And Norwich makes three - for JMS East Anglia

Already in Chelmsford and with our Head Office in Ipswich, our new office in Norwich gives us comprehensive coverage of Civil and Structural Engineering services in East Anglia.

Norwich is recognised as one of the fastest growing commercial and residential development areas in Britain and districts such as Norwich and East Norfolk  have experienced year-on-year construction contract value growth of 916% and 744% respectively

According to a report from Barbour ABI and the Construction Products Association: "The Government is focused on raising the levels of major infrastructure projects, in particular sector themes such as offshore wind farms, energy plants and motorway upgrades have considerably boosted construction value in more rural areas."

The office is new, but Norwich is not new to us

Headed up by 'local lad' Mark Weston, the office continues our association with the area, building upon the reputation we have built over the last 20 years. Opening the office increased our operational presence in the area and allows us to get involved in new projects and to provide local support and expertise to ongoing developments previously serviced from our Ipswich base.

Thetford Road, Watton

This is a large residential development consisting of 110 properties, infrastructure and associated parking. The existing geology in the area meant infiltration devices could be used for the Northern part of the development, although the existing ground water levels in the Southern section meant Environment Agency buffer requirements to base of soakaways could not be achieved. A more traditional drainage network was designed to convey the surface water run-off to the existing ditch network.

The new surface water drainage network adopted by Anglian Water used a flow control chamber to restrict flows from site. The existing ditch features on site were modified to provide the necessary attention for a 1 in 100 year storm event plus 30% climatic change.

Blue Boar Lane, Sprowston

With our initial appointment in 2011, JMS continued to be involved in the design and detailing of the highway and drainage infrastructure to serve a development of 1,233 houses for a consortium of three of the region’s largest house builders.

Highway access was taken from an existing roundabout. On-site highway infrastructure includes two new roundabouts and the construction of culverts to cross an existing watercourse. The ground conditions of low strength silts presented a particular challenge that was overcome by utilising in-situ ground stabilisation to eliminate the requirement for extensive muck-away and for replacement material to be imported.

The development was also crossed by a foul water rising main forming part of the Water Authorities’ strategic regional assets that was diverted through the development area under a Section 185 Agreement.  The surface water drainage strategy was designed to utilise swales and basins to replicate the drainage regime of the site pre-development. 

Old Hospital Water Tower, Aylsham

An example of creative thinking was here in Aylsham where we were involved in the engineering to convert a redundant water tower dating back to 1923, restoring it into a bespoke family home.

The 18 metre high building formed part of the former St Michael’s Hospital, on the edge of Aylsham, where it was transformed into a seven storey property. Residents were given a spectacle after the two cast iron water tanks at the top of the tower were removed and replaced with a sleek glass sunroom with a zinc roof.

This was part of the Bure Place development comprising 38 properties, combining houses, apartments and bungalows - and a seven storey tower !

 And above ground...

The latest project, right in the centre of Norwich, is Elliot House on the top of Ber Street.  What was once offices, including NHS administration facilities has been converted into 45 much needed city centre apartments.

We add value to every project we have been,
are, and will be equally proud to support.

More pins in the JMS map and a look ahead to 2018

Happy New Year
      from Brightwell
 

It would be wrong to look forward without first touching on some of the many highlights of 2017. What a year!

Whilst much of the effort in Suffolk was fuelled by getting the new head office up and running in Brightwell - our sub-terrania masters in London kept digging for gold with an unprecedented number of basement developments; Chelmsford launched the new website for the additional JMS service of residential Travel Plans with the new website TP Coordinators (here).

The Greece office basked in their expertise in the technical wizardry Concrete Framing; and the Midlands office expanded their portfolio of Health Sector work.

In short, buildings went up, basements went down and infrastructure ran smoothly - all creatively and successfully engineered by JMS.

Oh - and did we mention - we celebrated our 20th Anniversary in September.


So ... 2018 ... who knows?

Well, to begin with, we are kicking the New Year off with three new offices in three new cities - Norwich, Leicester and Limassol !

This has obviously meant the addition of new staff - eight in the last few months - to ensure our high levels and range of service continue.


The construction industry perspective

Our growth at JMS is built on the back of the continued industry growth, both experienced and predicted, across just about all of the construction sectors we are involved with.

The Government seems to be sticking by its guns in terms of infrastructure and investment therein. It has promised to continue as detailed in the National Infrastructure Delivery Plan 2016 - 2021. This includes the most ambitious plan to build new homes since the 1970s.

The Homes & Communities Agency (HCA) takes on the responsibility for easing the deliverability of building projects through the release of land on which to build and speeding up of planning permissions and regulations.

Major national road and rail infrastructure plans do create regional development opportunities in their wake, with the Norwich Northern Distributor Road (NDR) a prime example.

Growth needs skills

The CIBT (Construction Industry Training Board) has published Industry Insights for the construction skills network 2017 - 2021 (download a copy here). It makes interesting reading.

Their prediction, based on skills needs, is that up to 20,000 new construction jobs will be created in East Anglia in the next five years.

The forecast is a significant advance on the figures published last year, which suggested 14,000 new roles would be created in the industry by 2020.

Regionally, infrastructure growth is expected to be stronger, at 4% a year, fuelled by major projects including flood defence work in Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth, a £1.5bn upgrade to the A14 in Cambridgeshire, expansion at the Port of Felixstowe and a £450m renewable energy park near Peterborough.

With our head office in the centre of this and Chelmsford and Norwich set either side, JMS are perfectly placed to support this unprecedented growth.

The addition of our new office in Cyprus allows us to tap into a significant resource of knowledge and skill to compliment that of the Greek office, whilst opening up the new work stream of a growing economy.

Regional knowledge, regional service 

Seeing, hearing, networking and understanding local issues is a vital part of our service resolution for 2018. That's why JMS put our 'FitBit' measured feet on the ground in those parts of the country we identify to have maximum development potential.

By managing development projects regionally, supported by technical skills networked nationally, we provide the power of a major resource through the knowing eyes and ears of a professional local service.


As I close I'll point out just one more thing - we managed to talk about the construction industry, skills and the future all without mentioning the 'B' word. But it hasn't gone away.

Thank you for all your effort and support in 2017 and here's to a great New Year.

Daniel.

We add value to every project we have been,
are, and will be equally proud to support.