Canski

We use a laser and put datum marks usually 1m above finished floor level around the buildings corners. . We then build the corners up to the desired height then run the walls in. You can get a bit of line sag on a long run so we usually tingle the line to a datum in the middle of a long run.

You struck lucky. I thought the same until this latest email. Now it seems that they are trying to extract every last £ from me. I have never heard of anyone laying a sheet down to catch droppings.

They are a law unto themselves. Even when they get to my sites they never do as I ask. One level up from ecologists.

money for old rope or a valid scenario ?

After 3 emergence surveys which showed no bats and a bat detector place in my loft for several weeks there was no sign of bats then I get this ,,,,what are the bat experts thoughts on this ?... After three bat dusk emergence surveys during optimal weather conditions and the optimal survey period in 2022, NO bats were recorded emerging from the building. No bat activity was recorded by the Anabat bat recorder left in the loft void. The droppings found in May 2022 were mostly old degraded droppings with some fresh droppings. Given the results of the further inspections we consider the fresh droppings were likely produced from bats prospecting the loft void early in the season. The bats may have decided that it was no longer suitable for a maternity roost (this may be because of light spill/habitat loss from the new surrounding housing development). Therefore, it could be argued that the building no longer contains an established bat roost and the early season bat droppings were likely produced from a bat(s) prospecting the loft void and it would appear now that they did not set up an established roost in the building this year. If we complete the report with the above evaluation, then its unlikely a EPS mitigation licence would be required. However, within the report we would need to state that there is a possibility of a late season maternity roost. The previous consultants recorded a bat maternity roost in the building during later season surveys, i.e. in August and September. Therefore, it is possible that a late season maternity roost could set up this year in the building. It is entirely possible that the county ecologist when reviewing the report and planning application may not be satisfied that a late season survey was not carried out. If this was the case then it might then be too late to carry out the later season survey and the county ecologist may state that this would need to be carried out next year. Therefore, as an absolute precaution and to cover all bases we would recommend that a later season survey, i.e. August, is carried out to absolutely make sure with certainty that there is no late season maternity roost present in the building (just a couple of years ago we carried out three surveys at an old farm site and it wasn't until the late August surveys when we recorded a maternity roost). We consider (i) we need to make sure we're not missing a late season maternity roost, (ii) we need to satisfy the planning county ecologist and (iii) we need to make sure we don't miss out the opportunity to complete all bat surveys this year. Dwayne has also stated that he would like to go to site this week to spread a dust sheet along below the ridge line to see if any fresh bat droppings are left on the sheet. This would be left in place for the entirety of August. In light of this, we propose the following: Complete the report by next week, including recommendation for late season survey for consideration by LPA Spread dust sheet along below the ridge line asap Undertake late season survey at end of August and subsequently issue to LPA as addendum to report Complete proactive works for protection of bats during early demolition works. This would fit in with your proposed programme. If you can confirm that this is in order, then I will ask Dwayne to arrange for the dust sheet to be provided and programme in the additional late season survey.

Thank you for this snippet of info. I guess the SAP lady hadn't heard that or uses different software. There is hope then. 🙂

More packers than Amazon.

I had this from my SAP assessor today. Why oh why does nothing ever go to plan in this country. ‘A little note of warning on timescales – there have been a large amount of problems with the new software developed for assessing the new building regs. This means that as present there is not a working version in the UK. Hopefully that changes very soon and won’t affect your project but just as a heads up in case it does. All assessors are in the same position and all we can do is wait for updates to be made before proceeding further with projects that are affected.’ One hold up after another for me.

Thats a lovely old barn and the new design is very modern. I like it. My advice would be to find a decent local small builder with great references to either price the structural work or do it on a cost + basis. There are so many unknowns in barns that people tend to go way over with their pricing 'just incase'

Well I had the 3rd emergence survey last night and again no bats were seen entering or leaving the building. so 3 out of 3 no shows. There were a few fly pasts but there are a lot of bats down in the area probably due to a nearby man made lake so that was expected. The ecologists removed their bat detector from the loft and took some samples of droppings to be sent off to Warwick Uni for DNA analysis. Fingers crossed I am bat free but ....... Due to the previous bat report from 2016 where brown long eared had a maternity roost in the building the ecologists seem determined to find bats in my roof space. How much further will they go ? The guys on site also seem to be ordered to be tight lipped about their findings but say that it is good news for me. The only good outcome for me would be that there is no need to apply to natural England for a mitigation licence. I guess that I will have to wait for the report but am a little confused as to the potential measures required after 3 surveys where no bats have been seen. If the droppings are deemed to be old and the detector noted no activity surely I have no bats and should be able to crack on ? I was expecting the surveys and the delay for demolition but I am getting worried now that the ecologists are a bit miffed that they have seen no bats and will drag their heels producing the report. Has anyone else any experience with 3 no show surveys and what happens next.

That's like trapping your hand in an acrow prop. You only do it once.

I’ve got feelings you know 😂

Feel free to ask I’m a Brickie with 40 years experience and love a challenge 😀

did you put any DPM down first? serves no purpose but you would have got more time to play with. edited now because I see it didn't go in.

https://downloads.halfen.com/catalogues/de/media/catalogues/brickworksupportsystems/FM_HALFEN_20-1_E.pdf I’ve not used these before but have used other Halfen products. They were pretty good. Not sure what the payback time over your design would be and I’m not qualified to comment on that. Just an idea.

Tbf that’s a bugger of a steel to get in. It does look like the boiler and svp wall is coming out anyway. Are they contracted to do the plumbing ? Or more to the point have you got a fixed price broken down into stage payments ? It’s a bit early on the project for fabricated extras .

I’ll have one of them from 01/08 as well 😂😂

I'm not sure where you are but I have a selection of plastic posts (albeit attached to unused road signs at a house I am going to demolish. I could also throw some lifebuoys in. 🙂

My initial survey was £700 plus vodka and tonic i made the mistake of not specifying what survey I needed. I thought I needed just a bat survey but there is a chance that I needed a full ecological survey which will make the extra £2400 for 3 bat emergence surveys ( plus more vodka and tonic) maybe a waste of money... although no bats have been found on the site (yet) . Next and final bat survey next week.

Hi All I am interested in cladding some of my outer walls in stone slips and have them pointed to look like the real thing. Has anyone had quotes for this type of work who could give me an idea of costs per m2 for the labour. I have found a supplier but need some ball park figures for the labour. cheers Dave

He did say around and on top not inside.

the PDF if anyone else is interested Our_Guaranteed_Standards_of_Performance_2015.pdf

Thanks Temp. It’s starting to add up now. 😀getting it I guess is another thing.

He clearly doesn’t want the job. Keep looking for a QS and try showing a couple of them the ridiculous quote and observe their reaction.

Oh dear tiredness typo 🤷‍♀️I should have said ‘well known’ thinking now ‘well successful’