Entitled ‘The Devil’s Wall’, the installation debuted in spring 2011 in New York and is intended to represent rituals and traditions of the Islamic Hajj pilgrimage. The sculpture is formed by three black painted metal cylinders with lines of Arabic text from the Quran engraved alongside and overlapping lines of English text translation and disappearing into a vortex at the centre.

The three cylinders symbolise the three walls representing the devil at which pilgrims ritually throw seven stones to commemorate the suffering of Ibrahim when proving his devotion to Allah. The theme of the sculpture is continued with a set of seven line drawings chosen from a total of 21, entitled ‘21 Stones’.

The artist’s intention is to blend personal thoughts with sacred texts, combining secular and religious ideas, designed to create the feeling of a circular chant or mantra and emphasise his Islamic heritage.

The Whitworth Art Gallery was opened as The Whitworth Institute and Park in 1908 and became affiliated with the University of Manchester in 1958. The Mezzanine Court was constructed in the centre of the building and opened in 1995 for the express purpose of exhibiting sculptures and large pieces of installation art.

Both the mezzanine floor itself and the exhibits on show have attracted positive attention, with the architecture winning a regional award from RIBA while the art exhibits had over 170,000 visitors in 2010.

Some of the more prestigious law firms in London have experimented with open plan offices and have found that with the judicious use of office partitions some of the pre-conceived objections, mainly concerning privacy and noise, can be addressed in a positive way.

Although more staff can be accommodated in an open plan office, the difference in cost between fitting out open plan and standard office floors is very little, with the only saving being in the cost of the walls themselves. A surprising and welcome result of open plan working has been in the number of reports from different firms of the increase in collegiality amongst staff, particularly when the design has been to mix partners and employees of different levels together within the same workstation area.

Office partitioning is now available in a wide variety of styles, colours and designs and offers different levels of privacy. One of the most popular office partitions within the law firms surveyed was a floor to ceiling glass partition which could be configured several ways and offered the appearance of light and space, while at the same time ensuring the privacy and confidentiality essential in sensitive legal matters.

Located very close to live music venue Cadogan Hall and several nightclubs and theatres, Le Cercle caters for pre- and post-show diners and lunches for shoppers and tourists, with Sloane Street tube station less than a five minute walk away.

The menu at Le Cercle is seasonal French cuisine at its best, ranging from rustic braised wild rabbit to seared venison or traditional roast sea bass. Presentation is creative, with moulded foie gras, and fillet mignon of pork on black mustard followed by apple tarte tartin and finishing with a traditional French cheeseboard. The drinks are well-chosen and include a choice of cocktails and a wide selection of wines.

The Lounge, which is situated on the mezzanine floor, is glamorous and relaxed and overlooks the entire restaurant. The dining area on the mezzanine floor offers secluded booths for discreet conversation or dining, and the entire area can be booked for private parties or events.

An offshoot of the popular Michelin-starred restaurant Club Gascon, Le Cercle has several restaurants in London, each with its own individual attractions.

The Kensington premises of Le Cercle restaurant is just one of the enterprises which has been able make use of unused headroom to create an extra interesting or intimate space by the cost-effective method of installing mezzanine flooring, with the added advantage of maintaining the outside appearance of an old or attractive building.

The independent bus company, King Alfred Buses, served Winchester and the surrounding community from 1920 until 1973, running vehicles which were highly decorated with paintings of King Alfred of Wessex. The Friends of King Alfred Buses was founded in 1985, choosing its name to commemorate both the history and the bus company.

The charitable trust, which is run by a group of transport enthusiasts, boasts a very large collection of heritage vehicles. The aim of the trust is to restore and maintain former public transport vehicles to their original condition and show them at public events to keep the history of transport alive.

Each year on 1st January, an exhibition of old buses and coaches is organised by the Friends, which is joined by other enthusiasts showing their own vehicles. This event is called ‘The Running Day’ and old buses, restored to their former glory, take visitors on a tour of their journeys of the past.

Restoration of large public transport vehicles requires large premises and the Friends’ workshop was rapidly running out of space.

After consultation, and in keeping with many firms which need larger premises, the Friends decided that installing a mezzanine floor would be the most cost-efficient way of increasing the available space for storage of spare parts and equipment. To reduce the time required for installation, a pre-manufactured steel partition was fitted between the mezzanine floor and the roof.

The demise of the high street is constantly in the news with pessimistic reports that small independent shops and traditional shopping areas are continuing to lose out to large out-of-town retail parks. Draco, the owners of Kings Chase Shopping Centre which was built in the 1970s, has been granted permission for the project which is hoped will revitalise the town centre.

In addition to the redesign and refurbishment of the existing units and the two new retail units, permission has been granted to build 14 flats. Some of the new buildings will be constructed over part of the existing car park.

Although it is not yet known who will take the new units, major retailers who currently have stores in Kings Chase include Boots, W.H. Smith, Wilkinson and Sainsbury’s.

There is a certain amount of controversy in the town regarding a proposal from Sainsbury’s who have sought planning permission to convert a disused industrial building into a Sainsbury’s Local. Several residents have expressed concerns regarding road safety and parking, although other residents are enthusiastic about an easily accessible small supermarket as an addition to the larger shops within the town centre.

The cost of £15,000 for the new mezzanine floor will be met by private investor John Trevitt of nearby Cleethorpes, a long time railway enthusiast who will be putting his own collection – estimated to be worth about £75,000 – on display to the public.

A large collection of railway memorabilia is presently housed at the Immingham Resource Centre which is due to close in April.

The port of Immingham near Grimsby was opened in 1912 by King George V and Queen Mary and, over the last hundred years, the port and town have changed from a small outlying village to a thriving centre of industry which, at one time, had its own railway running between Grimsby and Immingham Docks.

The Civic Centre is being improved as part of the centenary celebrations with several special events being held during 2012 to mark the historic occasion, organised in partnership by the Associated British Ports, Immingham Town Council and various local businesses, with money raised from the various centenary events being channelled into local community organisations and projects.

The model railway on the mezzanine flooring is expected to be one of the most popular exhibitions of the centenary events, which also includes exhibits from the Pilgrim Fathers to the Great Central Railway and Docks during the early part of the 20th century.

Always looking for ways to attract new custom, the chef at Spectrum designed a menu of eight favourite traditional dinners which were trialled over a two week period at the end of 2011. Including sausage and mash with onion gravy, fisherman’s pie and sausage casserole, the clear winners were lamb shank and beef stew with dumplings. The new menu was such a success that Spectrum has decided to continue serving traditional English food from 5.30 pm to 10.30 pm every Thursday throughout 2012.

Launched in 1989 and renowned for its level of customer service, the Park Plaza Hotel chain won the Business Travel Award for Best Small or Independent Hotel Chain in 2011. The chain now has 39 hotels across Europe, Asia and the Middle East, with six in London. The Park Plaza County Hall was the fourth London hotel, opened in 2007 and was awarded Best Family Friendly hotel in 2010.

The traditional meals will be served alongside the usual seasonal menu, with each dinner priced at £8.95 and are expected to be very popular with hotel residents and visitors alike.

The construction of mezzanine floors in existing premises has become a very popular strategy by many businessmen over recent years, having the double advantage of retaining the outward appearance of an old building whilst making use of unused headroom.

It’s Nut Free was established ten years ago in response to the difficulty Angela Russell encountered in finding suitable nut-free products for her daughter who had been diagnosed with a serious nut allergy. The business has gone from strength to strength since then, with year-on-year sales for the last two years showing an average increase of 187 per cent.

It’s Nut Free now has a wide client base, which includes NHS hospitals and several large supermarkets, to which it supplies a range of cereal, biscuits, confectionery and cakes. It has just struck a deal with its main client, the hotel chain De Vere Venues, to supply three new lines to each of their 29 conference centres across the UK and Mrs. Russell is optimistic that sales will continue to increase as the brand becomes more widely known.

Needing to expand in the most space and cost-efficient manner, It’s Nut Free is intending to install a mezzanine floor in its present factory which will enable production to double, from one shift to two shifts a day.

The installation of mezzanine floors has become a popular and effective way of using headroom in old buildings that are no longer used for their original purpose, by increasing the amount of useable floor space without altering the outside appearance of the building.

As part of Liverpool’s World Heritage Site, the Tobacco Warehouse has recently been awarded £25m from the Regional Growth Fund towards the improvements planned to the Grade II listed building, which has stood derelict for many years.

Covering 36 acres and standing 14 stories high, the Tobacco Warehouse was the largest building in the world when it was constructed in 1901, with 42 bays served by seven loading bays and with the capacity to store 70,000 lbs of tobacco.

The original facade of the building will be retained and over three hundred apartments will be constructed within the original warehouse, each being double height with a mezzanine level and having a floor space of approximately 1,300 square feet. In addition to the apartments, the conversion will include space for public exhibitions, an area designated as office space as well as restaurants, bars and retail units.

Liverpool’s Heritage Market which has been held at Stanley Dock for the last 30 years is set to move to new premises on a nearby dock in February 2012, with conversion of the Tobacco Warehouse commencing shortly thereafter.

The venture involves several members of the Sandhu family who have lived and worked in the Handsworth Wood area for almost 25 years and who are planning to restore the magnificent house back into a comfortable family home. With an original purchase price of £775,000, the renovations are expected to cost a similar amount and take around two years to complete.

The property, which has fifty rooms, has been owned by the local authority since the 1940s and has been used for a number of purposes over the years, firstly as a children’s home and in more recent years as council offices and the community library.

The current restoration plans include a huge family kitchen and family rooms on one side of the impressive hallway and a number of well-appointed guest rooms on the other side of the house. As part of the renovation, the IT cabling will be stripped out and the partition walls and suspended ceilings installed to convert the house for office use will be removed, revealing the original architectural features. Some of these, including the imposing sweeping staircase, glorious stained glass windows and ornate plaster friezes and coving are obvious, but other features, including solid oak floors, have been covered by the trappings of modern business.