Restoring and beautifying London's most prestigious homes with love for almost 100 years.




Monday 17 December 2012

Christmas Spirit

On Friday we had some fun transforming our London office into a party venue for our guys to get together and celebrate the coming festive season. 

It took almost a whole day to decorate the place but the end result was worth it!

We shared a few drinks, good food, and lots of laughs.

Thank you to all our guys for their hard work this year, and for being such a huge part of the Bastows story. 

We go into 2013 with more to celebrate as we mark our 50th year of Making London Beautiful.
 
Thank you to all our Family who joined us to see Christmas in in style, and who will be  a part of a fantastic year in 2013.
              Merry Christmas!


Friday 7 December 2012

The Spirit of Giving

Happy Christmas

The Bastows Family Gift to Crisis

 
As we approach Christmas at warp speed, we’ve been reflecting on the amazing year we’ve shared.

The main thing that stood out for all of us was of course the London Olympic and Paralympic Games and the passion, spirit and determination shown by the athletes, Gamesmakers and the millions of supporters here and around the World. This summer, we came together to celebrate the best of humanity and the spirit of sharing.

We want to keep this feeling going. After receiving overwhelming support from our clients for the idea, instead of sending Christmas cards and gifts, we’re going to give a gift to CrisisThey work tirelessly to help homeless people all over London by offering them food, warmth and safety so that they are not left alone and vulnerable at Christmas.

We will fund fifty places at Crisis centres around London. Thanks to us all, fifty people will have a brighter, safer Christmas than they'd expected. We make this donation in the name of all of our Family, and thank you for the support you have given this initiative.

We wish you and your loved ones a safe and memorable Christmas and we will see you all in 2013.

With very warmest wishes and thanks for your friendship in this incredible year,

The Bastows Family

Monday 26 November 2012

Sharing success: the Family Business Place Red Ribbon Awards 2012

We are delighted to share the news that we picked up the Family Business Place Red Ribbon Award for Corporate Environmental Responsibility on Friday evening. 

The award was sponsored by the premier energy consultancy Inenco Direct, and was presented by their MD Karen Trepte, who has been the driving force behind their success. (She is also a shockingly good secret keeper, not giving anything away until the winner was announced!)

We saw off competition from some amazing companies such as Ecosan and Yeo Valley, showing that it's not the size of your business that counts, it's the commitment you make. We were proud to be shortlisted in the company of such prestigious businesses, and were overwhelmed to win!

In the past seven years, we have introduced a number of environmental initiatives. These have ranged from tree planting to the promotion of cycling via harvesting rainwater to care for residents' plants and mix mortar. We've been recognised by the Considerate Cnstructors' Scheme in the past for our efforts, but this latest award marks our commitment to green initiatives, our adopted charities and care for the world in which we work.

The award now sits proudly alongside our others in our meeting room here in Leatherhead, but it's been earned by every member of our Family, whether in Kensington, Belgravia, St John's Wood, Maida Vale, or any of the other projects we have proudly completed in recent years.

Here's our citation from Family Business Place for the award. These are words that make us proud to Make London Beautiful!

"For their huge commitment to working sustainably and with a living breathing sense of social responsibility. For their comprehensive environmental responsibility programme that runs throughout the business, and their enthusiastic support for local charities in which they lead by example: the 2012 Red Ribbon Award for Corporate Environmental Responsibility goes to Bastows."


Our thanks to every one of our Family who work every day with our ultimate goal in mind: Making London Beautiful.

Wednesday 31 October 2012

Happy Hallloween!

A little happiness and creepy fun from our Site Managers Alen, Elvis, Chupo, Steve and Almir!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Thursday 27 September 2012

The Red Ribbon Awards 2012

We are delighted to share the news that we have been shortlisted for not one but two prestigious Family Business Place Red Ribbon Awards for 2012. 

The awards will be presented at the culmination of what promsies to be a fantastic day of hearing speakers from large and small family businesses from all over the UK share their stories.

We had a great time at last year's event and were delighted to meet many business people who we've stayed in touch with all year. We are really looking forward to meeting more great people and seeing some familiar faces too.

The Red Ribbon Awards

The awards recognise those that work to promote family businesses across all areas and UK locations.

Bastows are honoured to be nominated in the categories for Innovation and Corporate Environmental Responsibility.

We are looking forward to a great day hearing from other family businesses and have our fingers crossed that we'll be celebrating on the day.

Good luck to all who have been shortlisted- we can't wait to meet you all on 23rd November!

If you run, own or work in a family business you can book tickets for the day and awards here.

Tuesday 25 September 2012

Team Bastows at the 2012 London Night Hike

The good news: we survived. The even better news: we all made it to the 20 mile mark, successfully completing the Maggie's Centres London Night Hike and raising over £5200 for Maggie's!


Eleven of us took part and had a fantastic time walking through London at night, visiting some amazing buildings and generally keeping one another motivated and smiling.

The most amazing stories were shared as we chatted to people along the route and to people we met at Maggie's Centre at the ten mile halfway point.

We were moved and inspired by our fellow night hikers and proud to havesupported such a great charity.

Our own Sandra 'Girl of Steel' Mujagic was celebrating 20 years of living in London by walking 20 miles through it- what a way to thank the city that's been such a happy home for her and her family!

We had achy knees and moments of doubt but we also had nerves of steel, stiff sinews and a sense of purpose- an unbeatable combination!


We caught amazing views like this one from the very top of City Hall (and walked nine flights of stairs too!) and took in every moment to create fantastic memories.

It was tough at times, but we kept going, remembering that we made a promise to Maggie's and our sponsors and had something to prove to ourselves too.

We signed a board with motivational messages for fellow night hikers at the Royal Insitute of British Architects and added our memories of loved ones to a candlelit heart created in front of Horseguards Parade.

We were motivated by cheers from volunteers on the route and the kindness of fellow hikers who looked out for each other as we trekked onwards. We achieved as a team and on a personal level, and made a difference to Maggie's and the people they support.

Mostly, we laughed a LOT.

In fact, we are already sounding one another out about doing it all again next year...

So I suppose we'd like to ask..


... Why don't you join us? 





The Roll of Honour (L-R):
Almir 'Magic Man' Mujagic
Sandra 'Girl of Steel' Mujagic
Mihaela 'Queen of the Night' Caniparu
'Amazin' Andy Mildner
Ieva 'The Pavement Annihilator' Mildner
Elvis 'The Hiking King' Caniparu
'Get Down' Dave Brown
Niki 'I HAVE to tweet this!' Rosenbaum
Steve 'SuperMotivator' McGrane
'Fearless' Frank Bastow 
Nimesh 'Nighthawk' Bharadia

Friday 14 September 2012

Julian Maslinski



We are sad to have learned today that Julian Maslinski, Chairman of the Westminster Tree Trust, recently passed away after a lengthy illness, which he faced with spirit and courage.

We have been delighted to support the Trust and Julian with planting trees in SW1 and especially at Churchill Gardens Primary School, an initiative driven by Julian who was keen to see the less affluent areas of London and schools in particular benefit from the planting of trees.

The Trust are aiming to establish a memorial programme for Julian and we have spoken to their new Chairman Peter Ruback today to find out how we might help. You can also support them here.

We will be proud to take part in the Night Hike next Friday with Julian's spirit and resilience in mind. 

We remember Julian with great fondness and look forward to continuing our support for the Trust's work in his memory. We will miss his optimism, charm, humour and dedication to Making London Beautiful.

Friday 31 August 2012

Bastows don't just make London beautiful...

We are delighted to share the news that we are supporting the Good Gifts initiative that helps to deliver support and resources where they are desperately needed around the globe.

We work hard to make London beautiful, and have decided to extend that a little to other areas that need a little help from their global friends.

As a start, we have chosen to help clear 50m of minefields and protect 3 acres of rainforest to help us offset our carbon emissions and the waste produced on site. This initiative is in partnership with our existing environmental commitment and the water and energy saving measures we adopt on every project.

You can give your own Good Gift here, starting from as little as £15, with immeasurable benefits to those in need.

Best foot forward! Team Bastows supporting Maggie's Centres

Bastows have a fine tradition of supporting various charities through others doing great things- and so now we have decided to get active and be the fundraisers! We have chosen Maggie's Centres as our charity and are looking forward to completing their legendary London Night Hike on Friday 21st September.

Eleven of us are hiking: CEO Frank, Site Managers Elvis and Almir and their wives Mihaela and Sandra, Sales Director Dave, Cultural Director Niki and her partner Steve, Financial Controller Andy and his wife Ieva, Contracts Director Nimesh. We are aiming to raise £3135.00 for Maggie's and are at an amazing 73% of our total, with three weeks to go.

Why Maggie's?

Maggie’s Centres are for anyone affected by cancer. They are places where people are welcome at any stage in their journey – from just being diagnosed, or undergoing treatment, to post-treatment, recurrence, end of life or in bereavement. 



Maggie's is about empowering people to live with, through and beyond cancer by bringing together professional help, communities of support and building design to create exceptional centres for cancer care.

They welcome family and friends, too, knowing that those who love and look after someone with cancer can feel just as frightened, vulnerable and uncertain- and all their support is free of charge.



How you can help

You can support our efforts and Maggie's work over at our JustGiving page. Thank you so much for any amount you can give, and for your kindness to us and the people Maggie's work so hard to help.

Thursday 16 August 2012

Hi-de-Hikers!

Bastows have a fine tradition of supporting various charities through others doing great things- and so now we have decided to get active and be the fundraisers! We have chosen Maggie's Centres as our charity and are looking forward to completing their legendary 20 mile London Night Hike on Friday 21st September.

Our eleven intrepid hikers are our CEO Frank, Contracts Director Nimesh and his wife Marisa, Financial Director Andy and his wife Ieva, Site Managers Elvis and Almir and their wives Mihaela and Sandra and Cultural Director Niki and her partner Steve. We start at 7.30pm from Leadenhall Market, and walk 10 miles to Maggie's West London centre before heading back to Leadenhall to complete our 20 mile route.

Why Maggie's?

Maggie’s Centres are for anyone affected by cancer. They are places where people are welcome at any stage in their journey – from just being diagnosed, or undergoing treatment, to post-treatment, recurrence, end of life or in bereavement. 

Maggie's is about empowering people to live with, through and beyond cancer by bringing together professional help, communities of support and building design to create exceptional centres for cancer care.

They welcome family and friends, too, knowing that those who love and look after someone with cancer can feel just as frightened, vulnerable and uncertain- and all their support is free of charge.

Care for those going through a cancer diagnosis and treatment as well as looking out for their families is an issue close to our hearts, and we are proud to be able to support Maggie's and get fit too!

You can support us via our Just Giving page, and if you're a UK taxpayer you'll know that Maggie's will receive the benefit of Gift Aid, making your donation worth even more.

We are excited, nervous, proud and working very hard to break in our shoes in time for the Hike... please support us if you can. We know times are tough, but for some, times are tougher still.

Thank you! 


Wednesday 1 August 2012

Congratulations!


Bastows are delighted to share the news that Ivor Gomm, a Partner at Cluttons LLP, has been recognised with Fellowship status of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

The Fellowship reflects Ivor’s knowledge and expertise, and his commitment to the construction industry.  

Bastows are proud to have worked with Ivor and Cluttons over many years and congratulate him on this well-deserved award.

Learn about Cluttons’ work here: http://www.cluttons.com

Read more about the RICS here: http://www.rics.org/uk

Friday 27 July 2012

Games on!

The wait is over.

The Olympics- and after that the Paralympics- are with us, and in just over 5 hours time we will witness what is promised to be one of the opening ceremonies that will go down in history for its warmth, spectacle, humour, emotion and inclusivity.

We've been getting excited as we see London, a city we love with all our hearts, gearing up to host the world's greatest sporting event. 

It's been seven years since we won the bid to host the Games, and in that time London has worked its socks off to build, to beautify, and to welcome the World for this amazing event.

Every Londoner has played their part, but we'd like to thank the volunteer 'Gamesmakers' to whom we owe a huge debt of gratitude. Without them and our emergency services, the Games would not have been possible.

Parts of East London have seen a regeneration that was both long overdue and carefully planned so as to leave no 'white elephants'- every Olympic building and structure will pass into full use, from the stadium to the athlete's village. 

Bastows have done their bit too, working hard to beautify our city and make visitors welcome. But this is not about us- this is about the city and its people.

London, we are so impossibly proud of you, and we know you will enchant, delight, amuse and bemuse Olympics and Paralympics visitors. They are our honoured guests, and we owe it to them- and ourselves- to show them the spirit of London and the hospitality and care we'd like to experience on our own travels.

The Olympics values are respect, excellence and friendship.

The Paralympic Values are courage, determination, inspiration and equality.

Let's live by those during the Games- who knows, they may become a habit we find we like. 

Enjoy the opening ceremony- we are confident that it's going to astonish and amaze, and make us prouder than we've felt in many years.

Thursday 17 May 2012

Why tooling around on Facebook matters

There are plenty of companies out there who don't use social media; they consider it 'scary', 'complicated', 'a waste of time and energy'.

Let us explain why we do it.

We have strong values- to be Brave, Harmonious and True. We work every day to embody those values and be the best we can be. That's not just being 'nice', but going beyond what's expected to deliver something exceptional. It's not hard work when you believe that you get what you give- it's an investment in our relationships with each other, our clients, suppliers and the residents of the beautiful buildings we work on. Why do we need a relationship? Because it makes things run smoothly when you've built understanding. Simple, non?

So where does social media come in? Why does 'tooling around on Facebook' matter?

How can we demonstrate what we do, how we do it and who we are to the widest audience we can? Our sites are our billboard- if you want to see what we do, drop by (just be prepared to be inducted so we know you're safe.) Who we are- that's easily illustrated right over on our Family page. Plus, you know, you can give us a call and ask us anything. (Well, maybe not anything, but we know a lot about our business, plus Andy says he's good on sport and there's not much Steve doesn't know about Tottenham Hotspur.)

How we do it has always been the sticky wicket- you'd have to spend some time with us to really get that one. So we set up on Facebook, Twitter and this blog to share our unique approach and culture with you all. Have you read the website and think "There's no way they really work like that"? Well, we say the curous can follow us on Twitter and track back and see the evidence for themselves. Go on, then. We'll wait while you do.

See?

We really DO work like that. We weren't kidding.

Social media is our way of sharing our news, views, and just connecting with the wider world. It's not scary, complicated OR a waste of time. It means residents can check us out before we begin work on their home. It means clients can see the kind of company we are before they consider using us. It means our people can connect and share info. 

As much as there are businesses eyeing the internet warily, there are companies out there doing amazing things with social media too. We don't pretend to be trailblazers, but we're proud that we use it and that we use it honestly. It's just another channel for doing what we already did- communicating in an open and positive way. Each medium is different and has an identified aim- Twitter, with its 140-character limit, is the context of how we converse and connect. Facebook is brilliant for photos and sharing videos, and a little more content. The real meat is here in the blog (which we simply don't update regularly enough, we know- but we will, so watch this space.)This is where we'll be sharing the stories, and welcoming you into our Family a little more.


So we're ready to start sharing a little more about how we do what we do. Drag up a chair and join the conversation.

Saturday 18 February 2012

Missing photos!

Someone stole our photos- we're working on getting them back. Sorry guys and girls... Please bear with us while we find a fix.

Friday 3 February 2012

Cleaning wooden floors: some advice (eco-friendly too!)

We were sent the below advice from our Contracts Director Nimesh, who's found a creative and environmentally friendly way to clean wooden floors!


Nimesh says:
Before you work on making the floor sparkle, they should be cleaned with vinegar and water. A small amount of vinegar in a bucket of warm water will do wonders for your wood floor. Make sure your floor is sealed and you wring out excess water before mopping the floors, as too much water could damage your wood. That all being said, once they are clean, you can now work on making them shine.
If you have natural unsealed wood floors , you can use linseed oil with a rag, allow it to soak in for a little while, and then mop it up with a little more oil.

For sealed floors, you can use 1 part white vinegar to 1 part vegetable oil to give it a great shine. Just combine the two, grab a rag, and rub it in like you are polishing a car. The shine will blow you away.