Si3

@Neil999 I had lots of conflicting views as well. I finally made the decision that I wanted to progress and tried to focus on the bits the were positive and forget all the negativity. If you don’t you’ll drive yourself mad. We had the same issue with the barn not having enough height to be able to provide the bedrooms upstairs so everything would have been downstairs meaning we would have had a very tigh space. That was the reason I went in for full planning. We managed to get approval to raise the height by 1.5m so we could get all 3 bedrooms upstairs. Getting the Class Q agreed made it easier to make the changes I needed to make the space work for my family. With regards to the Parish being involved - In Cornwall the County Council ultimately say yay or nay but all applications get referred to the local parish council for their thoughts. Having no objections from them makes things a lot easier. Not sure if things work the same I. Your neck of the woods??

Advice here is brilliant, thanks all. With regards to the noise is one of those things you only notice after it’s installed, and the. Just blends into the background?

Thanks everyone, seems like a good idea then!

I am thinking about installing MVHR in our new build. I am just wondering is it worth the cost of, and what is it like to live with?

I am building a garage along side my house, am I able to reclaim vat on the materials etc used on the garage as well as the house please?

Hi Everyone, I'm Simon, my wife and I are about to start building a new build that is replacing an old barn on my family farm, in Cornwall. Its been a long road to get the planning but will be starting the build in April, so pretty exited right now. I will be working with my builder who will helping me project mange the build. its going to be timber framed blocked then clad. I am currently researching some initial bits, and if anyone has used similar materials it would be great to pick your brains. Timber cladding will be black, so just trying to decide what timber to use, do we paint the timber or look at Shou Sugi Ban? Roof and some walls will be clad in metal corrugated sheets to keep the agricultural look. Having grown up on the farm I have noticed on the other buildings sheets have faded and gone a bit milky, so hoping there are sheets out there now that can avoid this? Windows - looking at aluminium but aware quotes can vary massively so if anyone has worked some good manufacturers and installers that are reasonable it would be great to know!! Finally if there is anyone in Cornwall who has built similar and wouldn't mind me coming and having a nose around I would be most grateful!!! Thanks

Hi @Neil999 I have just done the same thing. Having the Class Q establishes the premise of development on the site. Once that is established its just a matter of tweaking the design during the full planning process. Just about to start the actual build now. I made sure that we made the new build a slightly smaller footprint but did increase the height by 1.5m. Cornwall Council where I am like the buildings to be smaller footprint than what is there. Initially the officer had some reservations about the height increase but the parish had no issues so on balance the officer could approve. So definitely worth getting the parish on side and local councillor, I met with the local councillor and made sure he was happy with my plans. Also I met with the parish just before I submitted the full planning app which they seemed to appreciate and I think helped. In my app I bigged up the fact that I would be using renewables and the new build would be more sustainable overall than trying to convert the existing structure. Just make sure in the planning app that you say you will be developing the site even if planning wasn't going to be granted as the fallback position must have a realistic chance of taking place. If you want any help or advice please feel free to message.