The power of Sketchup

Recently we've invested a fair bit of time as a practice getting to grips with Google Sketchup. So far we've mostly been using it to produce almost photo quality rendered images of the interiors and exteriors of our projects, but recently it has come into its own for us when we have been using it to make a co-ordinated building model for one of our more complex new builds.

The underlying steel framework


The joists installed and some of the infill timberwork in place



The roof joists installed


The glazing in place, and some of the blockwork installed

Weve been checking the stages of the build and modelling them at the same time to check our understanding of what needs to go in what order, to assist with providing the cleint with a construction porgramme. we've also been using it to coordinate all the serives in the house, which because there is quite alot of steelwork in this particular build need to be thought through carefully to ensure there are no awkward clashes that could result in unsightly boxing out of areas in the house. We've been working out pipework runs for the drains and ensuring the setting out of the recessed lighting does not clash with any of the underlying wood work.

Whilst this might seem time consuming just now, we are hopeful that it will decrease the number of site queries when the project comes to be built later this year and should assist with shortening the construction time period as a result. Hopefully this will go some way to ensure the build progresses as smoothly as possible and we achieve exactly the quality of outcome we are striving for.

The best thing about Google Sketch up is the cost versus the current BIM software available on the market. Autodesk are wanting £4500 per seat in our office for a licence of Revit, which given there are six of us that would need access to the programme is a huge amount of capital expenditure for us as a small practice. Meanwhile the cost of Google Sketch up is... wait for it... nothing! Unless you get the Pro version, which has a few more useful things it can do, in which case its about £350 per seat - a tenth of the cost. Plus it is pretty straightforward to learn, which given a few of us in the office having been doing CAD for longer than we'd care to admit, is a bonus!!

Self builders complete their dream

We had the pleasure of visiting a project of ours last week, that has finally been completed. Client of ours Euan and Helen contacted us in 2009 to get us to draw up proposals for their steading conversion, in Banffshire. Plans were duly drawn up, approved by the council, and tenders sought. Eventually Euan and Helen decided to use a local builder, Barry Fettes of Keith, to undertake the works for them, undertaking the project management and sourcing of the bits for the interiors themselves. And they've made a great job of it, as you can see from the photos.

Self build does not have to be daunting. You need to be well prepared, very organised, have a good degree of self discipline, and be able to devote time to your project. Euan and Helen also had the safety net of knowing we were on the end of the phone at any time for the contractor or indeed themsleves to ask questions.

We're very proud of them for what they have achieved, and it's great to see the project finally realised on site!

JAMstudio is tweeting!!

JAMstudio has joined the digital revolution and has been experimenting with twitter over the past couple of months. its been very interesting to see the effect it has had on overall traffic to our web site and we've had some very nice feedback from a couple of our clients including the lovely Lili Hunter and The Dalmore, who are delighted with the project we have just completed for them. to join us in the tweeting revolution go to twitter, search for JAMstudio_Ltd and clikc on "follow".

2010 round up, winners and loosers!

Firstly apologies for not having posted for some time, the second half of 2010 has been manic, the busiest for the business so far.

We've had a number of projects come to site, which I will be blogging about this week, including:

Sunnyside cottage, Glenlivet:
complete renovation and extension of an existing run down cottage on the estate


St Ronans Drive, Peterculter:
quick refurbishment including new stairs and revamped kitchen for a house in Peterculter


Springfield Road, Aberdeen:
Massive three storey rear extension, including basement in Aberdeen.


And of course Dalmore Distillery which we are working on for Whyte and Mackay, the start of the revamp went live on site on the 9th December, and is due to be completed by May 2011.




We've had some notable project wins, including a new office fit out for Bluewater Shipping UK Ltd,which is due to go live this spring, and several fantastic new house projects, including a very striking one for our clients Matt & Emma, on a site in Skene, more on which you can find out on our web site shortly. we've also been working on a fine extension to a grade listed Manse, again more about which you will be able to see on our web site very shortly.

We've been working with Centrica Plc, assessing their current building stock in Aberdeen, and looking at outline proposals for a new office fit out for 350 people around several prominent sites in Aberdeen.


We've hired three new members of staff this year, so congratulations to Leyton, who has survived his first year (just about), Jane (one of our clients who has become staff, read about her story in the P&J here: http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/2030959 ) and most recently and a warmest welcome to David, 3D wizard (example pic below) the newest member of the team.


We've also got a new JAMstudio mascot in the shape of our beautiful 9 month old black lab called Cerny. Cerny has been travelling to site and even has his own hivis vest!! He's proving a hit with staff and clients alike, and has done wonders for my waistline....

One of our architectural assistants Alexa has been in the news recently. The Press and Journal ran a feature on what it is like to be training as an architect in the your jobs section of the paper, read about it here: http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1964306

We've been invited by the Aberdeen Chamber of Commerce as part of a select group of businesses based in the North East Scotland to come up with innovative ideas to revamp the city centre. Entries have to be in by the end of the month so watch this space...

And the ones that got away.... well there have not been many, but the most notable was probably The Balvenie High class residential refurbs for the Glenfiddich Whiskey Company....we did a great pitch and the client was impressed with our ideas, so much so they sent them to New York, but in the end they decided to stay with their incumbent designers....nothing ventured nothing gained. We were contacted by a client in Australia about a very interesting mill conversion to do, but sadly as it was based south of Edinburgh we had to give it a miss, which was a pity, as it looked amazing.

In terms of aims and goals for the practice for 2011, we have quite a few, namely keeping the great ideas flowing, hiring one more member of staff, making sure we deliver the best possible service we can for our clients, and trying and win at least one commercial project award. We are hopeful we have a few contenders already lining up nicely. It would be good to see all our staff continue to grow and expand their skill set (Donna has exams in January - best of luck! we know you can do it, and currently Leyton and Alexa are grappling with Google Sketch up, our new virtual modelling tool of choice).

Finally we want to put something back into our community by way of a thank your for our continued success. We have two sponsored charity events in the making for 2011, a 5 peaks challenge, where the JAMstudio team intend to conquer all the major peaks on the Benachie range in a day, then we will be looking to team up with our favorite engineers Wright Associates to enter the River Don Raft Race in aid of Cancer Research (WA will be our secret weapons, although knowing our engineers it will probably be built so robustly we'll sink...). Our local charity this year will be Mental Health Aberdeen (MHA) and we are hoping to raise £2500 via sponsorship and donations for them during the year.