13 minute read
HOW MUCH VALUE WOULD AN EXTENSION ADD TO YOUR HOME?
MOVING HOME? HERE’S YOUR GUIDE TO THE LEGAL PROCESS
WITH THE EASING OF LOCKDOWN RESTRICTIONS AND THE REOPENING OF ESTATE AGENTS, A FLURRY OF ACTIVITY IS BEING SEEN IN THE PROPERTY SECTOR.
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Although of course Coronavirus has had an impact, and still needs to be borne in mind, there are many people who have been waiting to move or to start looking for another home, and who are now taking the opportunity to do so.
Unsurprisingly, most estate agents and surveyors believe homes with gardens, balconies or communal spaces will be most in demand. This is good news for Swindon and Wiltshire, where houses with gardens are the predominant type of residence.
Whether you are a seasoned house mover or first time buyer, house-buying is always a major undertaking, which involves a legal, conveyancing process.
At Optimum, we endeavour to make this process as easy and straightforward as we can for our clients, ensuring we keep in touch with them at every stage. Here is our guide to take you through the legal process, step by step.
The first step is to contact a conveyancer as soon as you have found a property you would like to buy and have had an offer accepted on. At this stage, you should be asked to complete one or two forms, which will help to avoid any delays later on.
We would recommend you have a survey carried out. You may opt for a homebuyer’s survey, which is generally suited to properties in reasonable condition, or you may want to instruct a qualified surveyor to carry out a building survey, which is a more in-depth inspection of a property, providing a detailed evaluation of its condition.
Once your conveyancer has received the title documents and a draft contract from the seller’s solicitors, they should put in place the various searches needed, investigate title and raise any enquiries, as appropriate. You may be surprised at the variety of queries that can arise, but it is vital to get everything right and all questions answered before going ahead. When all queries have been satisfied, and search results and a copy of a mortgage offer obtained, you will be informed and you will then need to sign the contract. At the contract signing stage, a deposit is required.
Assuming everyone is ready to go ahead, a date will also be agreed for completion and exchange. For the moment at least, we cannot ignore the possible complications arising from C-19, so these need to be considered. Once you have a firm date, you can start organising your move, such as booking a removals firm.
The next stage involves ensuring the money is where it needs to be, for completion. Your conveyancer will request your mortgage funds and if you have been saving under any of the Government schemes – such as Help to Buy or a Lifetime ISA – organise access to these funds too. Once the sale is complete, the outstanding balance will be transferred to the vendor’s solicitors. Once they confirm they have received the money you may pick up the keys and move into your new home.
Although there are many stages to the process, and issues may arise, at Optimum we have been through this many times for our clients (in some cases, several times over for the same clients!) and we strive to ensure it is as seamless and stress-free as possible.
If you are moving and would like to talk to us about helping with the legal process, we would be delighted to hear from you.
Iain Mason Head of Legal Property Services Optimum Professional Services imason@optps.co.uk
STEAM MUSEUM CELEBRATES ITS 20 TH ANNIVERSARY
STEAM Museum, which is housed in a handsome Grade II listed railway building in the heart of the former Great Western Railway (GWR) works, is marking its 20th anniversary with a look back at some of its many highlights from the last two decades.
The museum is currently closed due to COVID-19. When it re-opens, however, visitors will be able to attend the museum for the same admission prices that greeted the very first visitors to STEAM 20 years ago.
STEAM’s doors opened for the first time on Wednesday, 14 June 2000, and royal approval soon followed when HRH the Prince of Wales officially opened the Museum on 27 June.
Cllr Dale Heenan, Swindon Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for the Town Centre, Culture and Heritage, said: “Last year more than 130,000 people visited the museum to learn about Swindon's rich heritage, and the staff do a tremendous job in bringing to life science, technology, engineering, art and maths topics for visitors.”
“The success of the Science Festival and the Brick Show, which will both return, means I believe STEAM has a bright future ahead for another 20 years. And there is still so much potential. A fun fact is that the original Hogwarts Express, Olton Hall, was built in Swindon 83 years ago, at Swindon Works.”
In 2008, STEAM secured a £450,000 investment to convert a disused railway workshop into a multi-purpose conference and event space. Today, Great Western Hall hosts high-profile events such as the National Trust AGM and Swindon’s General Election count, plus well-known annual events such as the Great Western Brick Show.
In 2011, STEAM received a once-in-a-lifetime bequest. Now known as the Harry Collection, the donation included an enormous number of historically significant items, which are now on display throughout STEAM.
Elaine Arthurs, STEAM Collections and Exhibitions Officer said: “Mr Harry, who died in August 2005, was a serious Great Western collector over many years and clearly had an eye for the best quality material. He started off his early career at Swindon Works before moving to the banking world and his passion was evident as the items arrived in pristine condition.”
The donation included: 72 Great Western cabside number plates, 15 locomotive tender plates, over 150 cast iron signs and a variety of GWR objects, including silverware, signalling equipment, fixtures and fittings; approximately 40,000 photographs and some rare archive material.
Two flagship locomotives made a timely return to Swindon in November 2015; No. 6000 King George V and No. 3717 City of Truro. Their arrival signified the beginning of Swindon175 - a yearlong programme of events to commemorate the anniversary of Swindon’s historic railway works. Both engines remain on display at STEAM, on temporary loan from the National Railway Museum.
In 1867, the first steam-powered hooter to call employees to work was installed. Three decades after Swindon Works closed, local steam engineer Colin Hatch of Wanborough built and installed a replica of the famous Swindon Works hooter on the roof of the STEAM building as part of the Swindon175 celebrations. Today, Colin blasts the iconic sound of Swindon at special events throughout the year.
In August 2018, a momentous occasion in Swindon’s history saw GWR locomotive No. 2818 returned to the site where it was built in 1905. Designed by GWR chief mechanical engineer George Jackson Churchward, the 2800 class of heavy freight locomotives was hugely successful for the Great Western Railway. No. 2818 worked as a heavy goods carrier and was used during the First World War to transport coal for the Royal Navy.
No. 2818 is the first complete locomotive to be owned by STEAM. The engine is displayed on STEAM’s recreated 1930s station platform.
Throughout June and July, STEAM will be sharing more of their incredible achievements and highlights on social media. Visitors are also encouraged to share their photos and memories of STEAM.
visitswindon.org.uk
HALL & WOODHOUSE WINS CAMRA AWARD AS MOST ATTRACTIVE NEW BUILD PUB IN BRITAIN
The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) has announced the winners of its prestigious Pub Design Awards, which reward best new builds, conversions, conservations and refurbishments. And the fab news for Swindon is that the best new build award went to our very own Hall & Woodhouse in Wichelstowe.
Built as part of the ‘Canalside’ development phase, Hall & Woodhouse occupies a prominent canal-side location and is thought to be an important asset for the emerging community. The form of the building reflects the architectural heritage of industrial Swindon, adding open trussed roofs to mimic that of the train sheds and warehouses that used to fill the town. Inside, visitors are treated to a juxtaposition of industrial structure and soft furnishings, with walls adorned with boatbuilding, family and brewing heritage images.
Andrew Davison, chair of CAMRA’s Pub Design Award judging panel, said: “The New Build award is only awarded rarely, so it is a testament to the quality of Hall & Woodhouse Wichelstowe that it has won!”
“Mackenzie Wheeler Architects, the designers of the building, have drawn inspiration from the location, with a range of gabled roofs at the water's edge evoking the canal-side sheds which housed many a traditional boat-building and repairing business, and a taller accommodation block referencing historic canal-side warehouses. The commitment Hall & Woodhouse make to individual, location-specific design is praiseworthy.”
Hall & Woodhouse is a multipurpose venue from the niche Dorset brewers of the same name. Before the Covid-19 lockdown, it had quickly become one of Swindon’s go-to all-day venues, whether you’re a young mum having a morning coffee with friends, a start-up entrepreneur on a business lunch, a family on a celebration dinner, or a group of friends enjoying a few drinks on the long outside terrace overlooking the Wilts & Berks canal.
The canal-themed interior and attention to detail includes an actual narrowboat, the Lady Rose, which protrudes from the front entrance. But the boat is not just there for its visual impact - it houses several individual booths, all with their own serve-yourself beer pumps.
The varied menus include pantry, afternoon and Sunday roast options through to the main dinner menu which is packed full of delicious dishes, handcrafted with real care by experienced chefs, burrowing away in the open-plan kitchen. The drinks menu is equally extensive and includes the Badger range of beers which are only sold in Hall & Woodhouse pubs, a guarantee of the very best quality cask and bottled ales, brewed right in the heart of the Dorset countryside.
As for canal boats, Hall & Woodhouse is literally a stone’s throw from the mooring of The Dragonfly, a traditional narrowboat which is available for trips and charters along a stretch of Swindon’s restored canal. When it comes to the wider surroundings, Wichelstowe is full of green spaces for a brisk walk or areas where children can run around to their heart’s delight.
A great location with a stunning best-in-Britain pub/bar/restaurant at the heart of it; what could be better? We can’t wait for the lockdown to be over and the chance to enjoy this great venue again.
wichelstowe.co.uk
SWINDON-BASED ARTIST FLIES HIGH ACROSS A DIZZYING RANGE OF GENRES
DAVID BENT IS CELEBRATED FOR HIS ‘AVIATION ART', BUT HE ALSO EMBRACES SOCIAL ISSUES, LANDSCAPES AND PORTRAITURE.
The Royal Aeronautical Society’s mission statement includes the line “to further the advancement of aeronautical art, science and engineering”. Advances in science and engineering are relatively easy to categorise and quantify, but how exactly does art advance the cause of flight?
If we take the definition to mean the inspirational qualities of art itself, then one clear example of advancing the art of aeronautics is Swindon-based artist David Bent, whose long association with the world of aviation has earned him Honorary Companionship of the Royal Aeronautical Society. Of his most renowned collaboration, Andrew Morton, PR Manager of The Red Arrows, explains: “David Bent was first invited to collaborate as Artist in Residence with the Red Arrows in interesting and clever ways. Iconic shapes of classic aircraft are reused and repurposed to create patterns, or even produce landscapes themselves. Bent mainly works in acrylics on canvas for his paintings but also produces photo-collages, and at one point in his career even painted street murals.”
He may be well known for aviationthemed art, but Bent’s art is not easy to pigeonhole. Marc Allum, Fine Art Consultant and BBC Antiques Roadshow Specialist, says: “David’s art delivers a precise and energetic style that is a wonderfully eclectic mixture of the technically and mechanically accurate, fused with a Boy's Own bravado that hides a multitude of meaning in the carefully orchestrated symbolism and composition of his subjects. His natural skill and wit seems carefully subjects too – such as Chernobyl, facial recognition and climate change. In his ‘Yellow Cake U308’ a B-29 bomber flies away from the horror of a nuclear mushroom cloud, reimagined as a cake. Meanwhile, in his NINE ELEVEN, falling figures from the doomed Twin Towers provide a backdrop against head-on shapes of airliners.
In 2018 the artist dedicated a new series of artworks to mark 100 years of the RAF. These were exhibited at the National Memorial Arboretum and included poppies created by combining the RAF’s Sopwith Camel and Lockheed Martin F-35. Significant exhibitions have also been held in a number of public art galleries and museums, including the Russell Cotes, the RAF Museum, London and our very own Swindon Museum and Art Gallery.
2006. This remains a positive and enduring relationship and David’s work is exhibited on the walls of the team's Lincolnshire home base of RAF Scampton, including in the crew briefing room.”
“His art reflects the precision and engineering excellence of the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team. In addition, he captures the imagination of those who see and are inspired by his pieces - just as The Red Arrows do with every performance and display."
Tim Robinson, editor of the Royal Aeronautical Society magazine ‘Aerospace’ is another admirer: “Bent’s original paintings include striking geometric shapes, bold colours and the fusing of aspects of the human and machine in lots of and thoughtfully cloaked in paintings imbued with a real significance at their heart. I love his juxtaposition of traditional methodology fused with a totally modern dynamism."
“As an artist I prefer not to see limitations or boundaries,” says the artist himself, “the more freedom the better. I am currently working on paintings based on life close to home; more autobiographical. During the lockdown I painted a self portrait and then my wife Carole’s portrait at home with our cats and our garden. And I have now almost finished a painting of the lane where we live in Old Town which is a natural wildlife corridor.”
Outside of purely aviation subjects, Bent’s other paintings also incorporate social themes and controversial
“Great art has the potential to inspire great engineering and great engineering also has the potential to inspire great art,” says Tim Robinson. “Bent could be said to be advancing the ‘art’ of aerospace, in exploring the boundaries of flight in new and exciting ways and in bringing aviation to fresh audiences and new eyes. More crucially, with aviation currently experiencing its darkest hour, with cancelled air shows, grounded airliners and almost the whole world longing to fly again, David Bent’s art is perhaps more needed than ever – to remind us, whether old or new, of that sense of wonder of flight – and that it will return.
davidbentstudio.com
