Blog entries

Staff room and extension for Arkenstall Primary School...

Carl Hood — Wed, 15 May 2013 17:09:20 +0100

At CD Hood commercial builders in Cambridge we are specialists in helping schools to develop their buildings, whether it’s adding a sympathetic wing/classroom, creating a new corridor, or refurbishing an area. We work with team of architects, ensuring that a project runs smoothly from start to finish.

We have recently completed a staff room extension and built an additional classroom for Robert Arkenstall school in Haddenham.

We make sure that we schedule the works, where po...

CD Hood work on a lab refurbishment for leading R & D consultancy...

Carl Hood — Wed, 15 May 2013 17:03:59 +0100

CD Hood commercial builders in Cambridge are working on a lab and a corridor refurbishment for Sagentia in Harston, Cambridge at the moment.

We have worked successfully with Sagentia over the past few years, helping them to expand their labs and buildings in accordance to the growth of their R & D consultancy services to start-ups throughout the global market leaders.

Sagentia is a global innovation, technological and product development company. They have headquarters ac...

CD Hood complete hygiene facility for the outstanding Spring Common School, in Huntingdon…

Carl Hood — Wed, 01 May 2013 20:50:06 +0100

CD Hood, commercial builders in Cambridge specialise in developing schools, whether it’s building a new wing to renovating an existing building.

We have just recently completed a hygiene facility for Spring Common School in Huntingdon. The school was called ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted in 2012, was in need of hygiene facility.

The project was quite involved and took much planning to ensure that we made sure that the work was completed within ...

Extensive work at Age UK in Cambridge...

Carl Hood — Wed, 01 May 2013 20:48:42 +0100

At CD Hood Commercial builders in Cambridge, we have recently been awarded the work of carrying out extensive refurbishment on the Age Concerns, (now known as Age UK,) at the Cherry Tree day Centre in Cambridge.

Age Concern and Help the Aged have joined forces to become Age UK, so that they can help people in later life. The new organisation was created in April 2009, and brings 120 years of combined experience and shared history with respect to working with older people.

...

Renovation of Jesus College Boathouse in Cambridge…

Carl Hood — Wed, 01 May 2013 20:45:10 +0100

CD Hood commercial builders in Cambridge, have recently been awarded the work of renovating the outside of the Jesus College boathouse, which is situated on the River Cam in Cambridge.

So we thought we would look into the history of one of the largest boat clubs in Cambridge. The boat club of Jesus College, in Cambridge, was founded in 1827, and the Club, Jesus College Boat Club, is often referred to as JCBC among rowers.

It is one of Cambridge’s largest and mo...

Making sure you find a reputable builder is key...

Carl Hood — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 15:46:43 +0100

At CD Hood, commercial and domestic builders in Cambridge, we sometimes see horror stories of poorly constructed loft conversions. Many builders, short of work, have been specialising in this area, but they do not have the skill or experienced needed to carry out a good loft conversion. In the worse case scenario, sometimes it can cost the same amount as the original conversion to put things right.

If loft conversions have been constructed badly there are all sorts of thing...

Considerations when planning your loft conversion...

Carl Hood — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 15:44:34 +0100

The first thing you really have to consider if you want to extend your home into the loft is- Is there enough headroom? Can you actually stand up in your loft? The highest point should be at least 2.30 meters. Added headroom can be accommodated by the construction of dormer windows. The steeper the slope of your roof, the better it is.

The next thing you really want to think about is -What is the purpose of your converted loft? Is it for an extra bedroom, or an...

Planning on creating an extra room in your loft?

Carl Hood — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 15:41:52 +0100

CD Hood, commercial and domestic builders in Cambridge realise that it’s a sign of the times, that many more households are considering extending their homes into their lofts, by creating that extra bedroom, home study. It’s not only a good way to increase the size of your house, it will also increase the value.

One of the tricky things with a building project is the time it takes to submit planning permission and so fourth, however when thinking about creating ...

Delivering office spaces and school buildings…

Carl Hood — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 15:52:05 +0100

CD Hood Commercial builders in Cambridge, specialise in creating new offices and school buildings, and improving existing school buildings, in and around the Cambridge area.
Our business has been built on the foundations of reliability and delivering a high standard of work, we are always striving to achieve the best for our customers.

We help schools to maximise their buildings potential, working closely with architects, designers and planning offices to make sure we achie...

Property prices increase in England and Wales…

Carl Hood — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 15:50:24 +0100

CSEJ Ltd, commercial and domestic builders in Cambridge, were not surprised to see that house prices in England and Wales have increased by £532 last month, and over the past year they have increased by £6,700 according to LSL property figures.

David Newnes, director of LSL Property Services stated: “House prices have only fallen once in the last 16 months, life has become marginally easier for first time buyers and house sales are increasing.

"But there is ...

Asolo, Italy with its Rennaisance style houses planned for development...

Carl Hood — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 10:00:30 +0100

CD Hood Commercial and Domestic builders in Cambridge were shocked at the new proposed developments announced in the small town of Asolo in Italy this week. The town know at the ‘hundred horizons’and renown for its beauty, has just received new from their Northern League-led authority that they are planning to build new housing in surrounding land, and create a 75 acre industrial zone nearby.

Last Sunday a team of protestors took to the streets, and they p...

Government invests in Green...

Carl Hood — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 09:57:23 +0100

CD Hood commercial builders in Cambridge also noted that the government is going to be investing £50 million in a Green Deal Finance Company.

The government has so far invested £20m into the company, and has pledged £30m of extra funding. The first loan will be made available once their funding finishes, and the £30m will only become available if the Green Deal loans rise higher than estimated. The government has provided this funding to underwrite t...

Market revival with new Help to Buy scheme…

Carl Hood — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 09:54:16 +0100

CD Hood commercial builders in Cambridge, are pleased to see that the government are introducing the new Help to Buy scheme as it could help to revive the market, it is aimed to help both first-time buyer and second steppers to move into a new home.

The government, who has pledged to give £130 million into this new scheme, will offer people the opportunity to move up or into a new home with only a 5% deposit. Details of the new Help to Buy are still to be revealed, bu...

The new Government's Help to Buy Scheme…

Carl Hood — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 17:02:25 +0100

CD Hood Commercial builders in Cambridge, were among many waiting for the all important budget, to see if any, what changes would be made to improve home buying for first-time buyers in the UK.

The NewBuy scheme has helped first-time buyers purchase a new home, with a 95% LTV mortgage, but now under the new changes, this will also be applicable for second-hand homes, in an attempt for the government to kick start the house market. People who are also looking to move from an...

Cambridge’s ‘People’s Choice’ Award scheme…

Carl Hood — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 17:01:24 +0100

CD Hood Commercial builders in Cambridge have noticed that a new building design awards scheme has been launched in Cambridge, by the City council. The City Council who have linked up with the Cambridge Evening News and the Cambridge Forum for the Construction Industry, are asking the public to choose who choose the buildings which deserve to receive the ‘People’s choice’ Award, from large University Building to smaller house projects.

The new design...

New £212 million Cambridge research building due to open…

Carl Hood — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 16:58:27 +0100

CD Hood Commercial builders in Cambridge were interested to see that the new £212 million research building is due to open its doors this spring to one of the most successful centres in the world, the Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB).

Around 600 scientists and support staff are preparing to make the move into this building, which has been designed by architects in the shape of a Chromosome ‘X’. The LMB have won nine Nobel prizes, and various other sci...

Understanding the financial constraints within a school refurbishment…

Carl Hood — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 18:17:11 +0100

CD Hood work closely with local authorities improving and refurbishing school buildings. We realise that there are always financial constraints within any refurbishment project, and we work with schools to enable them to realise their vision, constructively working together to squeeze out the best possible result from the funds available.

First of all we work out with a school its core objectives – these are essential things which might need to be done, such as a leak...

Prioritising the essential parts of a school refurbishment...

Carl Hood — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 18:14:13 +0100

CD Hood builders have experience in creating fantastic refurbishments in schools across East Anglia, Herts and Essex. From our wealth of experience we know that every project must involve a degree of compromise, and prioritising what needs to be done first is essential.

Prioritising will take a degree of experience, and a design team will need to complete an analysis of the whole building. If you are only going to be able to refurbish some parts of the school, there will ne...

Do you need planning permission for your school refurbishment?

Carl Hood — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 18:06:00 +0100

CD Hood commercial builders in Cambridge know that unless a school refurbishment is quite small and in the interior of the building that you will probably have to ask for building consent. If your school building is in a conservation area, you may also need separate conservation consent.

The best thing to do would be approach your local planning authority, and they will be able to advise you on this, they will also have a list of historical or special architectural building...

School refurbishments - What should we keep?

Carl Hood — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 21:35:22 +0100

CD Hood Ltd, commercial builders in Cambridge, realise that this can take some careful consideration, and is down to both the school’s individual requirements and needs.
If for example there is a leaking roof, then this will need to be repaired or replaced, as well as if a boiler that is nearly 20 years old, then provisions will be need to be put in place for its replacement.

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