B&Q, Newport Isle of Wight 2001-2
Tesco, Tiverton 2002
Borders, Milton Keynes 2003-5
B&Q, Newport, Wales 2007-8
Philip Kassanis as associate director at Mountford Pigott
2001-8
Mountford Pigott has a very strong portfolio of retail work, in which I fully participated during my time there.
The B&Q in Newport, Isle of Wight was built on land released by the 6th form college. It was a complex operation dovetailing in with a series of upgrading and new build work, by the college from the proceeds of the land release. We were worked directly for B&Q to do not only the store but various other parts of the college’s works including a large car park for them. I took the project from detailed design to completion.
I saw Tesco, Tiverton through the scheme design stage to planning. This involved several design challenges: access to the river and flooding issues, access and levels, articulating a series of smaller units to form a link between store and the town centre.
I saw Borders, Milton Keynes through from inception to completion. Phenomenally challenging task of converting a car show room into retail units. Many options were tried, most based around three units and a drive-thru. In the end a re-configured space formed the an ideal home for Borders’ operation.
B&Q, Newport, Wales was straightforward in comparison to these others. The main challenge of taking this through from detailed design to completion was juggling the design to cope with low overhead electricity cables.
