Mr Punter

It looks like sand cement. I know people who really like the distressed shabby chic look and would love this in their house just stripped a bit and then waxed or something wanky.

Lap the DPM up 100mm past the DPC. As long as the DPC is installed so it is sticking out a small amount from the blockwork you will be fine, provided you are above ground.

You should have a DPM so no issue with it drying.

A downside of the D4 glue is you get black hands for 2 days. The PVA is much less messy. As with all adhesives, the surfaces need to be clean and free of dust, which does not always happen on site. Typically you will be using a circular saw on an area of already laid floor to cut some boards, with the new stack of boards close to hand and and everything with a nice film of sawdust.

It was not so long ago that they did not use the PU foaming glue, just a PVA one on the t&g between the boards. Nothing on top of the joists and the boards were fixed down with Paslode nails. Most of these worked fine. I have had some floors recently done with PU glue on joists plus screws and have had some squeaks. Neither system is 100% but both are mostly good and squeaks can normally be solved by chucking in a box of screws. Just check it before you put down the floor finish.

Party Wall stuff is sometimes a fee fest. Ultimately it is of no benefit to you unless, for example, you need to underpin their property or erect scaffold on it or demolish part of it in order to carry out your works. Even with an Award in place, if anything goes wrong it will be you who pays. The Award does not mean the works will be safe and it gives you no protection. If you are happy that your foundations do not contravene the 3m rule, just crack on. They could apply for an injunction but they would lose and risk your legal and delay costs as well as their own.

Should still be OK as you only need 150mm x 150mm x 40mm. Can you ask the slab guys designer if it is OK?

Can you not just chisel out a bit of the floor slab where the trap is going?

The MF stuff is good but chippies don't like it.

Hollowcore is normally a bit bowed so you can get rid of it by packing the 2 x 2. 600ctrs and 15mm p/board.

No. The foundations should extend down to where there is no risk of shrinkage or heave. If the floor slab is susceptible you will need it to be suspended / beam and block.

The current layout has better fire safety than the proposed one. Currently you can safely escape from any habitable room in the flat. With your proposal, should a fire break out in the kitchen / lounge you could not escape from the bedrooms without passing through room containing the fire.

Yes. 10mm each side.

I think that a tax on gas and heating oil could be used to persuade people, but you may need to subsidise electric with the proceeds.

Once the coping is off, get rid of the top mortar course and any blown render. Set a strip of DPC at least 20mm wider than the wall into a mortar bed and then more mortar and stones back on. That way, if any water gets through the joints in the stones it will be sent on its way by the DPC. The vegetation can be brushed / scrubbed off before you paint.

Some of the RAK trays can be cut to size and non-slip. https://www.rakceramics.com/uk/en/bathroom-kitchen/rak-feeling/

I would just tightly stuff in some Rockwool. You could use some chicken wire to hold it in place. Where is the airtightness layer? Is there a ceiling up there?

Well that has come a long way since the first picture. Very smart.

Would you look at a MVHR unit so you recover heat from extracted air in the winter? Kitchen extract I prefer straight through the wall if possible but you could go up through the roof. For the bathrooms you could have inline fans mounted in the loft as they cut down on noise and can provide better flow. With the centrifugal and mixed flow ones you can have long runs and lots of bends. With standard extractors and short runs of insulated ducting I don't see the point in condensate traps. Just use flexible insulated ducting and connect it with jubilee clips.

Don't get all needy on us! I am not good at elevations but with the SE one I prefer the windows in the approved scheme so stick with those. The slot window looks incongruous. The NW elevation looks OK. Timber cladding I can take or leave and it can often look tatty after a few years and weather differently depending on the elevation. With the covering letter, just say what you have done to address their comments: Entrance door and simplified eaves, contrasting materials and better resolved windows. They are not interested in the eco credentials unless it is policy for you to achieve some set level, in which case you would include visible stuff like PV and external ASHP on your plans. They can see enough from the elevations and plans and will in any case likely condition things like materials. One more iteration may be sensible (unless you have already sent it!).

I doubt if it is. A warm roof has all the insulation on top of the joists. Warm roof construction would not coincide with asbestos use. This is fine. Not as much insulation as ideal, but still better than nothing. You need to make sure there is good ventilation under the roof deck.

So with the lintels is it just a weep hole at either end? We have got some openings where there are only 3 courses of brick above and they have weeps at 450 centres! The blue on the top parts of those scaffold tubes sets them off a treat. It shows they really care...

Lift and slide doors seal really well and are very light to operate.

Pocket doors work best with plasterboard stud walls, as that is normally how the pocket is constructed. I am not a huge fan as they are fiddly to install and to open and close but they could work well here. Make the opening as wide as you can because the door leaf does not normally go back flush with the lining. Have you considered sliding doors from the dining room to decking? You could have them part in the middle with a nice wide opening. They don't flap around like French doors and you can adjust for ventilation.

For some reason I was unable to open the PDFs but you should seriously consider the recommendations of your consulting engineer. They may be able to design some structural steel solution.