14 Aug Archipreneurial Sunday

In attending a variety of Networking groups and the associated variety of people it is clear that the days of architects sitting behind a brass plaque and watch the work come flooding in are gone. Unfortunately there is no local alternative for professional businesses in the construction sector which seems firmly entrenched in the twentieth century.

However, in the 1990s I was involved in what, looking back, was quite revolutionary business model. Over the years it has transmongified a number of times but is still thriving, under a different name. The local development I was working on was the Overstone Park Golf Course, associated lodges and clubhouse, as well as less local variants in Cambridgeshire and the Cotswold Water Park.

Later I was involved in a number of farm diversification schemes that found a way of reusing redundant agricultural buildings, and land, in a way that the farmers did not have to sell their capital assets.

That has given me an idea. It would be possible to combine the two, to add value to buildings, owners and design team. Are there any brave souls out there interested in putting together and funding proposals to see if any would ‘have legs’? Northamptonshire (and environs) as a location appears to meet most, if not all, of the necessary criteria.