Some businesses have one objective at their core, and that’s profit. Anything that gets in the way of that, well – it’s just pushed one side. With a gloomy economic outlook, you might forgive them. But business, like every individual in our society, has a responsibility to the local community in which it sits.
Some other businesses talk the good talk, but often don’t do as much about it as they could. There’s a big difference between having a Corporate Social Responsibility plan, and actually getting out there and meeting local residents.
Above: Fenny Lock, Fenny Stratford here in Milton Keynes. There are so many beautiful landmarks in the local area. Photo courtesy of Tim Ebbs
Building Tectonics are in a unique position as architectural designers in Milton Keynes, because we have an influence both within the remit of our day-to-day work, and also anything we do outside of that.
We live and breath architectural design. It’s our passion as well as our income.
Maybe this sounds outrageous, but we take our work very seriously because it carries with it a heavy burden of responsibility to the families and individuals who live in the homes we design, those who live in that property in the future and those that live nearby or walk past it.
Good architectural design isn’t just relevant to today’s design standards or living needs, it should be just as relevant in twenty, fifty or even a hundred years from now.
We realise that this isn’t necessarily something that you think of right away when you’re wanting to create a ground floor extension or add a garden room for example, but it is something that will genuinely affect the surrounding area.
The Tecton Centre is the home of our business, but it’s also more than that to us – it’s our way of making a mark on the local community here in Fenny Stratford – for the better. The refurbishment of the building was painstakingly done to preserve important features that had been here since the early 1800s, maintaining the feel of the street and restoring an iconic local landmark.
Above: Bletchley Park manor house, just a few minutes walk from The Tecton Centre, is of huge historic significance to Britain, and a much loved landmark in the Milton Keynes area. Photo courtesy of Ell Brown.
But we also go a bit further than that – we open most of our space in The Tecton Centre up as a gallery that showcases an incredible range of artwork from local Fenny Stratford residents. We open our doors for local arts and crafts workshops too, and for the more business-minded, we host monthly meetings for the Bletchley and Fenny Stratford Business Association. As a business, we even get involved in supporting local events like the Fenny Poppers festival too.
Being part of Fenny Stratford, and part of Milton Keynes means something to us. The growth of the local area has an impact on our business and on our daily lives, and we believe that every business has a responsibility to do what it can to support that growth in as positive a way as we can.