The work of architectural designs
Architectural work is an art of both planning, designing and construction of houses, bridges, schools, and roads. It is an art that was begun in roman, through a piece of work that was written by a roman architect Vitruvius in the 1st AD. The work of architectural designs has grown since then through different centuries across the globe. However, the origin of architecture is attributed to the Neolithic period, around 10,00 BC. It means the work started when people stopped living in caves. Over the years, architecture was categorized into three types, namely orders, Doric and Corinthians. The types of designs are being practised all over the world.
Hester Baker Krebs, abbreviated as HBK, is a group of engineers and architects that was founded in the year 1998. The firm has been in existence for more than two decades, and the impact is overwhelming. The firm is located in Banbridge, Northern Ireland. They have another operational office in within the country in Dungannon. The firm offers house designs that suit the needs of the customers. They also provide both interior and exterior design services to bring satisfaction to their clients. The firm likewise offers an extensive fibre optic and an electric transmission both to urban and suburban areas. To the firm, designing and building the customer’s house is their fun. Mr Stephen Salley, the principal architect of the firm, is the co-founder incorporation with Ryan hood, who is the senior architect in the firm. Both have revolutionized the architecture in the world with more designs. The firm has constructed more beautiful, gorgeous and exciting houses in Northern Ireland. Some of the houses built are attached below. The firm is responsible for the beautiful scenarios and constructions not only in Northern Ireland but extending the services in the globe.
Figure 1: view-source:https://hbkarchitects.com/
The above picture is among the first designs the firm came up in late 1999 to their customer in Northern Ireland. The firm does not only do the construction, but they also do electrical wiring to light up the house, and through that, they light the world. The firm draws lines between dreams and reality. Other architectural designs that have been done with the firm is as shown in figure 2, 3 and 4. Figure three and four show the interior designs of different houses and offices they have constructed.
Figure 2: href=”https://hbkarchitects.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/fav.png” type=”image/png”>
Figure 3: href=”https://hbkarchitects.com/xmlrpc.php”
Figure 4: “https://hbkarchitects.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/fav.png
Policies of the firm
HBK architecture firm, a certified house designer, is a well-renowned company in the 21st century in the construction and designing of construction. They focused more on the construction of houses despite architecture involving various buildings such as bridges and roads. With this, the firm has to follow some of the policies that are set both by the international bodies on construction, the country’s policies in construction, and their policy they have set for the conduct of the employees in the firm. Apart from adhering to the laws of construction, the firm has to follow the environmental policies that are of international standards, corporate social responsibility policies, among other policies, is what they have to follow.
Environmental policies
After all the paperwork is done on the construction, HBK firm needs to follow the regulations of environmental conservation and management. Before the construction of any house, the firm has to have a license from the environmental management system(ems) following its environmental management plan. The license has to be signed by the senior director, and it should be dated for authentication. Before the issuing of the permit, a proper assessment of the project is always done by the senior officers of from the national environmental management and audited by senior staffs. The plan of the firm on environmental conservation is also checked to ensure they have a proper idea to conserve the environment. However, ignoring the environmental rules and procedures is easy, but the consequences are gravies in nature. The results of not adhering to the regulations of the environmental conservation can lead to revocation of the operating license in the respective country where the procedures have been violated. Other consequences include demolition of the building at the expense of the firm and even jailing the architectures and the constructors of the building.
HBK architecture is a great firm that has the interest of conserving the environment at heart. The firm has outlined ways in which the constructors who will be deployed at various sites to observe the company’s policies on the environment. Apart from following the set procedures within the company, the construction itself should be constructed following the rules and regulations on environment conservation. Referring to the report that was signed by the principal architect of the firm on the environmental policy statement, Mr Stephen Salley reiterated the importance of the company to meet the standards of the environmental expectations as expected by the community and also in protecting the future generations even as they transfer dreams into reality. The firm has employed a bunch of environmentalist and environmental engineers to help the contractors in observing and conserving the environment. The firm adheres to both the air pollution that way occurs during construction, water pollution that may be caused through the disposal of the used items, and the noise pollution that may arise through the construction and demolition. Some of the guidelines the firm took with a piece of advice from the environmentalist are as below;
- To develop a corporate attitude of stewardship on the environment.
- To formulate and maintain the environmental management programs on every construction to protect the environment at all cost.
- Before doing any construction, the firm will always conduct an environmental risk assessment of the project and to prepare a specific response to the findings to conserve the environment.
- All developments should meet the environmental requirements set by the legislative, government directions, and other applicable directives on the environment.
- Integrating the environmental protections into the business through the planning of activities that will lead to the mitigation of conserving the environment.
- To foster the understanding of both the contractors and their employees understand the environmental regulations set by both the government, legislative bodies and the firm.
- All the activities of the firm should always champion the improvement of the environment at all cost.
With the above regulations, the firm was ready to dedicate itself towards improving the environment. Below is a flow chart that all the construction activities should follow in the HBK firm to ensure the environment is protected.
Figure 5: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Akmal_Othman/publication/289317626/figure/fig1/AS:671507109908511@1537111179632/5-Construction-as-an-Enabler-of-Governments-Socio-Economic-Policies-Source.png
the picture below are the contractors of the Hester Baker Krebs been briefed about the construction guidelines on the stadium ahead of the 2022 FIFA world cup, including the policies they have to observe about the environment
the figure below shows the safety policies of the contractors of the HBK firm are following in the safety of both the people around the construction and themselves.
Figure 6 https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/proxy/CXY6oCk5pc74QCQZUbUJEVzqgOQt14hRturKDdsoKvWr0yFwGG54VccZKtFSnKMrviIHHmCE6xcudHgk-isWU0oE-iEeo0xTVaRhZ4pOzueXTbjLIfrWjbOjv59f
corporate social responsibility
corporate social responsibility, commonly abbreviated as CSR, is an essential policy in every company in ensuring a peaceful stay of the company and the community which the company is situated. The policy champions philanthropic efforts, company diversifications and labour practices. The corporate social responsibility refers to a company harmonizing the economic aims with the growth and development of human beings. Many companies in the world have observed this policy since it ensures good corporation between the company and the community. It also provides the community goals are well supported, and it does not affect what the community believes in. With this, many companies have given back to society in an excellent way. The establishment of different companies at different places has seen the growth of various communities to the standards that they are today. HBK architectural company is not exceptional in any way in giving back to society. This policy also champions the attitude of the company towards human rights, including the environment of the human being. It ensures a harmonious corporation and the community.
At HBK, the policy has been effected excellently. The company has grown to the current ranks because of fostering what the community believes in. It has employed many young architects and engineers from the community. The company has supported a lot of the communities’ projects to ensure they give it back to society. Some of these projects the firm has taken care to ensure proper lighting of the streets in all the towns where they have their offices. It was enabled through a group of technicians the firm has employed from all over the region. Through their efforts, the government of Northern Ireland has continually to give them support to their activities to ensure they continue to impact the society in a positive way. Figure 7 and 8 show the pictorials of the firm’s engineers installing the lighting system in the streets is as follows. The firm also installs security surveillance cameras to increase security in the region.
Apart from giving back to the society, the company ensures there is a good working relationship between the staffs at a different level. The concept of the work holder value is being practised at its best in the company. Employment schemes, working hours, good remunerations for workers and timely salaries is what is being affected in the management. It ensures the unity of all the stakeholders in different departments to make the company progress to be successful. A picture of a section of employees of the firm is in figure 9.
Figure 7: https://www.hbkengineering.com/services/security-infrastructure
Figure 8: https://www.hbkengineering.com/services/telecommunications-system-infrastructure-design
Social media
Reaching out to your customers is very crucial because you sell your products without coming into contact. Social media marketing helps the company to sell the brands to many people as possible. With more than three billion users of social media platforms across the world approximately monthly, many companies have taken advantage of this in creating awareness of their products and to increase their sales. HBK company enjoys a wide platform of the social media market, not only in Europe and in the USA where they enjoy a broad market of their designs, but across all the seven continents. Apart from enjoying the popularity in all the channels of world car leading markets. They also enjoy huge followers both in Instagram, Twitter and Facebook page. The designs of their houses and the new designs they have in store have always been uploaded in their social media platforms. With this, they have continued to attract more followers and customers who love their piece for architecture.
https://www.hbk.com/presence/socialmedia/20180810_buehnenbild_socialmedia.jpg
Hiring trends
Hector Baker Krebs has created thousands of jobs globally. It is estimated at 47000 people are directly and indirectly employed by the architectural company. This is according to the report that was released in 2019 about jobs creation. The company was ranked among the top for providing jobs thousands of people across the globe. Many people are more interested in working with the HBK firm because of their flexible management and handling of the needs of the employees. Amid the high rate of taxation and competition that other companies are facing, and having difficulty in marinating the wage bill, HBK is planning to add more employees to their firm. The figure below shows how the firm has been increasing its employment rate.
https://oecdinsights.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/unemployment2.png
In conclusion, the HBK company has played a significant role in improving the standards of living of human beings. They have managed to transform the dreams of many people into a reality. Furthermore, the firm has managed to adhere to the rules and regulations, policies and laws that are set in protecting the human lives. Besides, the firm has created more employment opportunities to all the professionals as far as construction is concerned