Electric Avenue
Former commercial sales manager and architectural advisor Neil Doe has founded Avenue Five, a consultancy designed for building envelope specialists.
Avenue Five's range of free services offered to main contractors and architects include design workshops, pre-construction value engineering and procurement advice. Its client base of suppliers and subcontractors then benefit from that early involvement.
“Offering pre-construction advice free-of-charge ensures every Avenue Five client is at the forefront of industry intelligence,” said managing director, Neil Doe. “Specification has changed as has a main contractor's approach to winning work. Architects have increasingly complex envelope packages to co-ordinate; Avenue Five simply enables them to gain an insight into multiple solutions from numerous suppliers in one visit.
“For main contractors, we help them with the all important value engineering, pre-construction to actually help them secure work. The fact we are involved with actually generating envelope specifications with architects can also give them an added edge when negotiating or bidding for schemes.”
Avenue Five also offers traditional facade consultancy along with ISO9001 and ISO14001 accreditation for subcontractors.
A number of key suppliers including facade specialists Dane Architectural Systems and Louvre and solar control experts Par Louvres have already agreed to use Avenue Five to promote their business activities. Some of London’s leading architectural practices are already planning to hold design workshops.
“The general response from the industry has been fantastic. At a time when costs are under constant scrutiny, it makes more sense than ever to use an external source to promote products and services instead of a highly paid and often speculative employee,” Neil concluded.
