Dreadnaught

Good question, Russell. The boathouse has shared a drains survey with me. It shows both a foul drain and surface drain in the access road immediately in front of my plot (and next to theirs). I am assuming I can connect in to those. The boathouse needs to put in a new manhole for the surface drain so will be opening up the road for that. Could I ask them to do some works for me while they have it open? Good point. The boathouse has offered to send both my quote (£12k) and theirs back to the DNO and ask for a combined quote. For joint matters, such as the electricity connection, the tree works, and possible even laying drains to the boundary of my plot, could I ask them to do my works too at their cost, and no cost to me? Is that too much to ask? Would the marginal cost for them be low?

Actually not, Russell. Their boathouse (and the river beyond it) sits on the opposite side of the access road that lies between us, down which will come the services.

Now there's an idea, haha! I wonder if I need a firearms (or artillery) licence for such a thing.

There will indeed be a bar. Hence one reason why I am keen on building a sound-proof, thicked-walled passive house, haha! As for for boat race, that remains to be seen. Given the amount of rowing going on just beyond my front gate, I suspect I will probably be immune to its charms by the time it comes around.

Thanks @Ferdinand. Helpful. Haha, come to think of it they did indeed offer free rowing lessons.

I have a tricky little negotiation to undertake over the next few weeks. A range of views would be welcome. The question: How much and what in-kind benefit (not money) could I request in exchange for letting a neighbour use my plot during for their build? Background I am soon to buy a small 20m x 20m plot to build my new house. Its a rear garden plot in the centre of a city One neighbour is a rowing club on a river, a charity. They plan to knock down their boathouse next to me and rebuild starting in October for a 9-month build. I will finish buying my plot just as they start. They are influential in the local area so its worthwhile for me to keep in their good books They have nowhere to put their site hut and storage container during their build and have asked to use my plot They are as poor as church mice, despite having found the money to re-build I am in no hurry to start. I will need to go back to planning anyhow. And a pause will give me time to plan properly The negotiation I do not expect them to pay me to use my plot (see 4 above). But I would like some in-kind benefit that is fair. What amount of benefit would be fair? Some ideas for what the rowing club could provide, in-kind The only thing they have offered is that I could use their welfare facilities during my build (I presume that would mean toilet, washing facilities, drinking water, rest area) Other ideas (which they have not offered): Utilities availability. We both need to open up the access road to lay a new electricity cable (my quote for this is £12k). I also need to lay a new water pipe along the same route (they don’t) Some of the tree works are in common between us My plot is not prepared. Its a garden with ruined foundations from an old greenhouse and over growth. They could prepare the site for my development and leave it in a suitable state at the end Any other ideas? Comments and thoughts welcome! (I will ask another question later about having a contract with the rowing club for their usage.)

I tend to agree. Joe Public does not give a fig. Even the term Passive House, translated as it is from German, its unfortunate. In my experience, people think it applies to houses only, not other buildings, and invariably implies no heating system at all.

@NSS That's good. What's the shape of the building (form factor, it has a huge effect), fairly compact? Good levels of insulation in the walls, roof and floor? Air tight with MVHR?

@NSS sounds like a good figure. Have you modelled your house in PHPP? The most recent iteration of my house (117m² TFA, single story, not yet built) is 49.2 kWH.m2a for Entire Primary Energy Demand. More iterations and re-designs yet to come. Form factor is very poor at 4.69 (largely unavoidable because of planning constraints).

@NSS I should have said that the heating demand limited to ≤15kWh/m2.yr is for space heating only, not to include domestic hot water (DHW). More details here: https://www.passivehouse-international.org/index.php?page_id=150

For comparison, the limit for the passive-house standard for the "Entire Primary Energy Demand" is ≤120kWh/m2.yr (with heating demand limited to ≤15kWh/m2.yr).

@epsilonGreedy, could you consider starting a blog? Finding the time might be difficult I realise but if it’s photo laden it might not take too long. I for one would find it interesting. And I think you have a lot to contribute. I joined the forum about the same time as you, and I have been consistently impressed that you seemed to be picking things up more quickly than me. I have already learnt a lot from the threads you started. And, as I said in a PM to you some time ago, I generally enjoy your contributions, and I recognise that some of them are somewhat tongue-in-cheek, as I think you yourself acknowledged.

@pdf27 Yes, I agree about summer cooling. Something I am thinking about. Am considering a low cost (sub £1000) air-to-air heat pump (otherwise known as an air conditioner) just for summer cooling. My approach is however still a work in progress so I might change my mind.

Very interesting to see your site clearance photos as I am researching site clearance for my plot. Thank you.

Yes. And that disregards the capital and installation costs, and maintenance charge, of a gas boiler, which makes the decision even easier for a new build like mine. I am even thinking of going for electric-resistance heating only removing even the costs associated with an heat pump.

This tweet seems significant, but I am not entirely sure how. I guess it will enable houses heated entirely using electricity, which is what I plan for my near passive house, to more easily comply with the SAP requirements. I wonder if it will also feed through to PHPP and the calculations of primary energy demand. So after much delay SAP10 is out for review from BRE (it was originally going to be called SAP2016). The carbon factors are updated (thankfully), along with many other positive changes. […]The SAP10 grid elec carbon factor is set at 0.233kgCO2e/kWh (down from 0.519) & mains gas is set at 0.210 (= 0.233 with a 90% boiler). This reflects the huge decarbonisation of the grid over the past few years. https://twitter.com/NigelBanks_ilke/status/1031797729121460225

With only the most limited of knowledge of the circumstances in question, and with the benefits of hindsight in light of the knock on consequences for the rest of her build, it strikes me that in @lizzie's case rectification may have been insufficient. Perhaps a solution similar to that for @PeterStarck might have been better. That is to cut up the slab, cart it away, and start again. Just an uninformed guess. (For clarification, as I recall MBC had nothing to do with @PeterStarck's build.)

This one quoted paragraph prompts me to post again. I have been mostly refraining as others seem eager to hear more from Polly in debate with other BH members. I admire @JSHarris and others for gamely entering the fray with civility and restraint. Scientific words have precise meanings. For me, this paragraph is an example of riding a coach-and-horses across those meanings. It sounds science-y but for those versed in the subject*, it prompts open-mouthed astonishment at its ridiculousness. It is perhaps worth reminding ourselves that Polly's employer, and by extension Polly herself, has a financial interest in this subject. Personally, I would prefer that such financial interests were kept from BuildHub. They are prone, in my opinion, to dilute and muffle debate and to dissimulate. After consideration, I believe that the mods took a decision to allow it in this case. My feeling from reading all the contributions to this thread is that this has been a popular decision. To pick up on @richi's earlier thoughts about reaching a conclusion, I would find it interesting to see a poll of those who had read this thread from end-to-end exploring two questions: (1) whether this company's claims are proven; (2) on the wider question of allowing companies to be members of our forum. I wonder what others think. (* as a young man, 20+ years ago, I gained a brace of degrees in related subjects)

Perhaps a key safe, empty, as a honey trap for thieves and the key hidden elsewhere?

What conclusion can we reasonably foresee? Are we expecting Polly to say something like: "Oh yes, I see what you mean now and the error of my ways. I will resign from my role at this company forthwith and cease the promotion of pseudo science"? I suspect that we have heard all that Polly has to say on this subject, shallow as her contribution has been, and we are in to repetition and the necessity of evasion. Or am I mistaken?

There are also gypsum moulded ones like these examples, but I am surprised by how fearsomely expensive they are:

In our local authority, there is a duty planning officer, a service intended to handle questions about how to navigate the planning system and to deal with the most minor planning questions. Its a free service. I spoke to them twice about the best planning strategy for my plot. On both calls (you can book a call or attend in person), to my delight as the conversation progressed the chatty duty planning officer freely volunteered an opinion about my proposal, which I had emailed in ahead of time, and even followed it up with an email afterwards confirming what she had said. As a consequence, I had received much of what I needed for free, and much more quickly (within a couple of days) than by going the route of a formal pre-app consultation (which I am led to believe have much longer lead times and are much more involved).

I am interested in the huge Agar Grove development of Passive House dwellings in Camden, London. I wonder, is anyone else interested in or connected with it? I will be keeping an eye on it. For those interested, more details here: https://www.hawkinsbrown.com/projects/agar-grove

Good point @ProDave. Oh actually, this should be in the Building Regulations forum, not Planning Permission. Could a mod move it?

A PYC tweet today: https://www.ukgbc.org/news/government-confirms-local-authorities-can-set-energy-standards-beyond-part-l-in-nppf/ My summary: The Government yesterday published its revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). Government said as part of the consultation: "local authorities are not restricted in their ability to require energy efficiency standards above Building Regulations". This implies local authorities can can set energy standards beyond Part L now, but just didn't realise it. I would love for a UK local authority to mandate something close to the Passive House standard.