Our Christmas Message

The year that is rapidly drawing to a close - the tenth year since RMA was founded – has, I’m glad to say, been a good one for us. The team, nine of us at present, have been together much more in the office, and enjoying the beautiful grounds of Hatfield House. We have also though stretched the possibilities of remote working on occasion, with simultaneous input at one point from India, Poland and Seattle. Finding times for team Zoom meetings was challenging!

Bishops Waltham

Over the last year important planning permissions for retirement villages have been granted in Tunbridge Wells and Bishops Waltham – the latter after a five year delay! – and care home applications have been approved at appeal in Chapelfield near Epping Forest and Crawley down, Mid-Sussex. Current projects in the same fields are in Surrey, Hertfordshire and Sutton – a total of 240 dwellings for older people and 110 car home beds.

On the listed buildings side we have very much enjoyed working on the spectacular 1904 house near Henley where Ian Fleming spent part of his childhood, with a setting and interiors of truly extraordinary quality. We are also embarking on work for two different churches. In Lindfield, West Sussex, we are involved with improvements to their church hall; a fifteenth century, grade two star former pub known as the Tiger, while in St Albans we are commencing a study shortly on a listed Georgian Methodist church. Two of our private house projects in Harrow and Elstree are also for listed buildings from 1910 and 1680 respectively, and are both now complete.

House near HenLey

A third private residential project involves refurbishing, extending and adding a pool to a very fine twelfth floor penthouse in Westminster, and we are also working on major repairs to a striking, highly contemporary house in North London, a very welcome local project in Welwyn Garden City, our GP surgery in Southall where the first phase is now complete, and a major office reclad and retrofit in our old stamping ground in Clerkenwell.

Westminster Penthouse

Westminster Penthouse

Expert witness instructions have meanwhile been coming in increasing numbers for both Richard and Yarema, involving major fires, planning problems, fee disputes and a whole range of other problems. Such work can be very eye opening into the abilities and occasional weaknesses of our fellow architects.

Lastly, but certainly not least, Richard continues, as chair of RHGuk, to be involved in hugely important task of lobbying ministers to get a level playing field for older peoples housing in planning terms. Frustratingly we now have our fifth housing minister this year which makes any form of progress difficult in the extreme.

Enough! If you have got this far, thank you for your interest and we send you all our very best wishes for Christmas and 2023

OUR 10th BIRTHDAY

Project Updates Autumn 2021

We have recently submitted planning for two large schemes for Beechcroft Developments Ltd. They are both Housing for Older People, in sensitive contexts.

Fonthill is a vacant locally listed building in a conservation area and we are proposing new flats next to the historic building which already has planning for its conversion. Eridge Road is currently a vacant site, but is surrounded by a row of Victorian semi-detached stucco villas, in the Italianate style, a pair of semi-detached houses and a large brick railway shed.

In the care sector, our Extra Care project in Diss for Sunstone Living has gone out to tender. Some of the CGI’s for the communal areas of the building are below.

For our residential projects on site, there has been significant progress on Four Winds which is almost complete, looking fantastic and is being occupied.

Fonthill

Eridge Road

Diss

Diss

HAPPI 4 - Housing for People in Rural Areas launched

Lord Gardiner presenting HAPPI 4 at the House of Lords

HAPPI 4, a report on Housing for Older People in Rural Areas, was launched at an event in the House of Lords yesterday which Richard attended as one of those who gave attendance. The report was produced by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Housing and Care for Older People which is co-chaired by Lord Best and by Peter Aldous MP. The main speech was given by Lord Gardiner (pictured), the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Rural Affairs who emphasised the huge importance of initiatives to improve the lives of the very high number of older people living in the countryside, before he and Lord Best dashed off for the Brexit vote. Some interesting info-graphics emerging from the report are shown here.

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