New Intern - New Ideas :)

Meet Hannah!! Our cheery, new intern who will be spending her 3rd year of University on placement with us. This is Hannah's fourth week with us already and she has fitted in beautifully and definitely made herself at home. She has even bought a plant, Alfie, to make her desk feel homely :)

Having some fresh, young blood around has inspired us to finally get our act together and begin planning the long needed "rejuvenation" of our website. So one of Hannah's first tasks has been to put some ideas together. With a little help from the rest of the team, she has made a number of killer proposals on what the website should contain, it's layout, etc.

We also have another secret project currently on site at a secret location, and several other projects well on their way. The rest of the year is definitely going to be a busy one for the PDI team. So watch this space because it is exciting times at PDI Headquarters!!

Our fourth Botanist and counting, The Botanist Manchester!

This Botanist may not be as big as previous interiors but, believe us, it is quite a treat. With a number of new features including the Greenhouse (an indoor outdoor space with living plants overlooking the hustle and bustle of Manchester's Deansgate Road) and the two Out Barns at the end of the venue which provide a cozy, more intimate atmosphere. The "bits and bobs" chandeliers, typical of the Botanist identity, have even taken on a new look.

Hopefully some of you will have visited the Botanist on Deansgate, but for those who haven't we finally have some images for you. 

 The Botanist exterior

 The Greenhouse

 The Lecture Hall

 The Out Barns

The main bar space with custom made chandeliers 

The Out Barns

Botanist, Manchester OPENING NIGHT!!!

The Botanist on Deansgate, Manchester has been officially up and running since Monday, and my! it has been busy!!

The PDI Team celebrated in style with friends last night at the Opening Night with some of the Botanist's amazing food and drink!

We are waiting on some professional images to be taken to do our interior justice (as our camera phones don't quite make the cut), so stay tuned to see more. Or if you happen to be in Manchester why don't you go see for yourself and give us a tweet @PDImagineering.

Our sign is up!!

Yesterday morning our PAUL DANSON !MAGINEERING sign for our office finally arrived!

Doesn't it look smart?

Here are some photos of the grand moment! Don't the boys look chuffed?

Site revealed: Botanist, Deansgate Manchester!!

Some of you might have had a cheeky email come through revealing one of our projects - the Botanist has come to Manchester!!

This project for Living Ventures has been Harley's little baby for the past few months and finally, with help from the rest of the team, our builders and some of our very talented artists, the site is near completion. 

Those walking down Deansgate can now see our beautiful Botanist exterior. Unfortunately the venue shall not be opened till the beginning of August so, to not spoil the surprise, we are not able to show you anymore. But we promise you, this one is a treat!!

Stay tuned to find out more and to see photos of our Manchester interior!

Final days....

Some exciting stuff going on at Harley's secret site. Only days to go and everything is coming together beautifully!

Here's a sneaky little photo of one of our oh-so-very-talented artist's pieces of work.

Stay tuned to finally find out this site's location!!

The Smugglers Cove, Liverpool

Having had a little scroll down our PDI blog, we've just realised we never made a post about the finalised Smuggler's Cove site.

Smuggler's Cove was completed in December 2013 and, as you might have guessed, was composed with a worn and rustic, nautical theme. For those of you interested in having a meal in "The Captain's Quarters" or a drink whilst looking upon the "shipwreck trinkets" at the bar, Smuggler's Cove can be found at Albert Docks in Liverpool.

New Business Cards!!

It has been a busy week at PDI Head Quarters - Sarah and Paul have been gallivanting around London, "propping" for one of our secret sites, Harley has been on several site visits to his other secret project (coming soon so stay tuned), whilst Neil and Ritz have been working hard in the office on two other projects!!

So unfortunately, until our sites are finally revealed (watch this space), we haven't got too much we can tell you. In the meantime, however, our business cards and stickers with the new office address have finally arrived! Aren't they flashy?

Day of "propping"

Yesterday Harley and Sarah went on a propping trip for one of our secret projects! Here's a sneaky peak at some of their brilliant finds.

Unfortunately we can't give away too much as it will ruin the surprise! But stay tuned to find out more about our secret project and location :) 

The big PDI move!

Also this year PDI have had a  move in location! 

In May we all had to say goodbye to our Spinningfields office and moved over to Manchester's vibrant Northern Quarter.

We are still settling in and there is much work to be done but here are some photos of our new, wonderful and spacious PDI home! :)

Sarah hard at work in her new, bright and airy, 2nd floor office space.

Notice our sexy new PDI High-Vis jackets?

PDI's new Board Room is now a room with a view.

A small seating area in our 1st floor office space where the PDI boys live.

Staff meeting with big man Paul D himself,  Neil, Harl and Sarah still buzzing away.

As you may have noticed there have been a couple of additions to the PDI team.

Meet Neil, our new Senior Architectural Technologist and general tech geek, who joined us in January.

 And our newest addition is our young Imagineer, Araitz (Ritz to us), fresh from University having joined us at the end of last month.

Botanist, Chester

Hello all! Apologies for the lack of posts this (new) year but the PDI team have all been super busy working on a number of exciting projects!

One of which, another Botanist for Living Ventures situated in Chester's city centre which was completed at the end of April. This Botanist can be found on St Werburgh Street and, with its four different levels, it is the largest of The Botanist venues created so far. 

Just as in the previous Botanists, in Alderley Edge and Leeds, the entire interior finishing to the Chester complex is bespoke - from the handpicked timber and intricate metal work to the unusual, mismatch light fixtures. This Chester vicinity also consists of a number of spaces new to the Botanist brand, including an indoor/outdoor area, a romantic private dining balcony and an alfresco roof terrace.

The indoor/outdoor space.

The bar space with custom made flying tandem bike chandelier.

Main restaurant area.

Private dining area with balcony overlooking main restaurant space.

"The Hayloft" with customised lighting wall feature.

Roof terrace with windows looking over the bar space.