8th February 2012
TURNER CONTEMPORARY SHORTLISTED!
We are very proud to see that The Turner Contemporary Art Gallery in Margate has made the shortlist for The Art Fund Prize for Museums and Galleries 2012. More details can be found by following this link:
http://www.artfundprize.org.uk/2012/turner-contemporary.php
There are 10 museums in contention to win the £100,000 prize which rewards excellence and innovation for projects completed or undertaken in the previous year. The shortlist is as follows:
- Turner Contemporary
- M Shed, Bristol
- The Hepworth, Wakefield
- Riverside Museum, Glasgow
- Bletchley Park, Milton Keynes
- National Museum of Scotland
- Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery, Exeter
- The Holborn Museum, Bath
- The National Galleries, Scotland
- Watts Gallery, Surrey
A shortlist of four museums will be announced on 14 May before the Museum of the Year is named at a ceremony at the British Museum on 19 June.
2011's prize was awarded to the British Museum after the success of its History of the World project which attempted to tell the story of humanity in 100 objects.
1st February 2012
DORMANSLAND HOME PROJECT UPDATE
This project is progressing well and looks to be completed in time for Easter providing its owners with a new four bedroom house, with staff accommodation and landscaped garden.
The ground floor offers a garden room, staff quarters, study, kitchen, lounge and utility room. The first floor has four en-suite bedrooms with a sitting room and two dressing rooms. There is also a glazed roof light to the kitchen and one over the garden room and stairs.
A ground source heat pump has been installed and a grey water tank located at the end of the garden provides water for the toilets.
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25th January 2012
SPRING QUATERCENTENARIAN DELIVERED
The spring edition of our long running Quatercentenarian newsletter has now been posted, we hope you all enjoy the read! For a digital version please use the link below or if you would like to be added to future mailing lists please email your details to marketing@durtnell.co.uk and we will be happy to add your name to the mailing list.
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30th November 2011
DAILY TELEGRAPH HEADLINES
John Durtnell makes headlines in the Daily Telegraph today as he puts forward his views on the Autumn Statement, please follow the link below for more details.
14th November 2011
A ROYAL VISIT TO THE TURNER CONTEMPORARY
On Friday 11th November the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh visited the Turner Contemporary, built by R. Durtnell and Sons and opened in April this year. John Durtnell along with members of the project team including Betteridge & Milsom and David Chipperfield were part of the special group who had the privilege of meeting the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh to discuss the success of the new building.
A plaque was unveiled at the gallery to mark the occasion of the royal visit.
More on this story can be found at:
10th November 2011
DURTNELL'S POPPIES
Four of our current projects have erected for Remembrance Day large poppies to show Durtnell’s support to The Royal British Legion‘s Poppy Appeal. You can see these large poppies at Tonbridge School, Tyrwhitt House in Leatherhead, the University of Kent and West Parade in Hythe. There is also a large poppy displayed at our Head Office in Brasted and at our plant yard in Seal.
We are proud to show our support and respect to the many heroes killed, injured or affected by war.
Details of the works undertaken at the four ‘Poppy’ sites are as follows:
- Tonbridge School - Construction of a new rackets court.
- Tyrwhitt House - First floor extension to provide offices for staff at Combat Stress
- University of Kent - Construction of a new music building
- West Parade, Hythe - Design and build of eight apartments with sea views.
Head Office, Brasted.
The Plant Yard in Seal.
Tonbridge School.
Tyrwhitt, House Leatherhead.
University of Kent.
West Parade, Hythe.
16th October 2011
SPRATT AND WINKLE RUN 2011
The Durtnell 1944 Austin K4 took part in this year’s Sprat and Winkle Run organized by The Historic Commercial Vehicle Society. The event took place on Sunday 16th October and Geoff Edwards, one of Durtnell’s long service site managers drove the 1944 Austin. The route started in Sevenoaks on the Vestry Road Industrial Estate and finished at the Stade car park in Hastings, taking in Hildenborough, Tonbridge, Tunbridge Wells and Eridge Station where there was a quick refreshment stop. Following refreshments the route continued through Boarshead, Crowborough, Buxted, Cross in Hand, Heathfield, Netherfield, St Leonards into Warrior Square and then along the sea front into Hastings.
Photos of the event can be found at this link courtesy of Caroline Cornford:
https://picasaweb.google.com
Further information regarding Durtnell’s purchase and restoration of this iconic car can be found in the History section of this website or follow this link: http://www.durtnell.co.uk/durtnell-interests.html
22nd September 2011
TOPPING OUT AT HOLLYMOUNT SCHOOL, WIMBLEDON
A small ceremony held at Hollymount Primary School, Wimbledon on Thursday 22nd September 2011 saw Mrs Philippa Jackson (Head teacher) and Mr Russell Blaber (Project Manager for London Borough of Merton (LBM)) place the final section of roof insulation on the new teaching building, officially recording the new building as being watertight.
R. Durtnell and Sons Limited has been engaged to complete the construction of a 2-storey teaching block consisting of 7 classrooms plus offices, WC’s and changing facilities, along with the refurbishment of the existing school buildings. The works are being completed in three phases. Phase one was completed in September 2010 which consisted of a new kitchen, plant room and a staffroom (which is currently being used as a classroom). Phase two is underway with the construction of a new teaching block to be completed in February 2012 and phase 3 which consists of external works and a new MUGA will be completed in the summer of 2012.
Further details of the scheme can be viewed here: http://www.haverstock.com/HollymountSchool.html
13th August 2011
MORDEN HALL PARK TASTER DAYS
We are currently on site at Morden Hall Park converting a 19th century stable block and yard into a Living Green Centre where visitors can learn about renewable energy technologies in older buildings On completion in November the refurbished building will provide an Exhibition and Visitors centre along with staff offices.
As part of the project the site team in partnership with the National Trust have run a series of Taster Days on sustainable building methods and technologies. This enables the public to come and see the progress on site and find out more about specific elements of the scheme. The first taster day was about solar panels and slates as the roof of the building has solar slates on the east roof, photovoltaic panels on the west and photovoltaic thermal panels on the south facing roof. Other taster days included insulation materials, lime plaster underfloor heating and heat pumps, waterwheel renovation and the final taster day took place on 13th August and focused on the flooring of the stable yard. Visitors learnt about the methods used to preserve the historic flooring in the building and had the opportunity to lend a hand with laying the final paving in the courtyard.
All sessions included a ‘behind the scenes’ tour of the progress to date on site.
27th July 2011
TONBRIDGE SCHOOL SPORTS AND MEDIA CENTRE
Designed and built by R. Durtnell and Sons Ltd, we can now confirm that the prestigious centre will be host to Australian athletes in the run-up the London 2012 Olympic Games. Further information can be found on the BBC website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-14275764
20th May 2011
LORD COE OPENS CLEVES SCHOOL SPORTS HALL
On the morning of Friday 20th May, Cleve's School in Weybridge had an important visitor to their new state-of-the-art sports centre in the form of Lord Coe who was accompanied by local MP Phillip Hammond. On arrival they were greeted by Headmistress, Sue Croft, and a steel band welcomed them to the new facility which was completed under a Design and Build contract in October last year.
Lord Coe officially opened the building by cutting a ribbon in the spectator gallery in front of the whole school and then held a short assembly for the pupils. He thanked everyone for inviting him to the school and apologised profusely for being late which was due to a cow blocking the M25!! He went on to say that he was “really pleased to be here to open the sports centre and I hope that a few of you will one day compete in the Olympics or Para Olympics. I am delighted to be here."
After the assembly Lord Coe was taken on a tour of the new facility with pupils of the school performing in the dance studio, and two PE lessons were conducted in the sports hall.
The new sports centre facility at Cleve's School was constructed on time and to a budget of £1.8m with Ubique Architects as our Designers and the concept Architect, Arthur Gomez.
19th May 2011
RIBA AWARD FOR SEVENOAKS SCHOOL
With buildings selected throughout Europe and 17 out of 89 UJK winner being private houses, we are extremely proud that Sevenoaks School’s fantastic Performing Arts Centre has won a RIBA 2011 Award. Congratulations go to Tim Ronald Architects who designed the scheme.
Click here to see the RIBA Award for Sevenoaks School
16TH April 2011
TURNER CONTEMPORARY OPENS!
Saturday April 16th, Turner Contemporary opened to the public with a week packed full of events. It was vital that all finishing touches to the building were complete before the gallery was shown to the public and our team on site worked hard to achieve this. As art was delivered and mounted within the new gallery spaces our team helped to install these pieces as well as protect them during the final build phase.
Working closely with David Chipperfield Architects, Kent County Council, Thanet District Council, Betteridge and Milsom and our client Turner Contemporary, a collaborative team approach ensured the building was delivered on time, on budget and to a very happy client! At the recent Innovation and Design Awards where Victoria Pomery of Turner Contemporary was presented the Reader Choice Award, she went onto say “Winning tonight is such a tribute to my team and the teams of people who have worked on designing and constructing the building, and not least the people of Margate. I think Margate has been crying out for culture and we have now got this amazing new gallery."
