It's always good to reminisce the good old days - and what better way to do that than flicking through forgotten night out pictures.

This week, our gallery is purely of people living their best lives in Two Trees, which was knocked down just over a year ago.

Demolition crews ripped apart the 61-year-old building to make way for the boulevard development.

The five-week operation saw all but the brick wall on the western side removed.

Whilst the pub is no longer, the memories remain.

Scroll through our gallery, compiled of Smiles on the Tiles photographs in the gallery below.

Towards the end of October 2018, a 20-tonne demolition spec excavator machine was used to rip the 1957 building apart and a hydraulic muncher attachment will chew up the concrete.

On November 7, 2018, work began to demolish the ugly and unused bridge of sighs footbridge across Union Street , with the former midnight strip clubland being closed for a whole night.

Huge cranes helped dismantle the footbridge, which weighed an estimated 60 tonnes and Union Street was closed.

A new public square will be created in Union Street near to where two deep wells are about to be drilled as the long-awaited 2.9million Millbay Boulevard takes shape.

Engineers are to begin digging the 100m-deep wells to help heat and cool future homes and businesses around Bath Street.

It is all part of Plymouth City Councils push for alternative sources of renewable heat and to install infrastructure to help builders, developers and homeowners do their bit for the environment.

Meanwhile, work is also due to start on a new public square at the Union Street end of Bath Street, to make it a more welcoming entrance to Millbay Boulevard.

Moreover, an innovative subterranean drainage system will be installed with tanks capable of holding 240 tonnes of water being placed underground in case there is flooding, particularly if torrential rainfall coincides with high tides.

Above these tanks, will be rain gardens sunken beds planted with coastal grasses and flowering plants arranged beneath an avenue of trees which will be irrigated from the rain and flood water.

It is all part of the ongoing work to create a link from the city centre to the waterfront, a long-held aspiration with the council having been busy acquiring properties to enable its delivery.

It has also been demolishing buildings , including the former gig venue the Hub, torn down in 2019, and the Two Trees pub, which was turned to rubble in 2018. The former HQ of building firm Kier bit the dust in 2017.

When completed the boulevard will be lined with up to 300 homes, and a hotel, shops and offices as a thoroughfare designed to be in keeping with its waterfront location and to become an attractive and safe walking and cycling route linking the waterfront and the city centre.

It is all part of the wider regeneration of Millbay which has, since 2006, seen new apartment blocks spring up to overlook the docks, and new shops and restaurants and the building of Plymouth School of Creative Arts.

The boulevard scheme costs 2.9million and is being part funded by The European Regional Development Fund, Interreg 2 Seas and the Water Resilient Cities Programme, plus the HeatNet NWE Programme.

Other organisations involved include Plymouth Waterfront Partnership and Plymouth Pavilions.

The system is being developed with the Environment Agency and South West Water as part of the Water Resilient Cities Interreg Programme.

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Remembering The Two Trees - your pictures a year on from demolition - Plymouth Live

London saw the number of new office building starts in the last six months fall by nearly half, with just four schemes getting underway in the Square Mile compared with the 11 that kicked off earlier this year.

According to the latest London Office Crane Survey, published twice-yearly by consultant Deloitte, the capitals financial hub witnessed work start on just 200,000ft of development in the past six months, versus the 1.2 million ft recorded by the previous survey.

Overall, London witnessed a 49% slump in new office construction starts, with work starting on 24 schemes 1.8 million ft compared to 37 schemes, or 3.5 million ft, in the previous six months.

But while Deloitte reported the volume of total new starts was nearly 15% down on the long-term average of 2.1 million ft, it said the latest numbers revealeda rebalancing of office development following a three-year high of new construction starts, rather than a worrying decline.

Beyond the City, Deloitte said the West End had seen 11 new starts in the last six months, including seven refurbishments, with 35 new offices set to add 2.2 million ft of space to the market.

Londons Midtown more commonly known as the Holborn and south Bloomsbury districts and the South Bank had seen an increase in construction activity, with the latest survey highlighting four and three new offices breaking ground in the areas respectively.

The South Bank has seen the start of the Bankside Yards 220,000ft office development, the first phase of a massive 1.4 million ft mixed-use scheme being developed between Tate Modern and Blackfriars Bridge by Native Land.

Multiplex and Balfour Beatty are in the running for that job, which includes an 18-storey office block, called Arbor, as well as two residential buildings comprising 257 homes, all designed by PLP.

The technology, media and telecoms sectors enthusiasm for new high-spec space saw its share of pre-let accommodation under construction shoot up from 35% in the first three months of 2019 to 43% in the third quarter, while the proportion of pre-completion lettings for the financial services sector dipped from 29% to 16%.

Mike Cracknell, Deloittes real estate director, said the crane survey suggested developers were taking time out.

But he added: Looking ahead, central London still has three million ft of proposed office space in demolition, which indicates the next survey could see an uptick in new starts, albeit modest.

Cracknell said delays in the completion of some large schemes, notably the 22 Bishopsgate tower, the Citys tallest and due to complete next spring, meant the total completion volume for 2019 was set to fall short of the 2018 figure by 23%.

See more here:

London office construction starts slump by half - Building

The popularity of cedar roofs continues, despite the lesser quality in the product. The need for periodic roof treatments and costly replacements occur in as little as eight to fifteen years. This, in combination with the fact that the cedar used for these roofs is 200 to 600 years old and not being replanted, suggests to me that the time of cedar roofs may have passed, especially in light of the many alternative superior products. See The Ongoing Cedar Shake Roofing Dispute.

The cedar siding used in today's spec. homes is often only half an inch thick and produced of flat grained and tight knot material. Such siding, in order to last, will have to be re-nailed, caulked, and re-stained or painted within two to five years after the construction of the house. My current favorite siding products are the concrete composite systems such as Hardi Board.

The soil around the perimeter of the house and the subsequent landscaping with the associated bark soil covering, often results in soil-wood contact. When siding or framing of the house is in constant contact with the soil, it will likely result in wood damage from mold, bacteria, or insects. Use pressure treated lumber on all decks, and other locations where lumber will continually be wet, and unable to regularly dry out.

While most of the fixtures and surfaces in the bathrooms of today's spec. homes are of good quality, some attention to construction practices and subsequent maintenance is important in this area of the house. In bathrooms where tile is used for the tub or shower walls, most spec. builders use a "waterproof drywall" as a substrate for the tile. While this product is an improvement over regular plaster or drywall, it is not an ideal substrate for tile in a wet situation. Regular inspection of the grout lines for cracks and deterioration should be performed, and careful use of silicone caulk is recommended for repair of cracked grout lines. In those bathrooms where fiberglass tubs, fiberglass tub walls, and plastic laminate is used, it is important to avoid the use of any types of abrasive cleaners.

Interior wall surfaces may require some early cosmetic upgrading. It is not unusual to find a few hairline cracks, especially at doorways and above window corners, and some plasterboard nail pops or corner bead cracking. While such defects are usually not a sign of structural problems, they are deceptively hard to correct. Once the damaged area has been re-nailed, taped and re-spackelled, very skillful re-texturing will have to be performed in order to avoid "bald" or "over textured" spots. It is also not unusual for hairline cracks to reappear over time, since the basic cause of these cracks is due to some continuous movement in the framing of the house. An alternative method of repairing such cracks is the careful use of latex caulk prior to the painting. The elasticity of this material may provide a longer lasting solution.

Many spec. homes are heated with medium efficiency gas furnaces. Given today's fuel costs, this is a very reasonable way to heat Pacific Northwest homes. While most of these furnaces are reliable and give the appearance of operating well without any service for a long period of time, they are complex mechanical devices and should be serviced every one to three years. The high efficiency gas furnaces, those with a rating above 90% in efficiency, are even more complex systems and require service every year. See the topic page on Heating Your Home.

While most of the kitchen appliances are of good quality, there is a tendency by some spec. builders to save a few dollars and install a recirculating, ventless hood over the stove. Such hoods are of no value in exhausting any excess moisture from the kitchen. They also provide very low quality air filtration from the kitchen. Their only benefit seems to be that they can usually contain a light bulb, which helps to illuminate the stove top.

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Spec Homes | Sound Home Resource Center

When it comes to building new homes, we generally split our services into three categories:

Each has their advantages and disadvantages, and deciding the best route to take depends entirely on your needs, budget, time, and desire to control the details. To get started, lets take a look at what makes a new home truly custom.

A custom home project is one where you work directly with a homebuilder (and possibly your own architect) to design, plan, and select every single detail about the homes construction, layout, and finish. And when we say everything, we mean EVERY-THING. Youre responsible for selecting everything from the number of bedrooms to the color of the doorknobs.

As such, custom homes are perfect for people who enjoy a detail-oriented process and generally are not willing compromise on their vision.

At a high level, heres an example of the types of decisions you can expect to be responsible for if you choose to build a custom home:

Generally, we try to make the home selection process simple by creating what we call allowances, which means we set aside a specific amount of money for a certain item such as flooring. For instance, you might have a flooring allowance of $2,000 for high-end LVT flooring. As long as you dont exceed that allowance when picking your floors, you stay on budget and the overall cost of your home doesnt fluctuate.

Sometimes, a homebuilder might lower their estimates by basing allowances on the price of less expensive, builder-grade selections. Later, if you decide you dont like your choice of flooring, lighting, and plumbing selections, youll be upcharged to get what youactually want. This could inflate your initial estimate by $10,000 or more!

We dont do that.

When we figure allowances, we have our customers actually look at samples in order to make an informed decision before we price the home. This way there are no surprises, and you leave knowing exactly how much your dream home is really going to cost.

Like all things middle-of-the-road, semi-custom homes often offer homebuyers the best of both worlds, perfectly situating them between the ease of purchasing a move-in-ready home and the complexity of designing one from scratch.

Usually, semi-custom home construction happens like this: A homebuilder has a library of designs theyre familiar with and can economically source materials for. From this list, you select a plan that meets your expectations and fits your familys needs. Then, you work with your homebuilder to customize the homes selections, materials, and finishes.

If you have a clear vision for your new home but arent interested in spending the time and money needed to fully customize it, a semi-custom home might be perfect for you.

We eliminate a lot of tedious choices in order to make the customers decision-making easier. For example, on a semi-custom home, we might show a homebuyer six preselected door styles that are most popular with other homebuyers. This cuts down on a lot of the noise that can come about during the custom home process. Whereas, on a custom build, we might go through a 300-page catalog with the homebuyer to select a door.

Phil Reinbrecht on Semi-Custom Homes

If you want a tailored home, fast we can price an entire semi-custom home in as little as an hour. On the other hand, a custom home usually requires several meetings, a trip to a designer or architect, and a few weeks to get the plans finished (plus an additional two weeks to calculate final sale price).

When resources are available, its common practice for homebuilders to build move-in-ready homes on new lots. These homes, which are known in the homebuilding industry as speculative (or spec for short) are built with the average homebuyer in mind.

Spec home designs are accommodating and outfitted with selections that appeal to just about everyone, which is the whole point. If you know you want a new home, but arent interested in the process of customizing one from scratch, then you should look into buying a spec home.

Plus, since spec homes are designed to sell, they make excellent investments in case you need to move in the future.

When deciding the new home route thats best for you, its important to keep an open mind. Explore all your options and choose a project-style that checks all your boxes without breaking your budget.

Lets recap your options:

Building a Custom Home: The homebuyer has near total control of the homes layout, look, and feel. Custom homes tend to take longer to build and are generally more expensive than pre-built homes, but the end result is a true expression of the homeowners style and priorities.Building a Semi-Custom Home: The homebuyer selects an existing plan in their homebuilders wheelhouse and customizes the look and feel of the interior and exterior.Buying a Spec Home: A move-in ready home built by the homebuilder to meet the needs of the average person. Spec homes are cost-effective ways to get a new home at a good price.

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Custom vs. Semi-Custom vs. Spec Homes