NB New Direction - 3. NB New Direction Chapter 3

While Mrs Cooper was preparing dinner, I went online, to search for an architect that is local to the area, and I found four, and did some research on each one, before choosing a firm that I felt would be best suited, and I dialled the office number. “Dave Barrington” a man said answering the phone, “Is this Barrington and Associates Architecture?” I asked in reply, “Yes, sorry, I wasn’t aware that the phone had not been switched over for the night, I am David Barrington the senior architect, how can I assist you” the man replied.

“My name is Huon Devonport, I am an executive representing an investment company, and I would like to invite you to build some projects for us” I said, “Err, you wouldn’t be the Swiss investment company, that bought a whole lot of property in Claremont, in the past few weeks, are you?” the man said, and I chuckled. “Yes, that is correct, I represent Wagner International Investments, who’s head office is in Zurich, with offices in the Falkland Islands and here in Western Australia” I replied.

“Wow, yes sir I am at your service for what ever you need” Mr Barrington said, “That is good to hear, can you be at my home at 28 Freshwater Parade at 8.30am tomorrow morning?” I asked, “Yes sir, that will not be a problem, I will see you then, have a nice evening sir” Mr Barrington said and ended the call, before I could say anything more. I had decided to make the large front bedroom of the house into my office, and the desk, chair and filing cabinet, were already in place, along with two lounge chairs and a coffee table.

My master bedroom, was next door just around the corner of the hallway, with the front veranda being on the front and side with the front door to the side of the house. A reasonably sized loungeroom is located opposite my bedroom, which has the family bathroom next to it, and the third bedroom is opposite that. At the end of the hallway is the formal dining room and formal lounge room, with the kitchen and laundry adjoining the dining room, while a small passage between the laundry and the last bedroom with its own ensuite bathroom, leads to the back door and back veranda.

Going to my room, I retrieved the laptop and took it to the office, and connected it up to the printer, and I printed the last email from Sebastian, so I had the document on hand. Next, I called Annette, and asked her to check for any mail for me, and let me know when there is a small parcel addressed to me. The Rev said she would check before taking Kyle to school in the morning, and I thanked her before ending the call.

After dinner, I relaxed in the front lounge room, listening to some light music, when I heard this loud bang noise coming from somewhere outside, and I rushed to the front door, with Mrs Cooper close behind, we soon discovered that the apartment block that I now owned, two doors down at number 24, was well alight with fire, and Mrs Cooper dashed inside to call the fire department, while I went to see if anyone was hurt.

Surprising the police were very fast to arrive, and they closed off the road, and began to assist residents from the apartment building. I looked at my mobile and worked out what the time is in Zurich, before selecting a phone number and pressing call. When the call was answered I switched to German, and asked to speak to the senior lawyer, and I gave my name.

By the end of the call, I had learnt that Sebastian had made sure that all the properties that had been recently purchased, were comprehensively insured, including against public liability accidents of any kind, which was the main concern. I remained near the front of my house and watched from the edge of the road, as the fire trucks arrived at began to put the fire out, and ambulances also arrived to treat any injuries.

Nearly two hours later, as the fire was finally brought under control, a police officer approached me. “Sir, do you have any information regarding this fire?” he asked me, “Only that a large bang brought me and my house keeper rushing out here to see what the noise was” I replied. “I see, yes, that is what other neighbours have said, I see the place has sold recently, I guess you don’t know who bought it?” the officer asked me.

“I do actually officer, Wagner International Investments bought that block of apartments and a few others in the area” I replied, “Oh and how do you know this?” the officer asked curiously, “I work for the company, it was my recommendation that the company bought the properties, including this house that I now live in” I replied.

“Who do I speak to, for follow up enquiries?” the officer asked, “That would be me sir, my name is Huon Devonport, Administration Executive Officer of Wagner International Investments, I have a home office that I work from, at the moment, as I have recently come out of hospital, you can call by tomorrow, any time after 11am” I responded, “Thankyou Mr Davenport, I will do that, goodnight for now” the officer said and I headed back inside.

“Do you know what happened?” Mrs Cooper asked me when I appeared, “No, but I will be getting a visit from the police at about 11am tomorrow, as I told them I worked for the company that owns the property” I replied, “No doubt, they will tell you some more about it at that time” Mrs Cooper stated, “Yes, I hope no one was hurt, and by the way, a Mr Barrington from a local Architect Firm, will be coming at 8.30am tomorrow, for a meeting, could you have an early morning tea ready for 9.15 please” I said, “Yes that is fine, I will retire now, goodnight” Mrs Cooper said and she headed to her room at the back of the house.

The following morning, I went for a swim, before showering and changing, then came to the dining room for breakfast, and I could smell baking happening, that made me smile. “Good morning Mrs Cooper, I smell something yummy baking” I said as I entered, “Yes, and keep your hands off them till morning tea time, or I will chop your offending fingers off” Mrs Cooper warned.

“You better not say that when the police visit later” I said with a big grin, and Mrs Cooper just smiled and began cleaning up the kitchen. “How are you settling into this new place, are you happy with everything?” I asked, “Yes thank you. It is nice to have a smaller place to keep clean, and don’t forget I am heading up to Toodyay to clean the rectory today” Mrs Cooper replied, “Yes, that is fine, thanks for reminding me” I answered.

The front door bell rang at exactly 8.30am, and I went to answer it, and found the police officer standing at the door, with another man standing near the front gate, unsure about approaching or not. Ignoring the police officer, I indicated to the other man to come in, “Excuse me officer, but I have an appointment with this gentleman, you will have to come back at the time I suggested to you last night” I said as I stepped in a little and to one side, to let the architect in, who squeezed past the police officer.

“Now look here, I wish to speak to you on an important matter” the police officer stated, “Well I am sorry sir, but this gentleman has a previous appointment, and it is important to me, so I will see you at 11am, good morning to you” I said, and I slowly closed the door, before turning around to see a stunned architect looking at me, and I indicated the front room for him to enter.

“I am sorry for the delay, as you probably guessed, we had a little bit of drama in the street last night, and I told the officer that I worked for the company that owns the property where the fire was, and he thinks he can boss me around any time he wants, but I have more important things to deal with” I said to Mr Barrington, as we both sat down in a lounge chair each, and I reached over to grab the file that I had sitting on the desk.

“As you are aware, Wagner International Investments bought a lot of property recently, all within four streets. On Bay View Terrace, numbers 81 to 85 including two subdivided blocks, on Freshwater Parade, that is this street, we have Numbers 25 and 25a, plus 24, 26 and 28, which is this house, plus on Queenslea Drive, we have number 20, which is quite a large block, containing units.

I am not sure what is going to happen with this fire happening last night, but it may speed up the project a little, if there is too much damage to all of the units, and they need to be pulled down. If so, the house next door will also be pulled down, to give about 2,470-square metre area, and I would like to turn it into a two-level business centre, with 7 car-bays at the front.

I was thinking of say 8 open space, business suites, four on each side of the building, that are about 12 metres wide and 14 metres long, with a 4-metre wide centre passageway, two sets of bathrooms and a central staircase and lift on both the ground and first floor, and an open recreation space on the roof, with sufficient safety barriers around the edge, and some sheltered space near the lift and stairs.

The two houses that are opposite, are already vacant, and can be demolished once the demolition applications have been approved, that area is about 1,500 square metres in area, and maybe we could have a simular layout, with the first building, but with say 3 suites on each side, so they are similar in size as the others, as the space is 5 metres shorter width ways, and if we can get approval, I would like to have a linking rooftop walkway between the two buildings” I said to the architect, who was writing down notes of what I was suggesting.

“Ok, I will get to work on some preliminary sketches, once I have the correct measurements for the blocks, and I will get back to you early next week” the architect replied, “That sounds good, now would you like some morning tea before you leave, I have my house keeper preparing it as we speak” I said, “yes that will be nice thank you” he replied.

I stood up and went down the passageway to the kitchen, where Mrs Cooper was preparing a morning tea tray, with a plate of freshly made cookies, which I tried to swipe one, but instead I got a hit on the hand with a wooden spoon, so I retreated back to the office.

“Morning tea will be arriving soon” I announced, as I rubbed my sore hand, and Mr Barrington chuckled, “Get caught in the cookie jar, did you?” he said to me, which made me blush a little and he laughed, “Yes something close to that” I replied, as I sat down.

“Would you like to have some small courtyards in the middle to allow natural light, and to some small gardens?” Mr Barrington asked me, “Yes that would be a nice inclusion” I responded, just as Mrs Cooper arrived with a frown on her face at me, which made Mr Barrington chuckle some more, as he saw and smelt the freshly made cookies.

“I will be going to the council offices, once this meeting is over, to make those applications” I said to Mr Barrington, “Please allow me to give you a lift, it is not far, just up this road in fact” Mr Barrington replied, and I accepted the offer, as we chatted some more about the project, as we had our morning tea.

“So, how big are the areas for the other properties that your company have purchased? Mr Barrington asked me as we were finishing our morning tea. “Well the Bay View Terrace lot, opposite the primary school, is approximately 7,800 square metres, and the Queenslea Drive lot, opposite the Grammar school, is approximately 3,570 square metres in area” I replied.

I am sure we can come up with some great designs for both of those large lots” Mr Barrington said to me as we stood and made our way outside and on to the vehicle. I thanked Mr Barrington for his time and the short lift, as I climbed out of his vehicle, at the Local council offices, and he set off down the main highway to his office. After waiting twenty minutes, I finally met with the director of building services, and I presented the email that Sebastian has sent me, and saw the man’s eyes widen when he read the name of the company.

“Ok, Mr Davenport, how can I help you and your company today” the man said after reading the email, and handing it back to me. “I wish to make some applications for building demolitions, of current vacant properties that the company owns, that may also include the property on Freshwater Parade, that was damaged by fire last night, depending on the police investigation into its cause, I have a meeting with the investigating officer in over an hours’ time” I replied. “I see, yes I am aware of the fire, and of your company, which made a large number of purchases recently” the man said to me.

“I would like to build some two-level office buildings, on Freshwater Parade, and for the other larger properties, I have not decided what to do with them just yet, as the apartments are mostly fully rented out” I announced, “Well lets get started on the applications for demolition first, and see how we go from there, the time for processing is approximately 6 weeks, sometimes longer, depending on the work load of the council” the man said to me, and for the next twenty minutes, I filled out a number of forms, which were stamped and dated, then photocopied, so I had a copy, before I left the building, and started the walk back home, which is 5 street blocks away.

I was fairly tired by the time that I arrived home, but happily I was not getting dizzy at all, just the lack of exercise was the only problem, which I hoped daily swims in the pool will sort that problem out fairly quickly. Once I had filed away the copies of the forms, that I had, I went into the kitchen, when Mrs Cooper was finishing preparing my lunch, and I looked at the clock and it read 11.20am.

“A very unhappy police officer has called by twice in the past hour, first at 10.40 and again half an hour later, He asked me to tell you to report to the Claremont Police Station no later than 1pm” Mrs Cooper said to me as I sat down in the formal lounge room, “Well he is just going to have to wait, as I need to rest after that long walk back from the council offices” I replied, and I closed my eyes for a moment, and drifted off to sleep.

Mrs Cooper woke me, to say lunch was ready, and that she was on her way to Toodyay, and that she would stay at the Toodyay house overnight, and be back mid-morning tomorrow, and she dashed out of the house. As I stood up, I looked at the clock, and it read 12.45pm, and I remembered what my housekeeper had said earlier, but I had to eat lunch first, then I will go up to the station.

Half an hour later, after finishing my lunch, I grabbed my phone and called a taxi, and I waited on the front veranda for it to arrive, taking my walking stick with me, as my left leg was aching a little from all the walking earlier. Just one block from home as we headed to the police station, I saw a police car pass and start to slow down, which made me chuckle, thinking that it was the same police officer coming to look for me once again.

When I arrived at the police station, I stated who I was, and that I was asked to come to the station, to speak to an officer, regarding last nights apartment fire, and I was told to wait. About twenty minutes later the officer I saw this morning and last night arrived, and taking a look at me, he frowned before motioning me to follow him.