torre

Is manifold noise likely to be noticeable through a block wall? (Thinking about my own locations now!)

Unless you need fire protection I'd be tempted to take a couple of mm off the back of the board where it would contact each hanger.

A planning consultant's not going to get into the detail of a demolition notice, so I can only really interpret this as the consultant will include a statement arguing why it's reasonable to knock down the existing property as part of their service. Maybe it's a bit of fee justification/inflation? I'd ask what's included and why it's needed? Unless there's something special about the existing property (listed but beyond repair, locally significant features, conservation area etc) then I don't think it will represent a significant piece of work, but something more akin to it having little architectural merit, poor repair, expensive to run and maintain, doesn't enhance the neighbourhood compared with your new proposal etc

The vertical overlap looks okay to me, to allow for expansion. Was that lead fresh off a roll? The white staining can be cleaned off as mentioned and patination oil applied but I'd expect the roofers to have done this as part of the job

Is your existing supply single or three phase? If the latter then I think suppliers will allow separate meters on each phase (I think it's come up on this forum before)

Another vote for epoxy glue if you have the other piece intact as it'll save loads of effort. I think you may find it hard to align into position as tightly once you've put a dowel in though

We visited their showrooms a while back, they have loads of kitchens on display and (as a bonus) offer free hot and soft drinks. Their online planner is better than most too. Howdens had no problem with us opening an account as self builders, Magnet let us open a trade account too

I'd echo this, decisions made in haste often turn into ones you regret later. Sometimes you have to start a bit slower to be better prepared and be able to go faster later. I don't think you're losing that much with delaying now. We made an autumn start 1/ to avoid our PP lapsing and 2/ to finally make the project 'real' and with hindsight, once we had the foundations poured last winter should probably have parked things - building brick & block we spent so many days making right and wrong calls on whether to work due to weather, and it being pretty cold and miserable even on 'good' days. I'd anticipated something like when they work on the roof in Shawshank Redemption - cold beer in the sun - but the reality was scraping snow off a scaffold and running around with tarpaulins in sudden storms.

A good point that we sometimes lose track of. Heat loss calcs etc are great for working out the 'need', but the 'want' is just as important, so for us (wet) upstairs ufh is both about avoiding cold floors and avoiding any rad/fan coil fixtures on the walls

I think it's good to have something between the screw and the pan that will break or deform before the porcelain will crack and also to spread the stress over a bigger area than the screw edge touching the pan. Pan fixing kits may have a plastic washer with a cap but a rubber washer with a blob of silicone would do

I think you're right this is a red flag, you need to be absolutely clear with the architect that you haven't engaged them and they don't have your authority to engage with anyone else. It's just way too early for this and possibly unnecessary. If the architect is acting without your authority now then I'd see it as a sign they may be hard to work with later when you need to collaborate on design and work within your budget. There are plenty of good architects out there and I'd want to hire someone who made a better first impression.

Not sure it helps you much but we have warm pendants for ambience over the island and cool/cold ceiling and cupboard downlights for working. Somewhere there's a control to switch the warmth of cupboard lighting but we've never used it.

If your insulation is already stuck and you can't change course then maybe an insulated fixing but with the built in washer cut off and replaced with something thin and galvanised to plaster over like this? You'd need the insulated fixing's pin to have a bit of a head on it, which not all do (I've used EJOT before and some of theirs do). It's also worth asking fixing manufacturers technical support for suggestions. If you can put up with the thermal bridging then those galvanised flat washers with any kind metal hammer fixing would be effective too

At what stage are you planning to market the build? I'm wondering if there's any scenario where you might sell off plan and let the buyer choose the heating and internals? You'd also get some validation of the likely sale value. Or any other scenario that would let you build both side by side as there must be economies to be made. Ideally you'd keep both builds as similar as possible but only your own will qualify for a grant which does complicate things. What do estate agents say about ashp versus gas boiler?

I'm not a renderer but this sounds likely to me, having seen a scraped coat done on a neighbour's extension - they put on a thick layer then next day when it's set but not fully hard they scrape a couple of mm off to leave that flat but grained finish. I don't think it's been patched this afternoon, it wouldn't have hardened enough to finish.