CD Hood commercial and domestic builders in Cambridge are delighted to have been awarded a new contract to refurbish a grand design style house opposite the Burwell Windmill Museum in Cambridge.

The refurbishment will include a loft conversion and a beautiful extension. As experience builders in Cambridge, our customers feel assured that we keep to a strict time scales and budgets. 

As we will be working opposite the Burwell Windmill over the next couple of months we have decided to do a bit of research into its history.  

The museum is a Grade II listed building, the site originally included a 200 year old timber framed barn which was homed in another village, taken down and then erected on the windmill’s site. In 1982, Burwell Museum Trust was formed by a few people who felt passionate about preserving the windmill. 

The aim of the trust was to set up a museum open to the public, so that they would be able to offer visitors a glimpse of how it used to be. In 1992, after 10 years of fundraising the building and museum was opened. 

Since the opening of the Burwell Museum, it has expanded to include more building from the local area, which have been reconstructed on the original site, or they have been built in the local style from reclaimed local or new materials. 

If you would like to visit this wonderful site they are open Thursdays, Sunday and Bank Holidays and Easter Sunday to the last Sunday in October. A great way to introduce kids to our old windmills. For more info. why not visit their website @ http://www.burwellmuseum.org.uk.btck.co.uk/

If you also have a house which you are considering being re-furbished why not contact your local friendly builders, we have nearly 20 years of experience in the building industry.  

CD Hood, commercial builders Cambridge, are pleased to see that the building industry is becoming more sustainable, according to the NextGeneration benchmark, which is the only assessment of its kind that ranks the top 25 home builders on sustainability. Among the most sustainable home builders are the Berkeley Group, and Crest Nicholson, who have maintained last year’s second position. 

The assessment is carried out over a six months period, and for those developers responsible for constructing over 50% of new homes in the UK each year with a combined construction value of £5 billion.

 ‘This year’s results demonstrate that an elite group of nine home builders are driving best practice in sustainability in the sector. This is the sixth year the benchmark has been undertaken and the improvement in performance from the first benchmark in 2006 is remarkable, with companies battling to outperform each other across 50 different categories and achieving an average improvement of around 10% since 2006,’ said Philip Hirst from NextGeneration.

‘At a time where government is reviewing much of the key legislation that governs sustainability in home building, NextGeneration members provide a beacon of how the private sector can collaborate to deliver sustainability performance beyond legislative requirements,’ he added.
 
C D Hood commercial builders in and around Cambridge are always striving to use sustainable materials for our building projects.

C D Hood, Commerical Builers in Cambridge, have noticed that Addenbrooke’s hospital are going for planning permission to build three 200ft chimneys, in an attempt to cut carbon emissions by 47 per cent. The chimneys would generate environmentally friendly heat, hot water and electricity. 

However it seems that residents are concerned about the impact of the Cambridge sky line, saying it will be an ‘eyesore’.

We think it’s great to see that large hospitals are really taking on board the impact of their carbon footprint, and the building will be clad in green corrugated metal, so that it merges into the background. If you would like to have your say then the Council are holding drop in sessions for residents on Monday, December 17, at Long Road Sixth Form College between 5.30-8pm.

The deadline for comments is January 4, and councillors are likely to make a decision in spring 2013.

C D Hood recently came across these amazing architectural designs, created by Jason Bruge for WWF’s new Living Planet Centre headquarters in Surrey. We feel as though the wooden designs emanate nature, a similar architectural response embrassed by Gaudi.

We work with all different types of architects to enable use to offer a vast range of commercial interior options to our customers. From customised receptions, lavish office spaces to hospital receptions. From the artistically elaborate, to the more conventional. If you are looking for a team of reliable, specialist commercial builders in and around the Cambridge area, contact us for a free, no obligation quotation.

If your favoured brew is coffee you will be delighted to hear that Masteroast have secured £1million funding from Clydesdale Bank – enabling it to buy its 40,000 sq ft premises in Peterborough.

Around 70 staff are involved in the roasting and blending of over 60 different types of beans from Central and South America, Africa and Asia and many special origins such as Jamaica, Papua New Guinea and Cuba. Managing director Andy Fawkes said: “When we moved to the site four years ago, Clydesdale Bank was the only bank offering the flexibility we needed at the time.

“They helped finance our £1 million investment in state-of-the-art German roasting equipment in Euros, which allowed us to take advantage of our income from European trade and protect ourselves from currency movements.

“We had an option to buy the premises after four years, which we have now taken after Clydesdale Bank provided the most flexible package for a further £1 million. “Having invested so heavily in the new facility, we were keen to secure the freehold and, again, Clydesdale Bank delivered.

“We have expanded our packing lines to 11 and we are proud of the fact that one out of every nine cups of coffee which is drunk away from the home is supplied by our 400 customers through regional and national distributors.”

Masteroast has also launched a training academy, from where it offers NVQ level courses to the hospitality industry.  Cambridgeshire commercial builders CD Hood Ltd can help sort out most building requirements over a cuppa.