do it on water? Seriously? After every other water based trip has resulted in people falling in, nearly drowning, destroying phones and nearly getting decapitated? You're mad.

Yes. Yes we are. However it transpires that we all had a wonderful day, in glorious weather, with great food and nobody falling in. Julian was attacked by a swan, but we won't dwell on that.

A fantastic day out and a massive thanks to Marine Events for showing us such a great time

Plymouth gets Planning Approval

On 23rd May, the 10 planning applications submitted to Plymouth City Council on behalf of the University and UPP were all given conditional approval at committee. The scheme comprising four new build projects and five refurbishments will relocate first year students on to the main University campus.

Hertfordshire Scheme given the go-ahead

We are delighted that planning consent for the 2,500 bedroom scheme at the University of Hertfordshire was secured at committee on Thursday 3rd January.  The scheme was approved unanimously and praised by Councillors:

'It's not often we get an application of this quality. It is extraordinary and a delight to read. The design is admirable. It opens up the site and should bring the University closer to the community.' Cllr Tony Skottowe

'I welcome the proposals . They will support the development of a first-rate University.'
Cllr Mike Larkin

'The University has worked with our teams and with us to make sure we're all up to speed with their plans. The University has been honest, fair and open throughout. They have won our support for that. I'm very confident in the plans. It's going to be remarkable. Let's get the work done. Well done and kudos to all involved. I fully support the proposals.'     
Cllr Steven Markiewicz

'I am sure we'll be blown away by the final product. Good luck to them'. Cllr Sandra Kyriakides

Work on site begins in Spring of this year with a three year programme for completion.