torre

As @Big Jimbo says, get your local councillor and MP involved, to put extra pressure on planning & building control to take enforcement action. The more fuss you and your neighbours make the better, you need to be proactive. Contacting the local press is another possible route as they will in turn put pressure on the council. The Health and Safety Executive is another route - that's a temporary scaffold with a roof so was it erected to a proper design? (As it's insurance related they may have of course). I'd expect HSE will investigate if you report that there's a large temporary scaffold and large bits of masonry have since fallen from height into your garden (as proved by your timestamped photos)

Surprising if post Grenfell any building inspector would sign off a loft without protected means of escape. Sounds pretty clear it doesn't meet current building regulations and (on a human level) would you put your children in a loft room knowing there's no safe means of escape? You could ask the seller to apply for a certificate of regularisation and tell them otherwise you'll need to revise your offer to reflect that the property only has two bedrooms.

Welcome and good luck! There's always a risk you won't get the permission you want especially for a large extension Or you can't afford it, realistically budgeting 2-3k/m2 As you say, a two storey side extension looks a good bet as you don't lose light to existing rooms, but planners may limit you to say a metre from the boundary, then single storey across the back. There's quite a lot of uncertainty in the outcome here (cost and feasibility) so I hope you've factored this in.

It's disappointing that circumstance meant not getting exactly what was planned but ask yourself - if conditions had led to building a couple of bricks wider, would you have offered them 8% more or just thought "it's only a few bricks"? It sounds like you agreed to the changes, I think you needed to re-negotiate and discuss the roof aesthetic at the time, not after the works were completed. I'd congratulate yourself on finding a company who've done good work, try to enjoy the results and not get hung up on trying to recoup what will be a very small sum at best for a lot of stress and effort

@saveasteading permitted development of commercial to residential

From your last picture it looks like this is a Post Office? Is there value in that as a commercial sale on its own, or splitting into a smaller shop plus single residence? Converting from a shop to residences should be permitted development so it may be worth getting prior approval as it gives certainty to potential buyers about one option at least, at little cost to you. I'd expect a local estate agent to have a good feel for whether there's more potential value in other options (single large residence, multiple flats) versus a straight split into two terraces. The only 'development' option I'd think about getting into would be doing the absolute minimum to split this back into two terraces, if valuations leave you confident this will be the best developed option, or at least looks like giving you some certainty of a reasonable return without much risk (and probably selling each as a 'fixer upper' rather than fixing roofs and floors etc)

I'd trim the ends of the block sides so you can sit then fully in the steel and then tie into the web. We fixed wall starter kits into our web (using self tapping screws) and then the ties just slot into that at each course. Hasn't your SE provided any detail for this?

It'd be good to mention build size, storeys, construction method for more context. Size doesn't get mentioned too much but it's hard to build small, cheaply per m2 - major costs (sewer, utilities) are the same regardless and you still have to fit out the same baseline number of the most expensive rooms (kitchen, bathroom). There's more wall, foundations, windows (£££) per m2 of floor too... Four wall lengths Six wall length - -- |1| |12| - -- Half as much extra wall Double the floor space ... build two storeys and it's less foundation, less roof per m2, build three storey even more so. For example, 10k for all services would be £25/m2 on a build Nod's size but £100/m2 on a small build a quarter of the size.

From the beams and piers it looks like someone's already had a go at opening up the layout, I think it would be a challenge to achieve the sort of layout you want, and as others said, you need to avoid an inner room - you could have a long corridor all the way to that bedroom but it's a huge waste of space. I'd try and work within the existing layout as much as you can - how about converting the kitchen area into a bedroom and relocating the kitchen along the fireplace wall or into the area you'd like to place a bedroom? It avoids a lot of structural costs and fire safety headaches as you'd connect to the existing protected corridor

So what's the state of play? Has planning permission actually been granted, including a condition requiring to sign a S106 agreement? Or just an indication from the council that they would grant permission subject to a S106 agreement? If it's the latter then you could push for the former - to my mind that's then 'full planning permission' as any permission is likely to have unmet conditions (and so some risk) at the point a lender makes their decision. Alternatively, could you ask the seller to enter into the agreement on some terms that protect them financially in the event you withdraw? The potential loss of that fee plus bond may be less than the cost of unsecured bridging finance until you have an interest in the land. Perhaps you already have some sort of agreement in place to cover the risk to yourself if they withdrew.

Try to give yourself a realistic feeling of what 2m headroom will feel like. You could get a double bed sheet or something larger like a tarpaulin and pin it off the top of a door stretched tightly to something similar height like other doors across the room. Or stand on your bed, but that may feel more spacious cos you'll tend to look down to space that won't be there. Only you can really weigh up if it's worth it. Things I'd consider are: 2m will be usable but may not feel comfortable; you could spend a lot for a conversion that doesn't scream 'luxury master suite' to future buyers How much first floor space will you lose? Do you need to make an existing room smaller to fit the stairs? Maybe a children's bedroom plus a study in the loft works better? Lowering the ceiling at least makes the job a bit less disruptive - the new one can go in before the old is ripped out It may well not add as much value as it'll cost, but if you're there a long time it's giving value every day Is raising the roof an option? Permitted development rights were extended to include this subject to some conditions

We're using the Fibolite 7n. When handling they're much more robust, feel more like a dense block than the thermalite 7, but still a decent weight and u value. Temporary timbers have held with frame fixers into the blocks very well.

A non material amendment to add solar is almost certain to pass. If you want to cost effectively improve your SAP take a look at Waste Water Heat Recovery (WWHR) . Pretty easy to install (on the shower waste pipe) and add without drastically changing other plans

It's intensifying the breach because you're greatly narrowing the field of view out of that window (be honest it's not the view you'd want yourself from either the window or their garden) I agree with @DevilDamo that doing this in two bites may be the likeliest avenue to get most of what you want. 3m PD first hand then applying separately for anything beyond, but you've got to be able to make that 3m extension work in it's own right in case you struggle to get permission later. Have you talked to this neighbour? Would they object to a larger homes compliant extension? Did they object to this one?

So @JohnMo do you achieve that by just having a slower flow rate to the bedroom loops versus downstairs? I like the simplicity of that but I'm still trying to get used to the idea of not controlling zones independently having had a gas boiler with separate zones for upstairs and downstairs