Working day: Andy Teage

May 14 2008 by Tony McDonough, Liverpool Daily Post

Andy Teage is an urbanisim associate at the Liverpool office of inter-disciplinary architecture and design practice, BDP _220

ANDY TEAGE is an urbanism associate at the Liverpool office of inter-disciplinary architecture and design practice, BDP.

Based in Ropewalks, an area which BDP masterplanned, Andy is 31 and has been with the company for six years.

6.45am: My day begins with my alarm clock doing its job and I get myself together for the day and take the train from Crosby into Liverpool Central.

7.40am: I use the time on the train to catch up on bits of reading and to organise my thoughts on the day ahead.

8am: I arrive at the office after ritually collecting the Daily Post and strolling across the Ropewalks. It’s such a diverse and architecturally interesting district, so it’s always a time to see the city waking up. For the first half hour I spend a bit of time discussing the wider trends and issues facing designers with some of our senior design staff. There’s a wealth of experience here and some really interesting people.

8.30am: I’m sat behind my desk to get emails out of the way and also to make a note of anything that I need to action later on or anything that has inspired up to now.

9.30am: I’d typically have an appointment with a developer to discuss ongoing projects. This could be tweaking designs or ironing out engineering issues.

11am: I use the rest of the morning to catch up on any procedural admin that I need to.

12.30pm: Lunch usually consists of grabbing a sandwich and heading back to the office. Occasionally I’ll try and have a look at some of the developments going on around the city. We’re very close to many of them and it’s exciting to see buildings that you have been looking at on paper for the past few years beginning to take shape.

1pm: After lunch, there would be a meeting with clients to develop a strategic plan of activity ahead of stakeholder consultation. It could be with a local authority like Knowsley Council on a major residential development like one we’re involved with in Huyton or with a private developer.

When it comes to major changes to the built environment, lots of people want to be heard and we have to provide the environment to capture people’s thoughts while being mindful of the pressures facing our clients. It’s a tricky but vitally important balance to strike.

4pm: I’d be picking up any issues with directors that required their input and setting up my team’s work for the coming days. We’d have a senior management team meeting to round the day off to pick up on any new opportunities and any general management issues.

6pm: I try to leave the office by around this time so as I can get home to see my two-year-old son for an hour before putting him to bed. I’d then start on my other major project – decorating my house.