Extreme demolition in Nottingham

Above: Man on wall watches nearby ball and chain during the demolition of Nottingham Victoria station during the 1960s (See video below for more men and extreme demolition footage)

Gucci shoot at Lassco

Above: Lassco's new young cool and trendy receptionist (not!) decked out in the latest Gucci sportswear. [ESMagazine. Photo Eric Frideen Styled by Gianluca Longo

London UK - THE London Evening Standard magazine 19 Feb 10 had a fashion shoot at Lassco's Brunswick House with a sultry blond and many thousands of pounds worth of luxury sportswear. Seen in the photo above is a leather biker jacket with mesh inserts £2,530, skinny trousers £365 and horsebit belt £490 all by Gucci. The snakeskin shoes are by Rally at £275.

E S Magazine (19 Feb 2010)

Palace Theatre demolition

Nelson, Lancashire UK
Despite of opposition by heritage groups and the Historical Theatres Trust permission has been granted by Pendle Council for the demolition of the former Palace bingo hall in Hole Street, Nelson.

Councillor Allan Buck, executive member for town centres said, "I am delighted common sense has now prevailed. I agree it is sad to see a historic theatre go, but it had long since lost any use as a theatre. In the short term the site will probably be used for much needed long-term car parking, but in the longer run we expect this site will contribute to an important regeneration of that part of the town centre."

Pendle Today

Burnley Pub demolition

photo. Lancashire Telegraph

Burnley, Lancashire UK
THE demolition of a landmark pub at a gateway to Burnley has started. Contractors have removed the majority of the roof at the Derby Hotel near the M65 roundabout at junction 10 and the work should be finished in around three weeks.

Burnley Council bought the pub for £290,000. It had previously been earmarked as the BNP’s Burnley headquarters. Plans to put a piece of public artwork in its place had been shelved due to a lack of money.

Lacashire Telegraph

Bath Decorative & Antiques Fair

The Pavilion, North Parade Road, Bath UK
The 21st Bath Decorative & Antiques Fair will be held between the 4th and 6th of March. Items from the 45 exhibitors will include country and painted decorative furniture from the UK and Europe, decorative accessories for the home, lighting, folk art, naïve paintings, needlework and textiles, pottery both decorative and homely Staffordshire pieces, unusual decorative items for the garden and much more.

Trade: Thursday 4 March 12.00 pm - 8.00 pm
Public: Friday 5 March 11 am - 7.00 pm
& Saturday 6 March 10.00 am - 5.00 pm
Charity Preview Evening: Thursday 4 March 6.00 pm - 8.00 pm


Above: Grierson Gower of Relic - Based near Bath by appointment only 01225 833049 dealing in boat models, fairground and shop fittings, marine and decorative items


Above: Image shows part of a conservatory table with shardware top on a painted iron pedestal base, c 1920. Roderic Haugh, based at Core One, The Gas Works, 2 Michael Road, London SW6 2AD

Bath Decorative & Antiques Fair

Antique Church Furnishings unique eye for ecclesiastical salvage

Walton-on-Thames, Surrey UK
The second article in a run of features leading up to Salvo Fair is Antique Church Furnishings, who specialise in ecclesiastical furnishings as well as a a variety of domestic antique furniture and fittings from vestries and vicarages. The article discusses founders Steve Williams and Lawrence Skilling's finds from searching in crypts and belfries.








Antique Church Furnishings

Sniffing out the best finds

Above: J.P. Moczulski for National PostArtist Casey McGlynn, with Olive, found the “tagged” mirror and bench.

Toronto, Canada
Artist Casey McGlynn's, beagle puppy Olive has been living up to its breads reputation and sniffing out some great salvage. Whilst on a walk he uncovered some unlikely furniture pieces, including an eight-foot-long wooden bench (an old hockey dressing-room reject scratched with names and jersey numbers) and an oddly shaped, uncracked mirror. Both now sit in Mr McGlynn's dining room, and are tagged with graffiti. "You can tell it's done by a good graffiti artist too, by the flow and quality of the line," says Mr. McGlynn, an oil-on-canvas man whose art has a decidedly graffiti-like feel.

This urban decay design trend seems to be taking off as Paul Mercer, co-owner of Smash, a store-gallery in the Junction that specializes in industrial and architectural salvage explains, "We don't bother restoring too many of our pieces - it's a waste of time, people want things that are banged up." As example of this is the forklift pallets from a now-closed motor factory, which Mr Mercer sells for $30. "Turn one upside down and you've got a cheap coffee table with a bit of a story attached to it. People put a premium on the story, even if it's mundane. It demonstrates that they've made an effort to find something local and not from a shipping container," said Mr mercer.


National Post

Tina Pasco at Salvo Fair 2010

Tina Pasco is a garden antiques dealer well known in the UK, France and USA for the past 16 years. Over the next few months she will be searching out the best garden antiques for her first stand at Salvo Fair.

Tina spent her childhood days in the overgrown gardens of derelict houses with dried up fountains and crumbling statues, whilst playing truant with her brothers. Her passion for garden statuary and ornament stemmed from these encounters. Years later she bought a run-down house with half an acre of garden and began trying to create a romantic garden with statues, urns, fountains and follies. "I kept on buying more and more, and in the end there was too much! Less is always more in a garden," says Tina. "So I decided to have a garden sale and began advertising. It attracted loads of people and I sold everything I wanted to sell. I began trailing around the big antique fairs in England and France buying and selling garden antiques. I used to go to Swinderby and sleep in the lorry for 3 days. At Newark I could find amazing things. Living in the lorry and doing the fairs was quite a hard life. I longed for a shop, and in 2000 found my present property which is a Georgian house, with a coach house and garden from which I run my business, Esprit Du Jardin'.

The only 'new' item Tina will bring to Salvo Fair is a Victorian-style mobile cloche, handmade by Suffolk Artisan and friend, David Le Versha. Tina says 'I met David at English antique fairs 15 years ago. He would bring along a trailer load of beautiful handmade benches, mobile cloches and greenhouses, and gazebos. If you didn't catch him within the first 20 minutes he would be sold out. We got on very well, and have teamed up to do Chelsea Flower Show in the past. David's bread and butter now is creating the mobile greenhouses for me, which means he can concentrate on beautiful one-offs like rose tunnels, gazebos, bridges or fern houses. It was David's daisy chairs that caused a stir at Chelsea on Diarmuid Gavin's stand. David will be coming along to Salvo Fair.'

The mobile cloche was designed by David Le Versha in 1995. It is made entirely in-house with exception of from the cast iron wheels that are made at a local foundry. The boards and seed trays are made from reclaimed or sustainably sourced timber. The idea is that the cloche can be moved around like a barrow. The boards inside can be lifted so plants or seeds in the ground can be covered by the structure. It can be painted any colour, but white and green are most popular.





Please note: Copyright to this design is owned by David Le Versha, and the product is available exclusively from Tina Pasco at Esprit du Jardin.

Tina Pasco

Salvo Fair

Walcot auction high trade turn out

Above: In this pic: Rod Donaldson, Marcus Olliff, Sam Coster, Dean Cannadine, Rob Thomas, Rupert Woods and auctioneers on the mezzanine.

Left: The yard at Bathampton

Left: Lots 911-914 12 unrestored cast iron roll top baths, estimate £400-£800

Above: Lot 935 Eight Bath and Portland stone composite supporting a wooden pergola with metal ties. Est £1,500 - £2,500

Bath, Somerset, UK - At the beginning of Walcot Reclamation's two day sale on Monday and Tuesday 15th and 16th February 2010, the yard at Bathampton was swathed in fog and freezing drizzle. However, this did not put off the crowds of people registering in a frenzy at a small booth inside the warehouse where the auction would take place.

On Monday morning it became clear that the auction was moving along slowly but lots were reaching good prices. There seemed to be a hint of sentimentality in the air for the possible demise of one of the UK's first reclamation yards. This perhaps helped push up prices. For example lot 66, A pair of bath stone ball finials estimated at £100-£150 went for £750.

Dean Cannadine, Architectural Salvage Source, Herts said, "Everything's very expensive at the moment. We're here for the materials, which are being sold tomorrow."

On Tuesday afternoon, things were still going well. Graham Cockle of BCVA Auctioneers said "At present we are above target and very pleased. The advertising we did with Salvo has been the best for bringing in the trade."

Damian Cronin of Woodstone, Surrey, (who started at Walcot) said, "All the usual suspects are present. All lots are making good money. If Rick had done this a year ago, perhaps he could have saved a pioneering business." Rick Knapp, owner of Walcot Reclamation Ltd, placed the company in administration in December.

Andy Triplow of Architectural Treasures, Kent said, "It's sad to see another business go under, but that does mean more stock for us! I bought a slate fireplace for the insert, estimated at£2,800, and paid £500."

Rupert Woods of Leominster Reclamation, Herefordshire, who had bought some fireplaces, stained glass and flooring said, "There's no real bargains to be had. It is good from the trade's point of view to see stock going for high prices. The auctioneers have done a good job, but things have been very slow, possibly because of the online bidders. Yesterday I nearly lost the will to live, because it was so cold!"

Steve Tomlin, of MASCo, Glos, was effusive. "This is probably the best turn out I've seen at a trade auction for a long time. Prices have held above bottom estimate and many items have achieved prices well above top estimate. The trade support reflects the high esteem in which the name of Walcot Reclamation is held," he said.

Walcot Reclamation

'Start thinking of waste differently,' said Environment Secretary Hilary Benn

Speaking at the launch of Beyond Carbon, a report from green business lobby group the Aldersgate Group, Environment Secretary Hilary Benn said, "We've reached a point in human development where the thing we call waste needs to be seen for what it really is - it's a resource and we ought to describe it as such. For the past 150 years, with all the benefit that economic development has brought us, we've been running an unwinnable race against the planet. We know that the time has come to stop treating the gifts that the Earth gives us as if they were infinite and start using them in a very different way." He continued to say that burying leftovers in a hole in the ground and forgetting about it is no longer an option.

Full speech on edie.net

Preston's iconic 1960s bus station set for demolition

Above: Photo Retro to Go

Preston, Lancashire UK
The large 1960's bus station in Preston houses more than 80 double decker buses, 1,100 cars and a vast interconnecting subway. Preston Council are set to demolish the building in 2011 to make way for shops, offices and apartments. The British Heritage is keen to save the building claiming that this type of structure is becoming increasingly rare, instead they want it to be imaginatively refurbished. However the culture secretary Ben Bradshaw does not share this idea, claiming the bus station is 'not of sufficient architectural or historic interest' to have protection.'

Retro to Go

Dorton Demolition start on Brighton's West Pier

Above: picture from Times Online

Brighton, Brighton & Hove UK
Low spring tides have allowed Dorton Demolition to start work removing the burnt-out shell of Brighton's Victorian West Pier. After surviving several mine explosions during the Second World War it was sadly destroyed in 2003 when a fire tour through the concert hall and engulfed the whole pier. Thankfully the West Pier Trust, who own the site, said that all historically important items would be salvaged. The pier will be replaced by the i360, an observation tower designed by the team behind the London Eye.

Times Online

Zero Waste equals 100% Reuse - Webinar link

Jonathan Essex, Reclaimed Materials Manager, BioRegional Development Group and Thornton Kay, Salvo Llp presented a Webinar on Wednesday 3rd February, if you missed it you can listen to it at the below link.

The webinar explored the recent decline in the reclamation of construction materials and showcased a number of case studies demonstrating the carbon savings of building material reuse, and recommend government actions and policy changes.

Link to Webinar

'We're going to defend our castle to the death,' said farmer couple

Above: Robert and Linda Fidler stand in front of Honeycrock Castle [photo. Murray Sanders]

Honeycrock Castle, Salfords Surrey

Over the course of two years Robert Fidler a farmer from Surrey managed to secretly build a mock Tudor castle complete with ramparts and cannons. He reclaimed many pieces for the house including two chandeliers and a huge glass dome. "We found the dome smashed up in a reclamation yard; someone said it was from the old West Pier at Brighton so Rob went on a glass course just so he could learn how to repair it properly," said Linda Fidler.

Because Mr Fidler did not get planning permission for the structure it has been concealed behind a 40ft pile of straw and huge tarpaulins. He has recently unveiled the castle as he believes that because the building has been there for four years without any objections, it is no longer illegal.

However, this week, three years of heated legal squabbling concluded in the High Court with a judge's ruling in favour of the council. As things stand, the Fidlers must now return the plot to grassland within a year or the council will bring in the bulldozers. Although the Filders plan to take the case to the court of appeal and hope that they will have more luck there.

Mail Online

Country House Wanted

Country House Rescue on Ch4 is back and looking for country house owners who would like to take part in the third series. This follows the success of series one which broadcast in 2008 and 2009, and the second series of eight house which will be aired on Ch4 starting in March this year. If you or someone you know has a country house which is in need of some help contact Caroline.austin@betty.co.uk, 020 7290 0541.


New House Wanted

Contemporary Design

The latest reuse design projects from DesignBoom News



Above: Elisa Strozyk a recent graduate, is showcasing her wooden textile carpets and table cloths made from veneer offcuts at Imm Cologne 2010.



Above: French architect firm Olgga Architects have designed a student housing complex from 100 recycled shipping containers, located in le havre, France the individual shipping containers are stacked on top of one another, each signifying a different student's room.




Above: 'Two-by-Block' is proposed by a Japanese firm a-asterisk for a small tea-shop in the town of Hokkaido, the shop is constructed entirely from leftover scraps of wood. The project involves a special construction method, where the initial structure is built in the winter time using a snow mountain as a base to create the exterior. In the Spring the snow is dissolved leaving the structure which is to be situated over a lake.

Wooden carpet

100 recycled container student housing

two-by-block

Wharton Antiques in House & Garden

Bath, Somerset UK
Wharton Antiques are featured in the March edition of House & Garden.








Wharton Antiques

Salvo Beano

Islington, London UK
Jason and Nadine of Architectural Forum were the first to be featured in a run of Period Living articles, leading up to the Salvo Fair. The article discusses their passion for salvage, interesting items they have bought and sold and past exhibitions at Salvo Fair.








Architectural Forum

V&V Reclamation

100's of buildings to be torn down to reach carbon emission standards

Following an interview with The Times and the Government's new chief construction adviser The Times online reports that many sixties and seventies buildings which fill British towns will have to be demolished as they do not meet carbon emission standards.

Paul Morrell, who took up his new post at the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills at the end of November last year, said, “In the Sixties, everything was built cheaper, faster and nastier. If you are going to try to fix buildings, then really you won’t have too many problems with anything built earlier than the Fifties or after the Eighties. Although you can do some things to buildings from the Sixties and Seventies, like replacing the roofs, there are probably some places that need to come down entirely." According to the British Property Federation, property is responsible for 50 per cent of the UK’s carbon emissions. Mr Morrell is in charge of reaching the governments target to cut UK carbon emissions by 80 per cent by 2050.


Times Online

The ongoing Aga saga

Following the European Union's insistence on lower sulphur levels in domestic kerosine, oil-fired Agas are said to be caking up with soot, and in some cases breaking down completely. This has been heightened in the recent cold weather as people rely on their Aga to heat their homes. “We have to literally drill out the carbon build-up from the burner every six to eight weeks, and relight the Aga,” complains Catherine Lewis, who runs a thatching business in Hertfordshire.

The full extent of the problem became apparent when Peter Anslow, director of the Listed Property Owners Club, sent an email to members asking if they were having the same problems with their Aga as him. “The response has been instant and sizeable. Agas are going out all over the country," he reports.

Fixing the problem does not come cheap but many owners seem prepared to dig deep, rather than abandon their oven: “My Aga has dried out sodden rugs, shivering ducks and damp dogs on numerous occasions,” says architectural salvage dealer Amanda Garrett, from Oxfordshire. “I’m having to get it serviced at least four times a year now, but I’m still prepared to persevere. A true Aga owner never gives up.”

Aga ambassador said "Sometimes, problems can be down to people having their oven serviced by someone who’s not an accredited Aga engineer. Sometimes, too, the Agas can be a little old. After all, a car from the Thirties wouldn’t run on today’s fuel.”

Telegraph