Last night the London Borough of Hillingdon’s planning committee unanimously passed a resolution to grant planning consent for phase two of  our regeneration at The Old Vinyl Factory. The Gatefold Building will provide 132 new apartments, a community cafe and business incubator units. It’s a big step on the road to the complete redevelopment of a site that will bring major investment and wider benefits to Hayes. 

Meet Ken Gilbert aka Ken the Clock. Ken used to the maintain the clock on-site at The Old Vinyl Factory when it was the EMI and HMV’s headquarters and 22,000 people worked in the surrounding factories. Yesterday we invited some former EMI employees along to our PICTURE THIS exhibition in The Shipping Building to reminisce about the good old days. Ken particularly liked seeing the new bikes we have provided for the current employees on-site as when he worked at EMI everyone used to cycle to work. Meet more of the former EMI employees here…

Here Keith Tushingham, 73, is showing some photos he brought along to the event. Keith used to work alongside Ken the Clock.

Robin Robinson started working at EMI in 1949 after spending time in the RAF as a radio mechanic. His favourite memories of his time at EMI include going to the Highgate home of famous violinist Yehudi Menuhin to service his radiogram, as well as seeing Prince Hassan of Jordan when he visited the factories. Robin enjoyed his job at EMI because he didn’t have to sit at a desk all day and describes the EMI factories as a ‘hub which Hayes spread around’. The gold watch was given to him as a long service award in 1974.

Carl Nielson started working at EMI in 1936 as a tool making apprentice. He remained at EMI throughout the war, a time when he says there was an excellent community spirit in the factories. Carl says there were so many people working there at the time that when their shifts ended, Blyth Road was as full of people as the road around Wembley Stadium after a football match. He said he was amazed that the old steam trains managed to get everyone home…

Pat Shepard is 65 and has lived in Hayes all her life. She started work at EMI on her 20th birthday in 1966 and remained at the factory until 1979. Her dad, grandparents and two her of uncles have also worked at EMI. One of Pat’s favourite memories was of receiving a kiss from Sir Elton John after a charity football match where the factory’s female staff played their male colleagues. She’s also met Richard Branson and Frankie Vaughan.

What a lovely day hearing all the great stories from the people who used to work on-site at The Old VInyl Factory. 

Clapham One has been shortlisted for yet another award. We are up for Housing Project of the Year at the 2012 Building Awards. We’ll find out in April if we’ve won. Watch the video to see the reasons why we keep winning awards…

Our Bromley South Central model for our proposed scheme designed by Guy Holloway Architects and Studio Egret West . We’ve got our committee date set for March and we’re keeping our fingers crossed.

Each new apartment at The Library Building in Clapham comes with a free branded hybrid bike. And unparalleled views across the City of London. Here’s both in one picture.

Prepare to be amazed. Watch what happened when we gave world class free-running athlete Adam Brashaw access to The Library Building in Clapham for one-night-only .

A little experiment with Photosynth on the iPhone today. Here’s our office! Click to make it bigger and better.

…you’ll see that The New Clapham has taken over Clapham North, Common and South stations. We’re gearing up for our final phase launch in February, only 36 apartments left. Find out more here.

More Cathedral coverage today. We’ve got a spread in the February edition of On Office magazine talking about our future plans for The Old Vinyl Factory in Hayes, showcasing some beautiful photographs taken by Richard Learoyd of the site. See the full story here.