On Sun, 5 Apr 2015 11:00:28 +0100, Roland Perry
wrote:

In message
-septemb
er.org, at 08:28:55 on Sun, 5 Apr 2015, Recliner
remarked:
When we first moved into a certain office block in Brentwood, despite
being 60's build, there were only two ring mains for each 4,000 sqft
floor - enough to run a few electric typewriters perhaps. Having plugged
in numerous PCs and similar stuff, we were initially a bit surprised that
the breakers went if someone also turned on an electric kettle.

I'd have expected Amstrad to find a particularly cheap and nasty block!

It was quite a nice block (unlike the Tottenham warehouse they moved
from), and the *quality* of the electrical work was top-notch. There just
wasn't *enough* of it.

Maybe that's why it was cheap?

It cost less than it might otherwise have done because it needed a lot
of refurbishment. Pretty much every venetian blind fitted to the
considerable number of windows was broken beyond repair, for example.
And the inside was mainly fitted with very outdated and inefficient
partitions dividing it into numerous exec-offices with room for a
secretary outside, rather than the open-plan which the vogue at the
time.

The owners had being unsuccessfully trying to rent it out floor-by-floor
(the previous tenant had taken the whole thing, and there was no demand
locally for that much space in one lump) and had recently had one floor
refurbished as a "showroom" to demonstrate what it could be like. A
small group of us were looking at renting that one floor.

The boss came round to have a look, and decided to buy the whole block
outright (having already ascertained that most of the staff already
lived in Essex and he was looking to replace the Tottenham facility with
one nearer the Shoeburyness factory).

We moved into our 5th floor a couple of day later - the deal being
"deliver the keys tomorrow or it's off". And then we AMSOFT staff
moonlighted as building managers organising the refurbishment of floors
6-9, ahead of the arrival of the Tottenham crew.

It was tremendous fun, because we got to play with things like the
equipment in the lift-room, the massive central heating installation in
the basement, and a manual telephone exchange with about a dozen
stations (the latter being stripped out to be replaced by one cabinet of
PABX). One of the legacies was I was the only person in the building
with a direct phone line, which had been put in early on to maintain
contact with the outside world - no consumer mobile phones then.

Next was replacing all the metal-framed windows [I'd have wished that
was done *before* we moved in!] then floors 0 (it was numbered in
American style) -1 and 1-4 were refurbished and rented out steadily to
local firms one at a time. Over the next few years Amstrad expanded
downwards as the tenants moved out, and built the Penthouse/boardroom on
the roof. Amsprop hasn't looked back since.

Nice view of the GEML, too.

Sounds like quite an educational experience! I guess you got to learn
all sorts of unlikely skills working for a 'pioneering' (cowboy?)
outfit like that. Ironically, Amstrad in its entrepreneurial heyday,
sounds like a very different company to the ones that the modern day
sharp-suited/high-heeled Apprentices dream of creating.