Working the Drains

So all the contractors have been working their quotes and sending them in, as we anticipated we have needed to make drastic changes to the studio designs to make the project work.

Firstly, the water drains have been diverted out of the premises, which is good news as it means the risk of flooding has been practically eliminated (or significantly reduced). The builders have taken care not to protrude from the ceiling too which is good news, as it won't affect our studio build.

Secondly we had to make the decision to remove the toilet and kitchen facilities, for now. We initially thought that moving these facilities closer to the soil stack (on the other end of the unit) would adequately reduce the costs through using less pipe. It turns out that the cost reduction is only minor in comparison to the serious excavation work needed to access the existing soil system; it would also involve demolishing the communal toilet next door to our unit. If we can negotiate with the Landlord to help us with the work on the communal toilet then we might consider building in just the pipework to give us the option further down the line.

At the end of the day, the time and money needed to install a toilet only 6 metres away from an existing communal one currently can't be justified; it would have been nice, but in total it's way out of our budget.

It's been an arduous and slow couple of weeks trying to make the premises fit for purpose, and coordinating all the contractors has been difficult, but we're close to starting the studio work, we can sense it.

See the gallery for more images!