Dreadnaught

Welcome @Smithy. What part of East Anglia are you in?

Hi @AliG, I just checked my MBC quote and I was quoted £220 per sq.m of internal floor area back in November 2019 and £212 per sq.m before that in December 2018. (I did not use MBC in the end, for a range of reasons.)

↑. Oh damn: "It's also confirmed new-build domestic properties […] DON'T qualify for the green home vouchers.".

Thanks all. That all makes sense. Really helpful! I made 9x calls this afternoon about getting a meter installed. Turned out that my electricity cable installation was referenced as a "TBS", unsurprisingly as that is what I requested, and SSE told me they no longer do meter installs for TBSs. But if I was to call UKPN and have "TBS" removed from the description on the system then they would be more than happy to install a meter for me. So I called UKPN had the three letters removed and, tomorrow, will call SSE back to arrange an appointment for the meter to be installed before the end of August. By the way, British Gas said they are working on a 5-weeks timescale for new meter-installs now and described all sorts of extra requirements too, such as a credit check. SSE seemed easier to work with.

Thanks guys! @dnb, who is your tariff with? For the life of me I can't find any information online about zero-standing-charge tariffs! I looked on Eon, NPower, etc.

Last year, I had has an electricity kiosk installed by UKPN on site for a TBS (see below). Now I need to "turn it on" so I can use it for things like an electric chipper for learning the site. What do I need to do? 1) get a electricity company to install a meter in the box? 2) sign up for a tariff? 3) get an electrician in to connect up some outdoor sockets? Is that right? By the way, I am going to keep the meter cabinet here when the house is finished, not move it inside. Its located in plain site just next as you come through the main gate so, at the end of the build, I am thinking to replace this cheap meter cabinet with something nicer to look at, perhaps made of brick or perhaps one of this nice green posh-looking meter cabinets. I am also going to have an EV charging point here too for an electric car, exactly where this is positioned. (p.s. vandals knocked the door off; so I have taped it back on with parcel tape.)

Its a spreadsheet used for Passive Houses. More details here: https://passivehouse.com/04_phpp/04_phpp.htm And perhaps slightly more approachable here: https://passipedia.org/planning/calculating_energy_efficiency/phpp_-_the_passive_house_planning_package

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.