Dot get all Cranky....

With the dust of an arduous first quarter finally starting to settle, we can reflect back at some of the exciting projects we have been fortunate enough to have work on so far.

Below is the multiple use scheme for Hermitage properties on Hinton Road, Bournemouth. With a part demolition, part conversion of former night club Crank, we have managed to create four moderate sized bespoke retail units along the newly formed Westover lane - a lane that will be linking the much sought after Westover Road with the potential of newly formed shop frontage on Hinton Road.

On the ground floor we have been able to afford a 4500Sq. Ft. bar with similar above for a restaurant.

The upper floors utilised for residential units comprising of fourteen two bedded apartments with the seven units on the upper floor having double height spaces more consistent with that of loft style living.

The striking primary elevation draws references from the retained side and rear elevations and aims to link the warehouse feel with a re-modelled front elevation, thus bringing more cohesion to a disjointed street scene along with unlocking the future potential of shop frontage to Hinton Road. Here at dot. its been really refreshing to work with Hermitage Properties, who have been very open to our bold design concepts, and excited at the prospect of what could be (we hope) a real landmark for Bournemouth Town and the Hermitage portfolio.

Working alongside the professionals at Ken Parke planning we are eagerly awaiting a positive decision - touch wood!

Bournemouth's affordable housing tax is finally here....

With the majority of developers and planning professionals in Bournemouth currently going through the five stages of denial, we here at Dot find ourselves at "acceptance". So it comes to be that as of the 4th May 2010, the affordable housing threshold in Bournemouth will be reduced from up to fourteen units per site down to a miserly ONE prior to any imposed on-site or off-site contributions.

Clearly this change in policy was conceived in the heady heights of 2007 when the world was a different place, but with a huge shortage of affordable housing being offer in Bournemouth, it's clear that something had to be done With a change as dramatic as this, only time will tell as to its success. Here at Dot we are of the opinion that a more reasonable six dwelling threshold, like the policy adopted by Poole would suffice.

Essentially, the Three Dragons tools kit - Bournemouth's preferred site viability calculator (other tool kits are available) is there to provide information about the economics of residential development, show the impacts of affordable housing and section 106 requirements, which in turn aims to assist the local authority in its planning decisions. The process, we are assured, will be a lot more consistent and transparent, however, the "suck it and see" attitude permeating from BBC may leave some thinking that may not be the case from the onset.

Under the new system, anyone seeking to build one or more additional housing units will have to provide the council with a breakdown of their costs and predicted profit and could have to make an affordable housing contribution of up to 40 per cent. After discussions with planning, we have been assured that we will be able to submit financial site appraisals for informal comment prior to the councils preferred pre-application.

Whether or not you are of the opinion that Bournemouth is now closed for business and it's time to turn your attention to pastures new, Dot will continue with our hands on approach to gain favourable decisions for all of our clients, regardless of how much red tape there may be in the way......

Finally, a New Year’s catch up!

We here at Dot. are slightly embarrassed as we haven’t filled you in for such a long time, so apologies and here goes – to make it easy, we have headed the news this time. Oh, and a very belated Happy New Year – here’s to 2010!

Architecture - Since we last chatted we have seen a steady flow of instructions, submissions and approvals. We managed to get the approval for the very contemporary extension along Harland Road, Bournemouth, which is currently in the early stages of construction and we will keep you informed with its progress. Other approvals include more domestic extensions and conversions, including a period summer house in Cassel Avenue, Poole.

We have also just completed our detailed appraisal for two contemporary beach hut cafes on Weymouth Seafront. This is a very exciting scheme and we are now in the process of waiting to see if our client has put forward the winning tender package, so fingers crossed! Our design response was to create a clear juxtaposition between Weymouth’s Georgian past and the more contemporary revival that is apparent in the town. The ‘pods’ (which we know is a bit of a buzz word –but we don’t care!) are to be completely shut off at night, and the introduction of lit chimneys give them a sense of location, and act as a beacon along the front. Presentation style pays homage to the 50s style seaside postcards, and is a very proud nod to the great British beach holiday, which is making a very exciting revival.

Graphics, Websites and the like. - Dot. graphics are steadily moving forward, we are pleased to see continued instructions for our watercolour work at Poundbury.

On top of that, we have been instructed on a complete rebrand and website for Global VAT recovery. GVR understand the importance of a top quality brand and website, and after seeing our work for Churchfields Ice Cream, Leaf Charity, and Dwiko Arie Photography, thought we would be the best people for the job. We always work alongside the clever web bods at JellyPhish, to ensure you get best of both worlds, our arty farty ways, with their geeky web knowledge. Check out their site at www.jellyphish.co.uk

Merry Xmas From Dots!

More approvals to warm the cockles this winter.....

Here at Dot. we are trying our very best to ensure all of our clients have a more positive outlook for the forth-coming new decade and with the threat of Christmas looming large, we were pleased to learn that we have gained yet more approvals in Bournemouth and Christchurch. This now takes our approvals to 30 units since November, thus bucking the recent trend and demonstrating that with our hands on approach to planning there are plenty of opportunities out there. Look out for our boards coming to plots near you soon.

Leaf update: Following on from our recent post, we were amazed to hear that the Leaf Christmas ball made over 20 grand. So maybe in the spirit of the evening that Tottenham shirt wasn't too excessive after all....... We will keep you posted on all Leaf charity events coming soon and rest assured all those still reeling at not being involved due to such a high demand, we will endeavour to get another Dot. table, so keep your fingers crossed........

We had a BALL at the Leaf charity ball!

Well what a lovely evening we had at the LEAF charity ball. As you all know, we helped out on the re brand and website alongside Jellyphish and due to this collaboration we decided to take a table at the charity ball and invite a few of our favourite friends!

The ball was a delight, hosted at the lovely Haven Hotel in Sandbanks, we were welcomed with a champagne reception, of which muchos got drunk! We were then treated to a ( rather early ) Christmas dinner - even the sprouts were nice.

After dinner we battled it out in a raffle for some rather exciting stuff, Wayne Rooney's signed England shirt was top of the agenda and snuck away for a rather tasty £350. Not all were as lucky, there was talk of some reveller paying over £300 for a Tottenham shirt - our thoughts go out to you, chin up!

We would like to thank everyone who joined us on our table, Peter Ergis and his other half Sandy, Paul Bloomfield and his Wife Emma, Penny King and her pal Suzi Wang, Dave of Jellyphish with his wife Erica, and of course, our Lovely wives Lucy and Ali.
Lastly we would like to thank Leaf Charity for the invite. The whole evening was so well organised and had a lovely vibe the whole night - please go to www.LeafCharity.co.uk to see the good work these guys do and for a really worthy cause.

LEAF - see you next year!!

The perfect end to a good couple of weeks......

And the good time just keep coming.... Last night we gained yet more success, this time in Salisbury on a long running application for five cottages. The brief was to design the properties so that the end result would look as if they have been there forever.

The roller coaster that is the Planning Committee took their time in delivering the verdict, but deliver they did. The end result, as seen above, was a terrace of red brick and render with knapped flint detailing. To the rear there are bi-fold doors from a wholly open plan ground floor, leading on to ample sized gardens.

Here at Dot. we were especially pleased to hear of the planning committees complimentary comments not only on the design, but also the way the application was presented.

Lastly, we would like to thank Ken Parke, of Ken Parke planning, who joined the application at a late stage steering us through an awful lot of red tape to ensure a positive result for our client.

Whats that? Oh, just another approval!

Well this is turning out to be a good week for the dot boys! We have just received notification of another approval. Its been a long old process and there has been a lot of too-ing and fro-ing between ourselves and the council, but our scheme at 2 - 4 Adeline Road has finally been approved at local level . The scheme for 14 flats has been designed to mirror the proportions of the inherently Victorian surroundings, while the finishes will be of a contemporary nature. The scheme has been praised for the more modern approach and will go a long way to the ongoing Boscombe Redevelopment. The flats are a stones throw from the recently finished Pier approach development. Thanks to the clients, who were open to our preferred design route, a great project and very enjoyable.

To add to that, we have also had an approval for our very contemporary extension over at Hengistbury Head, Bournemouth. The scheme is a double storey extension to a family home, increasing the accommodation and giving the family a large open plan living area out to the garden. Time is of the essence on this bad boy so keep your eyes peeled for more blog posts as the build moves forward.

The timber clad finish gives a clear division between the old and new of the dwelling, the balcony offers the master bedroom views down the road to the sea and clifftops.

Other news includes, more illustration work for BBC Focus, more instructions on large and small schemes all over the country - we are just busy, busy, busy on the lead up to Christmas.

Hope you are all well, we will keep you informed as we get more news!

Ta ta

Bournemouth defer social housing policy..... Maybe!

Although there has been no official press release as of yet, rumours of the social housing policy being deferred until at least Spring are starting to filter out of the town hall. Whether this is a reaction to the staggering amount of applications Bournemouth Planning have received leading up to the deadline, or just that the amount of additional work would swamp the newly stream lined department, no one knows. But as it stands at the moment, the new policy of one for one and 40% is not going any where.

This now means that we all have an extra couple of months to get applications in, or we run the risk of being the guinea pigs on which the newly equated contributions scale will be based.

Please fell free to get in touch and we will endeavour to advise as to your next steps on any of your sites in Bournemouth. It may not be as bad as you think.

Bournemouth change in policy has us all on the canvas!!!

We are not easily surprised here at Dot. Towers, but Bournemouth Borough Council have knocked us for six with their latest press release.

As from the 23rd of November, the social housing threshold for any development will be taken away entirely. In layman's terms this means that any form of development in the area will seek up to 40% contribution of affordable homes based on the schemes viability.

Here at Dot. we have had numerous conversations with the council to ascertain how this will affect development in the area, and we are now happy that working alongside the council, progress can continue without too much of a hit to all concerned.

Please feel free to get in touch, and we can advise as to your next step on any of your sites in Bournemouth, its not as bad as you may think!

Check out the press release at http://www.bournemouth.gov.uk/News/press_office/Press_Releases/October_2009/Change_in_policy.asp

Wow!

Dot. at the Bournemouth Air Festival 2009

Its that time of year again and Dot. are off to the Bournemouth Air Festival for four days of aeriel fun and frolics....

Check out http://bournemouthair.blogspot.com to keep up to date with the comings and goings of the event, with a full itinerary and constant news over the weekend.

"The More Bus Bournemouth Air Festival is shaping up to be bigger and better than 2008. With more aircraft, more on the ground attractions and more awesome ‘Night Air’ evening entertainment it promises to be a must-see 4-days of breath-taking aviation action!Watch out for an incredible line-up of civilian aircraft including: the world’s only formation wing walking team - Team Guinot, Yakovlevs Aerobatic Team, The Blades Aerobatic Display Team, The Matadors, Spitfire, Mustang, Sally-B, Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, Eurofighter Typhoon and three displays by the Red Arrows."

Rest assured, normal service will be resumed next week with the publication of our feature advert in Bournemouth's Homes magazine.
Dot produced images to follow..........

The life cycle of a dot. logo!

As many of you now know, we not only have an architectural department, we also have a graphics side to dot, that has seen a really exciting growth. Websites, branding, logos, marketing literature are all encompassed under the dot. graphics banner. We thought it would be nice to show the design process behind one of our recent logos, showing you how the creative bods think and work!

So this logo was for Dwiko Arie Photography. A contemporary and very exciting photographer based in London. Dwiko offers a really exciting service, working on a variety of projects, from Music concerts to weddings, and we were approached to design a brand logo that would take that into account. We got to work on brainstorming over a few cups of tea and some biscuits to see where best to take this brand.

We loved the name, we looked at a variety of cool ways to incorporate the idea of photography into the logo, colours, shapes, even an actual camera, but we kept getting pulled back to this unusual but really funky name, could we incorporate the two? We focused on the initials - D and A and worked on a variety of ways to have two letters work as an individual logo.

After muchos sketching we got to work on the computer, we use a variety of Illustrator and photoshop to turn our scrawls into something more presentable.

This part is really where we see how the client want to push their brand, and after a few discussions we all agreed on keeping it very simple with the close text and the linked letters o and a. This was great for a brand, but we needed a logo, something less obvious than pure text, so we went back to the calera inspiration and took some from the most important part of the device, the lens.

We used the linked o and a taken from the text to create a separate entity, but by amending slightly, we could create a d and a which mirrors the look of a camera lens.

Back to the computer to vector the whole thing and get back to client for colour specs and final comments then.

So here is the final product, we went for a variety of greys and whites on the dwiko text, to offer flexibility on chosen background - needless to say the dot team are very happy with the final product, and a big thanks goes out to Dwiko arie and there open approach to some of our silly ideas. See their work at www.dwikoarie.com

Design, Design, Design!

Wow wow wee wah! Well we have been busy boys!

Architecture first, our recent scheme for 14 flats a stones through from the new Boscombe reef has been submitted. The client gave us a fairly open brief in regards to design, but they wanted the flats to be spacious - aiming at a market that is on the way up, this lovely block of flats will be perfect for first time buyers (especially surfers) or people who are looking for a summer retreat in a more financially acceptable area of Boscombe! Designed alongside the knowledge from Planning Precision, this scheme is pays tribute to our design past, but uses contemporary materials to give it a sense of today! Client pleased, we're pleased - lets hope the council are the same! Fingers crossed.This scheme comes on the back of a wave of approvals and instructions, two recent residential extensions in Bournemouth and Wimborne were both approved - happy days!

New instructions include a block of 5 townhouses in Salisbury, our brief was simple, 'Make them look like they have always been there' Our cottage style design was well researched, with a mix of stock brick,render, knapped flint and slate, the scheme really works. A real bug bear of ours is poorly designed pastiche, something that is becoming all to common in today's market - we are pleased to say that these houses are accurately worked, and shows we aren't all about the contemporary finish! Our first architectural venture into Salisbury, lets hope its a fruitful one!

Oh, oh, oh - we almost forgot! Our newest and most prestigious client on the architectural side to date - Murco! Brought to us via Planning Precision, Murco are a world renowned company, and a good indication that things are moving in the right direction for Dot. So far we have worked up schemes all over the country for Murco, as far a field as Stockton on Tees! Here's to more in the future.

Okay, enough of the architectural stuff, what next, oh - graphics!

So, http://www.churchfields-farm.co.uk/ has won an award! A bronze website award, for its funky graphics and the way its been built (courtesy of www.jellyphish.co.uk)

We have had more illustration instructions from BBC Focus Magazine - must be doing something right, so look out for us in their awesome science magazine. On the graphics side, we have also been asked to draw up a logo design for the superbly talented Dwiko Arie Photography. Please, please please check out his website and blog at http://www.dwikoarie.com - he is BRILLIANT! Lets hope our logo can complement his beautiful work - touch wood! Look out for our blog post soon on how the logo went from sketch to final design - once we have completed it!

News at ten style...and finally! We have found our 'Sega Rally Power lap time' challange has become very popular! Come into our office, have a blast, and see how you fair against our clients, friends, and fellow office dwellers! So far Mr Whitney tops the list, with some excellent times from The White Balance, JellyPhish and Brighter Productions - the competition is well and truly underway!

Right, we have bored you enough, please keep coming back for more! Don't forget, Bournemouth Air show is in the next few weeks, which going to be off the hook, along with the world record attempt of Roar on the Shore - a stupid amount of fireworks, in an insanely short period of time!

Ta Ta x

Dot.Graphics move forward!!

Well what a few months for Dot. Graphics. Our first BBC Focus Magazine commission has been published, we can now show you a sneaky peek, to see the glossy beast in all its glory, run out to the shops now for a geesey gander!

Our brief was to illustrate how a new type of genetic code can have an effect on our everyday lives, such as sell by dates on food etc. After discussions with the Art editor at Focus, we went for an IKEA manual style illustration, showing the whole process in vector graphics. We are very pleased with the outcome, and look forward to working with the gang at focus in the future.

Our Churchfields website has finally gone live! After a bit of tooing and froing between ourselves and client, the site is finished and everybody involved are really impressed with the final product. A site that is a bit fun, and this comes across in the bespoke nature of every content page, something the client was keen to achieve. Dot. would like to thank www.jellyphish.co.uk for their hard work in the building and coding of the site - brilliant work!

Have a look, see what you think - its at http://www.churchfields-farm.co.uk/.

New instructions on websites include, Leaf - a local leukaemia charity, Planning Precision - Planning Consultancy, and the graphic work for JellyPhish, which is looking awesome, sneak peak below!

Our Architectural dept is also moving along nicely, we have had a huge number of instruction over the last couple of months and we will be sure to update you once things start to get submitted and, touch wood, approved!

Cheers guys, will write again soon we promise!

Whoah, Whoah Whoah, Wheres the beef?

Okay, it’s been brought to our attention that one of our competitors is grossly mistaken about the way dot. do business, and as such, we feel it’s important to put the record straight. Dot. have always worked professionally and we’ll continue to, so we’re not getting into a mud-slinging match here. In fact we’re sure that ‘A Regional Architects’ have simply got their wires crossed, and as such, will be contacting us soon to apologise for their schoolboy error!

Anyway, just to be clear; we love what we do, we give all our design work 100% and we have NEVER and will NEVER be about ‘copy and paste’ design. Whether you require a fantastic little logo, or a polished 300-unit architectural scheme, we give each job the same attention to detail and always offer a bespoke solution, tailored to our clients’ needs. Just ask them – our customers tell us they’re really happy, and that’s at a time when good service and real value for money is all that counts.

What some people forget is that dot. are a new company. Our business model and values are based on excellent service, top notch design, and ‘going the extra mile’. We’re passionate about what we do and we’re very aware that we wouldn’t be around if we offered a substandard service, something that’s maybe easier to get away with in a larger firm.

We are laying tracks for a company that we hope will grow and, to that end, we promise to maintain these values, whether we’re two people or two hundred. We will never forget why we are doing this, to be able to give 100% to each job, offering clients advice on the thing we’re passionate about – design! We are fully covered for all our design work with more than adequate PI insurance in the unlikely event that anything does go wrong, and should anyone want to discuss this, feel free to drop us a line!

Both directors are driven by our love for what we do. We feel like the luckiest guys in the world; waking up and being paid to do this, so rest assured we’re not going to risk it to make a quick buck, it’s not in our nature!

We assume that this will be the last of what we have heard, but if you have any issues, comments or just feel like a chat, feel free to contact either Darren or James.

Okay, enough of that, James is off to tend to his newborn, and Darren fancies a surf – it is 5.30 after all!

Its been too long!

Okay, so first off, apologies! We haven't updated our blog in a while, and we are really sorry for that, however, the silver lining to that is that we are now in a position to offer you tonnes of juicy gos from the dot. camp!

First on the list is the all important and very exciting birth of Lola Whitney. As many of you know, James has been on tenterhooks as the birth has got nearer and nearer, and you will all be pleased to hear that little Lola was born on Tuesday the 9th June and came in at a very cute 7 pounds 1 ounce. Family are all doing well, and all the dot team wish them all the best - another member to the growing dot family!



Now to work stuffs - we have had a raft of instructions, the most recent being a very cool illustration from the dot.graphics department for the BBC magazine, FOCUS.

We cant show you the Illustration as yet, don't want to give the game away for next months issue, but make sure you check it out, on sale at the end of the month! The dot. team are really proud of the final article, and chuffed to bits that we could do a professional and exciting job for a client as large as the BBC - payoff for the hard work we have put in during this pesky credit crunch.
That's not all from the graphics guys, we have seen an increase in the number of instructions for websites. With the market as it is, businesses have started to appreciate the importance of a decent website and marketing strategy, and as such, dot. have been awash with exciting re brand work.

We are currently waiting for the final touches being made to the Churchfields Ice Cream site, of which we will be sure to let you know. http://www.brighter-productions.com/ has now gone live, so well done boys. Thanks to Sean at Brighter productions, a great client who brought so many ideas to the table that it made our job very easy, and a pleasure to work on. Good luck in the future!

Our website work is fairly bespoke, and as such we work alongside Jellyphish Studio, who's clever computer bods build our designs into usable and exciting sites - a relationship we see growing as days go by, thanks guys! We are currently working up a re brand with Jellyphish, so we will keep you posted to when that is ready to go live.

Sorry for the delay in getting a post up guys, we don't want to leave you hanging like that, but we suppose its the only real negative to what has been a fruitful few months for dot. We will be posting again soon some of our most recent Architectural work, so keep an eye for that in the next week or so!

All the best