Matthew Sears, Building Surveying and Design

12/01/2024

In March 2023, I was diagnosed with a head and neck cancer, and St Luke's took over my care. After twelve weeks' chemoradiotherapy (plus a few more weeks of getting through the grim side effects of treatment), the follow-up scans showed that they had been successful in clearing out the tumour, and I was making good progress with getting back to full health again. Although I will be monitored for five years by East Surrey Hospital's ENT department, the team at St Luke's have advised that I will not need to have any further treatment there.

Since treatment finished, I have got myself back to running and cycling, albeit at a much slower pace than I was, and I have signed up to run the Wokingham Half Marathon on 25 February. To recognise the work that the staff at St Luke's Cancer Centre are doing to help so many people like me, I am taking the opportunity to raise money for St Luke's Cancer Centre, so they can continue to provide the best possible outcomes for all their patients.

If anyone would like to donate, it would help tremendously.

I'm running the Wokingham Half Marathon for the Royal Surrey Charity because I want to help transform patient's lives.

13/08/2021

It's been a while since I posted here, but if anyone would like to donate to a very good cause, I'll be plodding round 26.2 miles in Brighton next month. This time, the RGS Nightingale Fund is the charity I've chosen, which is providing ten assisted places for the children of existing NHS workers to study at Reigate Grammar School. It's an amazing initiative, and I hope we see the next generation of doctors, consultants, vaccine developers, and other medical pioneers coming from these places.

Help MATTHEW SEARS raise money to support Reigate Grammar School Foundation

06/01/2020

A Happy New Year to everyone - I hope you had an enjoyable Christmas!

If you have any property plans or problems, please let me know. Here's more about what we can do:

http://www.msears.uk/services

24/12/2019

That's it for another year! We'll be back in the office from Friday 3 January to look at any property- or building-related requirements you may have. Have a wonderful Christmas, and have a prosperous New Year!

http://www.msears.uk

09/12/2019

A quick reminder of the architectural and surveying services we provide:

http://www.msears.uk/services

Please get in touch if I can help at all.

08/11/2019

It's about time for another update: here are some of the projects I've been working on over the last few months:

https://msears.jimdo.com/2019/11/07/november-autumn-update/

An autumnal update of what I've been up to at the office, since the Spring.

23/10/2019

Not the worst view in the world from the top of a scaffold this afternoon!

28/09/2019

Nearing completion on site on this one in - looking good!

08/07/2019

We only use Local Authority Building Control inspectors, but if your private Approved Inspector has problems with obtaining their insurance, here are the steps you MUST take to meet your obligations under Building Regulations 2010.

If work has already started on site, it MUST be transferred back to Local Authority Building Control if your Approved Inspector has ceased trading.

LABC is aware of four private Approved Inspectors whose public indemnity insurance has expired meaning they cannot continue to lawfully operate. The largest of these is Aedis who have many thousands of customers. In some cases the Approved Inspector (and particularly Aedis) have tried to pass work i...

05/07/2019

This is an interesting development: rusting steel reinforcement in concrete is a common cause of concrete failure. A plastic-carbon compound won't rust, reducing the amount of maintenance.

If the plastic can be sourced as recycled, it will be a great way to lock away existing plastic for many years, rather than landfill or into the oceans...

A team of engineers at Australia’s Deakin University has developed a form of concrete reinforcement ......

06/06/2019

Some photographs of a completed project in Mid-Holmwood, together with a "before", and some drawing extracts.