Dreadnaught

This was the pipe that was recommended for me to use in a similar situation. My ASHP will be about 15m from my plant room. It is pricey at £50+ per metre. And it is big and fat too (125mm outer diameter) so, if it needs to turn vertical to enter you dwelling, it will need to be buried deep to obtain the radius bend (perhaps 800mm+). http://www.buffertanks.co.uk/shop/microflex-duo-underground-insulated-pipe-kit-2m-32mm-outer

12-months for planning permission here. Well done @Piers. Its down hill from here!

@Cadet982, I'll message you.

Welcome! I am building in Cambridge but my architect lives in mid-Wales, by coincidence, if you need any contacts. Good luck with your build!

Regarding the MDPE water pipe and its inflexibility, and relying on a swept-bend to get it in, why not simply place a 90º MDPE elbow at the bottom where the pipe turns vertical? I have been told such joints are fine to be inaccessible. Is that wrong advice?

I think @Russdl was planning one, or at least the provision for one.

Can't recommend it as I am yet to use it, but I am planning on using EuroBrick's P-Clad system for my timber-frame building, which will be going up soon. I also considered Wetherby Systems solution, with @PeterStarck used. And I considered Corium by Taylor Maxwell, which has metal rails, but that was more expensive. All of the suppliers were helpful when I contacted them. Eurobrick offer training (I intend to DIY the cladding) and an estimation service from plans before ordering.

Great to see this under way. Who is building the EPS foundation tray? Is it DIY?

Welcome Matt. Very interesting. Good to have you here. I wonder what you consider the limits of natural. Would, for example, recycled-paper-based insulation like blown-cellulose count as natural? I am using it in my forthcoming build. Edited: to say I just saw your other post about WarmCel, so that probably answers it

Welcome! @epsilonGreedy is building in Lincolnshire. And a few others are in north Cambridgeshire.

Reporting back. I have moling quote now: £4500 to £5000, whereas the trenching quote was £4000. The moling expert was also slighty concerned that the location was adjacent to a river. He said there was "reasonable possibility that the ground would be unsuitable for moling". So back to traditional trenching, I have a few more digger drivers to speak to before making a final choice.

Please do. Interesting topic. I am going for 3-metre ceilings throughout in my modern bungalow just because I can.

What a site! What a location! Great progress. You could put this updates in a blog if you liked? Just ask a staff member to set it up for you.

Mine is a new build and I plan to do precisely this. Smart-app all round (plus motion detectors). And blanking plates everywhere for reversion if/when I sell up. I might even stick the battery-powered smart switches atop the blanking plates.

Intake at D, exhaust at B. I will be separating mine by 3m but others have suggested that less is OK. Same elevation. Exhaust down-wind from intake.

For electricity, my quotation from UKPN was as follows (in mid 2019): For complicated reasons, which I won't bore you with, I got a refund so only ended up paying £4,682.

I can start off. Potable water (work will be done in the next couple of months): 35 metre communication pipe in a non-adopted road (concrete surface) is about £110 per meter (by my contractor). The Cambridge Water connection cost to the mains is as follows: Note: this price is from before April 2020 and I think it is due to rise a bit because of annual price rises. Sorry, don't have costings for drains connections yet.

There is a rule of thumb about the ratio of glazing (whether windows or rooflights) to floor area. A figure of 10 - 15% is typically quoted. Having too much light can be problematic for causing fading of materials and so on, as well as the problems you mention for heat gain and loss. I wonder what the percentage is for your proposed L-shaped kitchen. Furthermore, for a given area of glazing, a roof light is generally far more effective at letting in light than a window, particularly when mullions and frame are accounted for, which tend to be larger for windows than rooflights.

@Conor, good question: nobody. Its one of those really old roads that nobody owns but everyone has been using for access since time immemorial. It is shared by one other dwelling and about eight boathouses as their sole access. I had to do all legal the searches, etc., with the planning permission.

Thanks @Conor * @Mr Punter, good idea! I have the contact of local moling specialist. I will email him now and report back.

There's something slightly puzzling about my water-connection quote from the local water company. The connection and the meter are specified as only 15mm, see below. Is that normal? Should I ask for 25mm? I will be installing a 22mm communication pipe down my 40m access road.

Thanks @Conor. Good to know. I didn't say but its not a one-off job: I would be offering this contractor all the groundworks. Thanks everyone. OK, time to "negotiate" I think.

Thanks @SuperJohnG. That's helpful. Good luck with your borehole! And thanks @Adrian Walker, good points. If anyone else has a cost-per-meter for off-site trenching, I'd appreciate hearing it?

Have a quote for laying a new 25mm water pipe in my access road. Is the price sensible? Quote is £4,000 (zero rated for VAT). Length of road is 35 metres, so £114-a-metre. The road surface is thick concrete, no steel. Includes the pipe, all back fill and making good. And 1x grab lorry for muck-away. Quote allows for one circular-saw blade for cutting the concrete. Extra blades will be at cost. The road is private, if that is relevant, so no permit costs, etc. What do you think?

Oh, maybe I am getting my terms mixed up. Maybe it was a Technologist, sorry. So we have: Architect, £££ (£)? Architectural Technologist , £££ Architectural Technician, £ Any others? EDIT: Just checked and it was an ACIAT, so yes got my terms wrong.