Originally published on the closed forum, March 2016.

So armed with our ideas, and having read through the guidance documents on housing in the countryside

http://www.orkney.go...Countryside.pdf

http://www.orkney.go...ctober_2013.pdf

I contacted the council to see if I could speak to the planning officer who had dealt with the outline planning application for the site. Having read all of the comments on here about pre-planning processes, I was pleasantly surprised to find that Orkney Islands Council still operates the very sensible informal approach, whereby you can pick up a phone, talk to a planning officer or meet them to discuss and refine ideas prior to submitting a full application - no need for a pre-planning application and no charge. I did actually ask the planning officer in question about this and she advised that they had looked into such a system, but concluded it would create more work, cost them money and frustrate applicants.

So, having run my ideas past the planning officer, she was very supportive and suggested I provide some sketches. To avoid spending any money at this juncture, I downloaded Sketch-up and set to work rendering images of the house. It didn't take long getting to grips with the software, and allowed me to produce a series of images which I was able to send to the planning officer for comment.

3D landscape images Ebuild.pdf

Elevations (Ebuild).pdfElevations (Ebuild).pdf

I have to say this was a very useful and helpful way of visualising the build and developing ideas. Again, the planning officer was very supportive.

Having looked at the general style of the house, I started developing and refining my ideas about the internal layout. Whilst our last house had worked really well for us, I wanted to learn from it and (hopefully) avoid some of the minor niggles. Having carefully assessed how our last house worked, we concluded the following;

Utility room needed to be a little wider, ideally with vaulted / raised ceiling to accommodate a clothes airer / pulley.
Of the two living areas we had, one was used 95% of the time. The main use of the second living area was as a space for someone to go to read a book etc, so a large second room wasn't required, only a suitable escape space.
Not having a dedicated study was a pain.

I also had to incorporate a small but challenging wish list from my good lady;

The kitchen had to have an island (a peninsula was not acceptable).
A mezzanine of some kind had to be incorporated.

The latter requirement for a mezzanine dictated in large part how the design developed. Vaulted ceilings above the height I could achieve with a raised tie or scissor truss were required, as was space for stairs, and the ability to look down from the mezzanine to the main public areas.

In the end we came up with the following layout;

 

finished externally with a mix of render, timber cladding, tile/slate and metal roofing, to reflect the dual building style of the dwelling.

I had the plans drawn up and properly scaled by someone I found on a freelancing website.

DB1509-01 - Site 1 - Orkney - Proposed Plans - Redacted - Rev0.pdf

DB1509-02 - Site 1 - Orkney - Proposed ElevationS - Redacted - Rev0.pdf

DB1509-03 - Site 1 - Orkney - Proposed Elevation and Sections - Redacted - Rev0.pdf

DB1509-04 - Site 1 - Orkney - Proposed Location Plans - Redacted - Rev0 (1).pdf

and duly submitted them for approval. 

We received one objection which thankfully only related to concerns about construction traffic, which was withdrawn after I spoke to and reassured one of our new neighbours. Nine or so weeks later, we got our approval and got ready to put the job out to tender. 

Next entry - Tendering