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As a 'diy' job, whether he is fully compliant who knows. I just know in Europe it is fairly common to use the rebar in an uninsulated slab as a an earth which is obviously not going to work with an insulated slab and this is used as the alternative.

It's an electrical ground, in theory a better connection than an earth rod.

Just catching up with this, might have missed something: 1. The QR code shown in an earlier screenshot will give access to your device once you get it working. Suggest you delete or obscure it. 2. Have you done anything to verify the technomate bridges are working? 3. The NVR doesn't have wifi, so I presume you have it plugged into the technomate. Any chance you could try a direct cable to your router temporarily? 4. If not, can you unplug the NVR from the technomate and plug in another device to test the connection? Laptop maybe? 5. Is there a control interface for the technomates? Can you access them? 6. Is there a technomate plugged in via ethernet to your router or were they previously connected over wifi? If wifi, have you updated their config?

Thanks Alan. I did look at this at the time but was feeling a bit burnt out so took a break from thinking about it more once I'd decided for sure I was no longer interested in the site. The site has just been through auction: https://www.robinsonandhallauctions.co.uk/property/land-adjacent-to-little-heath-lodge-featherbed-lane-felden-hemel-hempstead-hertfordshire-hp3-0bt/ It sold for £190,000 (vs £30,000 guide) so whoever bought it clearly thought they would be able to get planning for a house. I'll be keeping an eye on it to see if they succeed. I wasn't interested in bidding on it without a planning consultant making positive noises and positive noises from a conveyancer about the restrictive covenants. As it turns out it went beyond what I'd have been willing to pay for it so I'm not feeling like I've missed out on something (most of my money is tied up in my property and can't sell it just yet).

How about this for an idea: get a CCTV camera covering the door and get a traditional wired doorbell (can hook up to a HA input or ESP32 if you want)?

Until this thread I hadn't looked at the BSA side of this (have previously looked at the CDM/HSE side). After some looking around it appears the following document is referred to as the way to assess competence for this role: https://www.bsigroup.com/en-GB/insights-and-media/insights/brochures/pas-8672-framework-for-competence-of-individual-principal-contractors/ I downloaded it and it's pretty big, obviously not aimed at self builds.

Thats for the HSE role, not the new building regs role isnt it? A quick google says: The Role of Principal Contractor Oversee and manage the construction phase of the project to ensure compliance with Building Regulations. Plan, manage, and monitor construction activities, ensuring all work meets regulatory standards. Act as the central point of contact for cooperation among duty holders, liaising with the Principal Designer to implement design specifications correctly. Possess a thorough understanding of construction processes, safety protocols, and regulatory requirements. Point 4 seems particularly hard for any self builder who doesn't already work in the construction industry. You can read the building regs cover to cover, go on health and safety courses and read/watch instructions on how to accomplish specific things. But is that sufficient?

Sometimes the plunger on the trv valve sticks. Try removing the TRV and manually manipulate the plunger, should free up if stuck. Edit: The TRV can be removed without opening the water circuit. Shouldn't require tools.

So the question is what does a first time self builder have to do to become competent?

I would assume that if the water circuit diverts to DHW then the flow through the fan coil would stop. However, unless you spent extra on controls the fan would keep going until the temperature in the non-flowing water normalised and at that point no further cooling would take place until the flow started again. I think most fan-coils sense the water temp so if it goes outside of range the fan stops, but it wouldn't be a big deal if it carried on - it would just circulate air, not provide cooling.

Living in a flat affected by cladding issues (which we hope will be solved for us soon), I personally don't want to go near anything even slightly questionable on my next property. I know 2 storey buildings are in theory much different, but we've seen repeated tightening of rules and from what we've seen mortgage companies and insurers have become extremely risk adverse over issues related to fire. We will soon be in a place where according to the fire safety rules our building is fine, but the insurers continue to feel its too high a risk for normal insurance so we are stuck paying exhortionate rates. Even if you assume because it's two storey the fire rules won't really apply, I think the general impact on the industry is just more risk aversion and along with trending higher costs due to climate related damage and a record of shoddy construction in this country. If insurers/mortgagers are on the fench with something now the safe option is to assume they will get more risk adverse in future.

What's the deed of covent for? We recently got asked to complete them as part of the new laws around remediation for cladding issues. There wasn't a charge for that though and we were told we only needed to complete them if we wanted to be protected from any future remediation costs. I don't think that protection is available if you are a professional landlord (>3 properties IIRC). Obviously this is irrelevant if they want the deed for another reason. As far as the fees to register tenants go, this is a thing that comes up. Some managing agents want to charge, some don't. If the lease restricts your ability to rent your place out and allows a fee to be charged to do so then your way out would be to argue the term in the lease is invalid/unlawful for some reason. I don't know how easy this is to do. ** I'm a director for the RTM for our block of flats and we are currently searching for a new managing agent. The issue of charging fees for tenant registration has come up and we are seeking an agent that doesn't charge but from the conversations we've had at least some of the agents work on the lease. They feel they have to strictly follow the lease and if the lease involves administration requirements for sub-lets then they have to pass the cost of that on - it's unfair to cover the cost in the service charge/ground rent as it's not something that applies to everyone nor on a consistent frequency. ** One of the other directors in our RTM is a landlord and is pretty firm that these fees shouldn't be needed and would be keen to argue over the terms of the lease but he is not a lawyer and I'm not sure of the actual legalities.

I read it as talking about new panels. So panels that have been around for a while and already have cert are ok. Though of course how long older panels are available is a question.

We do seem to be getting quite far away from Gary's topic so maybe should shelve this for now. At some point I'll likely start a new topic on Porotherm as the existing topics seem a bit lacking in some details.

Thought it was acceptance?

I wouldn't want to use without a service cavity for all the sockets etc. The videos I've watched suggest it is easy to cut with the right saw. Why do you say its a pain? As for coursing, I agree, I think it only makes sense if either building a solid wall with large blocks and EWI, or a block/block cavity arrangement with both leaves with porotherm.

Oh I'm not considering it for thermal properties at all. The main attraction is it's quickly diyable, the blocks are half the weight of concrete, comes supplied with the thinset mortar, you can get a quick applicator and the blocks are easy to cut. It's also much lower embodied carbon than block or brick. There are a good number of downsides too and until I get to the point of serious design on a new place I can't fully weigh them but the points above is why its a focus for when I get there. For context, the flat I currently live in has had problems with both cladding/fire safety and also water ingress. So for anything I do in future, I want to use things that are non-combustable and can survive getting wet.

But thinking more. If you are focussed on being a standard construction, then trying to come up with what seems like a novel approach for a new build (50mm cavity then IWI) would seem counter to that. A small uninsulated cavity with IWI is something done to retrofits and is likely a lot of extra work with a lot of compromises. Sticking with a standard cavity construction (though with a wider cavity for extra insulation) would seem like the safest bet.

Porotherm is currently top of my list for my build (if I can find a plot for it). I believe it would count as standard blockwork as far as mortgage lenders go (pretty sure I've read that somewhere but you should obviously check). Not sure it makes sense financially though unless you plan to diy. It's supposedly much easier/quicker to lay, but this means that bricklayers aren't keen and you will likely eat a lot of the time savings with the time they take to get up to speed and the higher cost of the blocks. Also questionable whether you'd want to use it on an external rendered wall (manufacturer supports that use but I've seen people here with concerns/issues with that so if I use it I think it'd need either EWI or some form of rainscreen to keep it dry).

The consultant didn't mention it, it doesn't ring a bell and a quick search through the local plan and core strategy for 'cluster' doesn't show anything relevant. I'll skim through it again for alternative wording later but odd's are no.

Sorry for the thread hijack: Have you talked about this elsewhere on the site? I didn't see one after a quick Google. Not got a plot yet so it's a bit early for me, but when I get there I'd like an insulated slab like the Kore ones so wondered if there are any lessons learnt that you could share?

Ok update! I found another consultant company. They were willing to chat on the phone for a bit during the intro call. Clarified a couple of things: 1. Infill exception is only valid for places that meet a certain definition for a village (have a pub, church, or similar). The plot I was looking at is technically in a hamlet so would be a no-go on that basis (with appeal case history confirming). In hindsight this aspect is something I could have probably answered myself if I'd framed the question in my mind in the right way, I knew that a lot hinged on whether it was infill and that being infill was uncertain but hadn't thought of a way of answering that without talking to a planner. 2. This doesn't stand: The planners definition of openness, is much less about this than whether there are existing buildings on the land. I do wonder though if a thread talking through the assessment of various plots would be useful. This site seems to have a lot on what to do after you've got one, not so much on finding them. I've got four or 5 now that I've seriously looked (mostly as excercises) that that I could talk about.

@Jilly My question was more aimed at how you ended up choosing/suceeding on a green belt plot. Based on my reading of this site, £25k for all professional fees seems pretty reasonable, certainly about what I've had in mind. TBH I assume the fees on a green belt plot would be a bit higher than that. Yes, it's very frustrating, and the sites that do show up either tend to sell almost instantly or have significant difficulties. The plot is up for auction and time is short, this is why I think this plot is off the cards for me. At this point I mostly want to know why the planning consultant suggested it wasn't worth a detailled look so that I can better make that assessment next time. With more time and the ability to negotiate with the vendor I'd be able to wait for my preferred planning consultant to become free in January and have time to work through some of the other issues.

I tend to think that a pre-app for a green belt plot will get a default answer of no. To get planning on green belt you need a lot of detail going through all the policies explaining why your plan works according to those policies, etc, and obviously thats something that would cost a fair bit (time + money) to prepare. I asked the consultant for a sample report and was told no. The reason for this thread was to ask for recommendations for another consultant. Sorry if that wasn't clear.

To buy a ready to build plot would require me to sell my current place to free up funds. I can't do that just now (cladding issues in the process of being resolved) but expect to be able to in a year or two. So in the mean time I'm looking for places that I could buy now and work on over the next couple of years getting planning. Price dependent I can afford to take some risk, but only of the 'relatively good chance of planning given its green belt' sort, not the 'complete longshot' sort. Potential to save money due to the uplift is of course a consideration but not the primary motivation. 25k to the planning consultant, or all the professional fees to get to the point of planning? If you don't mind could you say a bit more about what happened in your case? Indeed. I'm disappointed the first one I found is unavailable as he looked good. Second one don't know much about other than the first guys recommendation.