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That can’t be legal!!! Let me just check the BuildHub T’s&C’s…

Just watched it. I’m completely puzzled as to why planning decided it should short of replicate a building that wasn’t there and, by the looks of it, hadn’t been there for very many years. You obviously satisfied that seemingly weird request and produced a beautiful house. Quiet frankly I wish my wife hadn’t watched that Grand Designs! I’ve been fending off numerous questions tonight regarding how you did it so quickly, so well, and so under budget. Thanks!

As said Hep is best and in my opinion a superior fitting to JG speedfit and polyplumb. Keep the pipe clean and scratch free, make sure ALL the pipe is cut using a proper cutter. Use the barrier pipe with the Hep stainless steel insert in every fitting . The majority of all new builds use this system now and if installed currently it is trouble free . One downside I have seen several times now is rodent attack

I’ve been working on the bay window when I can and it’s almost done. I just need to fill the gaps and paint it a few times to get the paint thickness the same as the rest of the room. The floor is coming up on the 15th so I can insulate it.

+1 for Hep2O. Plastic pipe tidiness is directly proportional to the amount of clips used. The fact the fittings are double the price would have a lot to do with it. Building industry is slow to move from what they know too.

Make sure you don’t scratch the pipe , keep it in the wrapper as long as possible because scratches on the pipe will allow water to weep at the joins. Buy yourself a cheap pipe cutter. I always use hep20 which is better IMO don’t let pipes hang on joints, support pipes to take the strain. https://www.screwfix.com/p/faithfull-3-28mm-manual-plastic-pipe-cutter/821gc

I pointed it out to the planners who kept telling me next doors ridge was x meters tall when in fact it was x + 1.2meters (I measured it when they were out: ) but the planners ignored me so yes I made the point in the appeal. The neighbour had built 1200mm higher than they told planning but it was over 10 years ago and I didn’t mind but goes to show the planners don’t check.

Vastern have a nice showroom if you haven’t been yet.

I personally think it’s better if the surrounding houses are all a bit different, there’s nothing really you need to fit in with. I had this, the local housing stock was a complete abortion of 1980’s fake Cotswold stone, there was no way they could say they wanted me to match in with a load of houses that shouldn’t have been built like they were.

....come back later. Re timber cladding. Personally, I don't like it turning grey. I have it coated in sadolin. Very dark brown or light oak. The latter is invisible but that colour then stays put. 10 years in the sun and a recoat is needed. Longer than that in the shade.

good luck ever getting close to having a builder complete that. You need a rocket scientist ! You have 6 different types of membranes in that 'detail' Have to keep it much simpler to stand a chance of getting it done correctly.

Thanks Mike, glad you enjoyed, and appreciate your kind words - yes, it was a bit of a desperate time having only the weekend to do it before Monday! We soon realised that there is this conveyor belt system which can do this as well, but c'est la vie. Jim was great. We do now have some doors - arrived and were installed a couple of weeks after the final filming

This is exactly what I faced, bungalow one side and room In roof the other, it wasn't till I pointed out, with the street scene drawing, our two story cottage had a lower ridge than the room in roof with loads of velux,s.

So after some deliberation we have decided to opt for option 1, and I do agree that there is too much glass. The glazed gable end is pointless and will be removed, and the other glazing can be reduced in size. Not sure if it is a good or a bad thing, but the neighbouring properties are a mixed bag, and if we really want to stay in keeping, it will have to be something that is far less contemporary and in all honesty something that I would never want to build. Option one is a modern take on some of the properties in the lane. I really hope that we don't have to build something that looks s**t just to fit in with the other s**t that adorns the lane.

Some good comments, above. For me, planning was a lengthy process of negotiation & compromise, so I'd say start with something bigger & bolder than you expect to be given permission for then the council get to say "no" many times (which my local planning dept loved to do) &, hopefully, you'll end up with permission for something that's still worth building. If there's a lot of back & forth with the planning dept after your initial deign is refused, you can save a ton of money by doing the drawings yourself. You don't need to provide beautiful architect's drawings each time you submit an amended proposal. Re cladding: yes, a lot of the natural wood coloured cladding looks terrible after it's been up a few years, but some of it still looks good. I think it's a case of using a good UV resistant varnish. There's been so much of this natural wood cladding going up over the past 10+ years, I think it might be looking old fashioned soon. I favour black. They've had black cladding on the new build next door to us for 3 years now, & it still looks like new. I think zinc standing seam roofs look great - much better than slate. & if the zinc is too expensive, you might look at products such as Greencoat PLX, which are the same tech - ie made from a roll on site, but they're painted steel (big choice of colours), rather than zinc. A good slate roof can look beautiful, but most new slate roofs I see look terrible. I think the problem is that Welsh slates, which are perfectly flat, have become prohibitively expensive, so people use cheap stuff such as Spanish, & these slates contain impurities which causes them to warp. If you're considering standing seam & you don't know what oil canning is, look it up, because it's something you need to be aware of.

So are trabants 🤷‍♂️

Zara, Giuliano, congratulations! Just watched the programme and you did a cracking job. It's rare to see a GD episode that goes so smoothly! I was impressed to see how you got stuck in, even though that was a crazy way to get the slates up to the roof. And great that you had Jim's assistance - he looked like a real asset. I only spotted one thing that I'd change, but will keep it to myself. I hope you get some doors soon (if you don't already have them) and that you have a wonderful time living there :)

+1 I concur, I had this done for my appeal and put the application in perspective relative to the surroundings/neighbours.

I recommend producing a street scene drawing/sketch showing your proposal and the two houses either side. Our architect did this using pen and a single water colour (green). This allowed a certain artistic licence and harmonised the different designs to certain extent.

Can you drag out the local planning applications and read the planners comments. Know exactly what everyone else got shot down for and you'll have a very good idea what is best to apply for.

It not really possible to comment meaningfully without knowing and being able to see the surrounding streetscape and all round views. This is an essential key to the planning decision making process. Both options are expensive to stabalise SE wise.. so expect some additional cost here. Option 1 will probably cost more SE wise as you have a huge glass area and that end of the building will need to be stiff so it doesn't crack all that glass. Option 2 is akin to Brutalist Architecture. Wish you luck getting that past the planners. There may be an arguement for this so would love to hear if your Architect is thinking along these lines with a modern twist, use of up to date and durable and quality materials. I have chosen my words carefully as the terms used.. you'll find in much of the planning guidance when they talk about sustainablility.

A pitched roof is far less likely to cause issues than flat. Natural slate will be cheaper and less defect prone than zinc. Timber cladding often looks cruddy in a few years and flammable cladding is best avoided. The glazing is excessive. It will cause overheating in the sun, higher heat losses in winter, extra capital expense, unpleasant reverberation and glare.

The planners may have been give a 'rainwater hierarchy' list that says green roofs are best. Politely explain your stratagem that it keeps water away from your harvester and from the aquifer and they should accept it. Also that the roof has to be reinforced, and that maintenance at height is required.

Do you actually want to build design two. you might like the concept on paper, but I would avoid that roof design 100%, water needs to get of the building, don’t trap it on top and hope it makes it out of some small outlets. I like option one apart from the glass gable, that is pointless, you have large windows on two elevations already, what’s the glass gable for. design one is a more straightforward build, easier to find good contractors. obviously my personal opinion. one would fit in better locally, easier to build, no sleepless nights worrying about a swimming pool on your roof.

I throw a rope over the ridge, secured to something reliable, thence secured to my ancient and rusty scaffold tower. I’ve got climbing kit but that’s not what I mean. A cheap poly rope with loop knots every few feet help enormously and prevent the tower teetering if it’s prone to that.

I just bought one of these yesterday! It arrived today. Three heights - safe working height (~2M above platform height); scaffold height (~1M above platform height); and platform height - which is where your feet are. The 7M tower is 5M platform height. I measured the roof height (also ~5M for my two-story newish-build) by flying a drone up to the eaves and reading it off 🤷‍♂️. Once you've got one, you find any use for it you can, I think. Worth noting that the instructions all say "for god's sake don't climb onto a roof from one of these things, jesus christ please stop". I assume this is standard arse-covering, because that's exactly what I'm going to be doing. I guess the main risk is pushing the platform away as you push off - I'm planning to tie mine to the house somehow, to mitigate that. I had a read of the HSE's working at height guidelines and they're a bit less stressed about it: https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/priced/hsg33.pdf

Yeah, I think it's answered here: i.e. a '4m' tower has a 'platform height' (bit you stand on) at 2m, a 'tower height' (max height of safety frame) of 3m (i.e. 1m higher than the platform) and a 'working height' (reasonable height you could reach up to) of 4m. So, if you need to actually reach a widget at a height of say, 8m, you need an 8m tower. Ladders are similar. This assumes you can reach up 2m higher than the floor. Even as a short-arse I can do that, at least for a while holding some light tools. Holding a heavy SDS drill all day drilling into concrete? Well you probably need something 1m higher so you can hold it at waist height.

Flooring started to go on today. I had to pre-insulate the floor round the edges where the wall sits on top as this will not be accessible later on. I used hemp insulation here as it was the closest to wood fiber I could get at short notice in the sizes I need

Everything was done through utilising a fantastic local architect - they have extensive knowledge of the local policies, National Planning Policy Framework and generally, have a extremely high track record of getting successful approvals. As part of the process, Design Review Panels were also used, (you should have one in your area..South...Midlands...North etc.). By taking impartial advice from a Design Panel on a Para79/80 design, and then working that into your overall submission to the local authority, you stand a much greater chance of approval as you're providing independant evidence that your design is "architecturally exceptional" etc al. As you know, every project is unique and there's no set formula for success. However, my first bit of advice would be to find a local architect in your area who: a) has a successful track record of approvals. b) knows how to get Paragraph 79/80 projects approved based on the NPPF. In our particular case, in the 18th century, there was a malthouse present on site, as evident through historical maps. This became disused over time and fell to ruin leaving little trace on site. - We focused on this historical context for our application as we are restoring the heritage of the site, through the form of a modernised residential dwelling, taking design cues from the malthouse. It then goes without saying that as part of Para79/80, for best chances of approval, the dwelling should be utilising renewable technologies, passivhaus principals etc al. If you've previously self built and project managed then the actual job and construction should be a walk in the park, it's getting the planning which is the tricky part.

So my saga to find an appropriate stove for a house with MVHR continues. I had settled on the Dik Guerts Bora Corner Stove. It is marketed as suitable for using with a direct air kit and after much persistence the importer was able to confirm that the air supply can be up to 11m long with up to 4 bends in it. That's plenty as we only 2 bends and 7.75m. So Stovesonline are pushing me to purchase it. I'm still prevaricating because it's so expensive and such a big decision; they reassure me that for extra peace of mind I can have a free survey with their recommended installers. So an engineer from a company called Bespoke Fire & Flue Services comes along to my house to survey it; it's all fine except he tells me that the DG Bora is not certified for use with MVHR! I was initially rather annoyed but then started to doubt him as he said that actually "no stove is fully air sealed as you'll always get leakage when you open the door to light or refill it". I went back to Stovesonline to query this. They have now come back to me to say there are three levels of air tightness when it comes to stoves: "DIP Test" ceritifed, which is a german standard adopted by passivehaus; "100% direct air sealed" which is what the DG Bora is. "direct air feed" which takes the majority of its air from the direct air supply, but not enough to be suitable for MVHR. I have googled DIP Test and passivehaus and couldn't find anything. It's possible I misheard what Stovesonline were telling me. Maybe the dip it in water and test for air bubbles??? Anyway, stovesonline are telling me that: the DG Bora meets the second category the reason Bespoke Fire & Flue Services didn't recognise the DG Bora as MVHR compliant is because they are HETAS certified and the DG Bora hasn't been tested to HETAS standards that doesn't mean the DG Bora wouldn't pass if tested, and they are still recommending it for me just that I should specify my MVHR system to run with some "positive pressure" in the room where I'm installing it. So part of me wants to trust what Stovesonline is telling me, but part of me remains confused. Curious to hear other's experiences of air sealed stoves and MVHR. Did you go for the "DIP Test" certified one, whatever that is, or did you just go for a stove with an air supply. Do you have any issues with MVHR sucking smoke out of your stove when you open to light it or to refill it?

So you’re really pleased to have bought a plot in such a picturesque place then……. 😕

Oh. Nothing there re ‘keeping secrets’

But apart from that it’s fine……..