Roger440

Of course it has. It wont change in any meaningful way. Consulting is an excellent way of doing nothing.

I think you will find they did! Then you suggest the same, but tempered with the idea that it comes from the general taxation pool. Because there loads of spare cash there! Regardless of if its on gas directly, or on tax generally, its an additional tax on people to deliberately make them poorer. Ill never support that. The real issue, as discussed, is the price of electricity is way to much. Fix that, and you are a big step along the way. And we all know that can be done tommorow. Putting UP gas just lines the pockets of MCS union members and other leeches at the detriment of everyone else. Its just a dumb solution, nor likely to happpen. The fact that electricity prices remain pegged tells you all you need to know about whats really at play..

This is interesting stuff, and like the OP we are starting to see the impact of the October 23 changes. It will certainly make life more difficult for someone actually trying to do some or all of the work themselves. Does suggest, that if you have a contract with architect/ designer or whatever, that it probably needs to include a clause that makes satisfying the BCO of your design a key clause. within the cost. Ive not built a house, and, sadly, have accepted i never will. But if you were, if you dont have this, it falls on the owner to keep paying for re-submissions. I guess it will sort out the designers who know their stuff from those who dont! Then the builder just needs to build to the design. I say "just" in jest. We all know how that can go. Sorry ive contributed nothing to resolving the OP's issues.

I do know said granite chips seem remarkably hard to come by. Bigger, like 10mm, no problem.

Im beginning to think some of you are mad! Clever, but mad. Unpopular headlines would be the least of your problems. Lets look at reality. We double or whatever gas prices. What do we think will happen? A stampede to heat pumps? Not a chance. The majority of the working population get to the end of the month with little or no money in the bank. So you have just made that significantly worse by whacking up gas prices. And then you want them to switch to a Heat pump? So anything from £2-10K lets say? Hows that work? The reality, they will just turn down their heating, (or burn stuff) as they simply have no other choice. Thats before we consider the wider economic impacts. Personally, i wouldnt and couldnt wish that upon my fellow citizens. Clearly others have a different view. Regardless, any government attemting such a thing will be out at the earliest opportunity. Fortunately, for those who have a degree of compassion, highly unlikely to come to pass.

Yes, we suffered thread drift. Yes, Dave original post makes perfect sense. No, nothing will happen. I am, however, against a "charge" being placed by government on the home. Thats the first step towards government taking ownership of private properties.

Wasnt talking about new build. Thats just another example of "not serious" government. As you say, shitty houses. Retrofit. My point was, who will pay? How? Vast majority of houses have loft insulation. That was an easy win. Next steps on insulation are way more expensive as per my post.

I think we agree on this. Mostly.

Well it doesnt do that. So its not fit fr purpose. Take, for example, building an insulated cavity wall. If you are lucky, he will pop his head in there and see insulation. He wont care if its got gaps, isnt taped, has air flowing behind it. Just that its there. Tick in the box. Pointless. What did it add to the process? Aside from cost.

What do think its function is?

Sadly, being ex-railway, i tend to take an interest. Whilst you could argue we have the expertise, its individual expertise. We dont, any longer, have any organisation capable of building a railway in a timely and cost effective manner. All that has been lost. Sure, nimbys and all that other stuff make it worse, but thats a bit of a sideshow. And thats pretty much true across the board. All the institutions that would deliver stuff, be it houses, railways, roads etc etc, are all hollowed out or gone completely.

Sorry people, for the lack of multiquote. Beyond my understanding sadly.

Mostly true, though it goes a bit deeper than that. I have a whole suite of BC certs, all from the council, not worth the paper they are written on. Including sign off for a sewage system that wasnt even there!. Building control is an utterly useless activity that achieves little.

Im not sure what the point of the debate is. You believe it can be stopped and reversed. I dont. With the emphasis on believe. There are ways to deal with flooding, both upstream and downstream. Most of them expensive, but not always. Instead of doing that, and trying to reduce the liklihood of farmland being under water, lets fit heat pumps. That will help. We cant even manage to clear the drains at the side of the road, but you think we can change the climate! Nobody in power being serious. FWIW, i lived next to a river, and had a farmer as a neighbour. I know what happens, and i see the change, including a house full of water.

Political reality prevents anything useful being achieved. I already outlined my thoughts. Move towards renewables at a pace that, a) achievable, b) affordable. And in a manner compatible with keeping the price of energy low. A much slower pace, will by default be more affordable as we slowly build up our capacity to do so. Thats the work of decades. As it stands now, we cant build a short railway from london to birmingham. Our victorian ancestors would weep watching that carry on. Bugger all chance of a huge electricity transmission program.

Who will pay for this "upgrade" of housing stock? What would the average cost be of doing it "properly"? Lets take a wild guess. Wales are currently doing (only for non gas houses though) this along with a heat pump. £45k max grant. So lets be optimistic, and assume that the grant harverters are not involved. Oh, and there enough people who understand old housing stock available. So £35k per house. Where would such staggeringly large sums come from? Its insanity to even think about it. And as above, it wont be £35k once the usual suspects get involved And theres no people to do it. Never mind, as you observe the inappropiate work that will get done. Nor does it come close to making any economic sense from a payback perspective (glossing over the zero chance of as built matching design). Ive come up with a plan for my house. Even doing all the work myself, payback is over 60 years. The most cost effective option is simply to do nothing. Genuinely curious to see any credible solution. I cant make to stack up.

Ive discussed this elsewhere, but the system is indeed completely broken. Even in its revised format, essentially inspectors are free to do as they please with almost no chance of comeback. Yes, they can be subject to penalties etc. But as a homeowner, you have no recourse. Theres no solution in the building inspection system for anything. Developers and anyone else who wants to will carry on circumventing things. They are using photos now. I mean, just how wide open to abuse can you get?

Im not sure i could think of a less appropiate organisation to manage a large house building program. Those days have well and truly gone. The mind boggles. The houses would cost 5 times what they were worth, if they got built at all.

I havent said fossil fuels is the way forward. Please re-read my posts. It isnt going to be cheaper. Ed's self written report says that. Its the infrastructure to move the power generated where the real costs, cost overruns and delays will come. The capital costs will be off the charts. Thats what will be the issue. And of course our old favourite the pegging of the price. Which wont change, irrespective of anything else. When someone sorts that out, i might just start believe the government is serious. Its isnt and it hasnt. As it stands, its wedded to the idea of ever increasing prices. Only action will convince me otherwise. In the meantime, we will disagree.

Well, clearly with ever higher costs, all being warm isnt going to happen. Maybe you can explain how a scarce expensive commodity can result in everyone being equally warm. Current policies and plans will 100% ensure lots of cold people. Already has.

So we should all be equally cold?

Proves my points really. Electricity is too expensive.

Im not sure anyone said it was. Cheap energy allows a succesful thriving economy. Everything spins off from that.

A modest decline is an easy thing to say if you are insulated from the effects of said decline. No, wealth is not my sole goal, though i dont speak for others. However, i do like to be warm, a not unreasonable ambition in the modern world id suggest. However, with prices double what they were just a few years ago, that now more difficult, indeed impossible for some. Current plans seem to steer us towards ever increasing energy costs. Which means more people being cold more often.

Correct, no solution. There isnt one. Certainly not one that can be succesfully implemented by our government(s). Lets be blunt, ive long given up on anything other than continued decline. Ive accepted it and plan my life accordingly. I dont expect anything to be solved in 5 years. Im not even sure its people being to stupid. Its government creating that message. Look at all the current targets. Like housing. 1.5 million homes in the current term. They said that, not the newspapers etc. No plan at all beyond the current term.