Bournbrook

It is. However, I was under the impression it was ‘free flowing traffic’ they had to measure. Given the fact most traffic is waiting to pass through in turn, it is not free flowing. Also,as it is already a 20mph road, they won’t lower the visibility any lower than 25m either direction (as is my understanding), so a speed survey can only go against us I think! our main hope is that the context of the buildout being there and therefore the ability of cars joining the highway to nose out into the road further than normal and therefore improving visibility in both directions. It’s a fairly unprecedented situation (as far as one can google anyway!) so I just wondered if people felt this was a valid point. I imagine it will just come down to the highways officer on the day!

Thanks everyone for your input. I have a slightly odd situation in that even though technically the current splays cannot be achieved within my land (due to a hedge right on boundary of next door - it’s not encroaching highway, I’ve checked!) when looking left out of drive. However, there is a traffic calming ‘buildout’ right next to our driveway, which accompanied with another directly opposite makes it almost impossible for 2 cars to get through separately. I’m banking on the fact that the x distance (which I can hopefully blag to be 2m not the 2.4) can be measured further into the carriageway (the blue line on my picture) as the buildout sort of acts like a verge. The official edge of highway is the red line. Does anyone have any thoughts??

Hi there we are looking to build a new house in our garden and use the current driveway as the access for both houses. The current driveway goes straight onto a 20mph C road. the current visibility is not great (we don’t quite get the the nearside kerb 25m when looking left). As far as I understand, highways are only consulted when there is a change to the current access when it is under 5 dwellings. I understand it will attract a little more traffic (current house is 4 bed and new one is 2 bed) but the access remains unchanged. does anyone have any experience with this sort of thing and how much scrutiny we are likely to face? Looking at applications in my area, some seem to fly through with awful visibility and some are required to show very detailed plans that already have fairly good splays. Any advice welcome.

I really like your charred cladding. Has far more personality than just stained. How is it holding up?

Hi all hoping to get some cladding inspiration form people. We at the design phase for a 3 bed house and the architect has started looking at externals. We sent some ideas of what we liked and he came up with the below. I really like it and we would use reclaimed (or made to look that way) bricks. I just wondered if anyone has any ideas of what else we could consider? the design itself is very particular to the site (matching pitch height to Nextdoor, no overlooking windows etc), so it’s the externals we need to figure out now!

Hi there. We are at the design stage of a new build in the garden of our current property. We are thinking about potential construction methods and TF keeps coming up tops, closely followed by SIPs. We like the idea of a quick construction time but are worried about access being too tricky to allow panels to be delivered. We spoke to one company who said they use 40ft lorries so would have to see if they could fit but I wondered if anyone knew the sort of height and width clearance needed (we have a fairly low hanging branch on a TPO tree) for delivery and whether there are any companies out there that have smaller vehicles/can make smaller panels?? We will obviously approach some companies and ask this, but thought I’d throw it out to the BH forum too!! thanks

Thanks for sharing. This is very much my worry. Do you mind me asking what you were hoping to build and where? thanks

Thanks. This seems to indicate that even with all the extra costs (most of which we had accounted for separately) we should be ok. Still not sure though!!

That’s what I thought! Just a bit reluctant to spend so much to be really disappointed!

Hi all. I’m looking for some advice about potentially using a quantity surveyor in the early design phase for a new build (approx 160sqm). we are working with a great architect (recommendation from on here) who has put together a great initial design for us. The architect has said to budget about £250-275 per square ft (approx 2700-3000 per sqm) and that there is nothing about the initial design that is particularly complex and that would push that figure up at this stage. However, I have been speaking to friends in the area (we are in SE England) who have had recent quotes for extensions and renovations and they are INSANE). One had moving a staircase, some walls down and a tiny extension come in at £360k. Is it the case that renovations are simply a lot more (I appreciate the VAT doesn’t help) or are construction prices still crazy high?! I spoke to my architect and said this has created some reluctance as we don’t want to pay for detailed drawings for planning (and then further detailed drawings) just to find out we can’t actually afford to do it. He has said that with the floor plan and some elevations he’s started, it should be enough to get some quotes from some SIP/TF companies and then to a QS for a better idea of costs. My questions are: - how much would an estimation like this cost from a QS? - how accurate actually is it?? - does anyone else have any advice/recent experience of build costs in the SE (perhaps that £3000sqm figure is just too low now for a main contractor build?) thank you

Great! Thanks out of interest, why the overhang on a north facing side?

Oh I like this. I like the fact everything is a good size but actually the footprint isn’t too big and leaves a good sized garden. can cars definitely turn in that space out the front do you think? the back elevation shows some kind of overhang, as does floor plan, but side elevation doesn’t. Is it just the roof overhanging the back? thanks again. This designs are epic!

Sorry I think I’ve actually phrased this wrong. We are looking to use a main contractor, so really I mean costs beyond building the house (costs to main contractor for materials and labour). Things like, SE, QS, surveys, warranties etc etc

Hi all im sure something already exists on this, but I’m struggling to find it, so if someone could point me in the right direction, I’d be grateful. I am just doing some budgeting and want to work out what extra costs I can expect beyond the actual build costs and architect fees? We’d be looking at building a 1.5 storey of about 150sqm in the South East. thanks

I’m not opposed to flat roofs. I just felt that if you have a flat roof at 6m that’s a lot more imposing than a pitched roof and the shadow it casts would be greater. I suppose a small part of flat roof at the higher level might work though. Like your most recent version but a flat part instead of the wedge

Wow. Amazing! love the idea of a roof garden. Having had a look at elevations I think this would be a problem with overlooking the bungalow garden to the west. However, I imagine a wall on that side of terrace could sort this out. just a thought (and I’m not expecting you to draw this, I hasten to add), if planning didn’t go for this sort of thing, could you essentially just put more roof going diagonally frOn the roof to back of property with an internal window from master to living room (if needed for light) and then roof lights in that section of roof. Would make double ceiling height for living room? Have attached image

I don’t think we’d get a roof terrace through planking unfortunately, but that would be epic! I like the use of space in this design and prefer the garden, but I have fallen in love with the other design!

Just a velux window flush to the roof, no?

Is this only for flat roofs or in general?

Ooh very interesting! I’d never even considered that sort of design. I like the thought of having a roof light on the flat roof above the master bedroom and staring up at the sky! i think it is probably a little too close to the boundary on the left for planners to be satisfied as they did mention they’d like it a little further from the boundary. Could potentially go a metre to the right and then a metre down (to avoid RPA) if cars would still fit

That’s really kind. Thank you. I can’t see anything posted below….

This is amazing!! thanks so much. We’ve just been out in the garden and paced it all out. Once the hedges are cut back we will actually have more space than we can see now and I think the 10mx8m garden on option 2 could actually work for us. however, it’s fantastic to know that we could actually get everything we wanted in a smaller footprint if that’s what planning specified. many idea how much this sort of thing would cost to build? I know people say 2500-3000sqm (as we would need a main contractor), however, do you have any idea if this is on the top or bottom end of that?

Meant to say ‘I’m’ Loving the design. Although I’m sure my mum would like it too!!

Ah yes, it’s frosted glass. I hadn’t considered that. Should be totally fine then! mum really loving this design. The only concern I really have now is the garden size. I’m assuming the whole house (or even the western side) can’t move south at all as this wouldn’t allow turning space? Could this section of the house just be shortened and widened slightly to give some more garden at the very end? the other thing I was thinking is could the whole eastern part go, but the current entrance hall be slightly wider and contain a small box room study in it somehow?

Do you have dormers? I know you’ve sent plans, but I can’t quite figure it out!!