Mr Punter

No I have recently done a development with lots of external doors, full length windows and windposts and the number of place we could put vents was very limited.

Brighton introduced an article 4 direction for certain areas that they thought were overrun with students, so you need planning consent for HMOs https://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/content/planning/planning-applications/planning-permission-houses-multiple-occupation

Is this a shared house, where the tenants know each other and are jointly and severally liable, an Airbnb, or what? How much is the rent? In nearby Brighton you cannot do HMOs without planning consent (which they rarely grant).

I read recently about their new Pilingmaster - can go 14m and 600 dia!!

A lorry mounted hiab would also do this. In the meantime just cover the holes with some osb or whatever to stop the rain. Don't cut it to size.

Is this for students? Do any WCs have Saniflos?

I have some tilt turn. They are useful to me as they can be cleaned from the inside but curtains, rails and poles need to be out of the way for them to open. You can fit external shutters though.

Just move the opening along a bit...

Looks neat with the trims around the openings. If it does get damaged by anyone you could use the downstairs dungeon to conceal the body.

Looks very sleek although I think I would be scared to use it. Will decoration, repairs or replacement of the cladding be an issue in future?

The mix sounds fine. You could use ballast instead. You may want to PVA the adjacent bits of slab. I would sort out any iffy connections and thoroughly re-test before concreting.

You could do either but I think 2 skins with 100mm cavity would be simplest. With single skin you will probably need 140mm blocks and you would need to insulate internally or externally.

I think you may do better to build in blockwork, then fix vertical battens for your timber cladding. You should use facing or engineering brick for the lowest 150mm-225mm as this tends to get splashed. Get someone in to build this, it will not be that expensive and you will still have loads to do.

Very odd as the regs make no mention of number of storeys in regard to Internal fire spread (linings)

http://nhbccampaigns.co.uk/landingpages/techzone/previous_versions/2011/Part6/section2/appendix.htm#62C

2.9m with 300mm thick concrete core. Concrete with superplasticizer. One burst but fortunately easily propped. Not fun to do. Go steady with the poker...

I have removed quite a few trees from a site before starting work on the new building. The planners were not thrilled but there was nothing they could do. My preference now is to remove the trees not required before submitting the planning application. If you have not begun work I suggest you take out any trees you do not want to keep.

You are right in that timber has very little shrinkage along it's length. The shrinkage occurs across the width, so sole plates, locating plates, head binders, joists, top and bottom chords of engineered joists. This is all in the floor zone. The issue with timber frame occurs on buildings with a brick or block outer leaf as the frame shrinks down and the brick // block does not.

Where we are it used to be the case that archaeology was funded by the County Council and we used to just have to ask the local voluntary archaeology group to visit any sites which were considered of interest. I think we donated about £100 per house. Now it is "developer funded" and it has spawned a whole business and the fees are now about £1000 per house. If the planning condition means that you are not able to reasonably construct foundations and the actual worth of the archaeology is low you can appeal the condition. On the other hand if your site overlies a Roman villa with intact mosaics you may need to think again! Explain to the archaeologist what foundation system you are proposing and why and see what he suggests, as it is you that pays his fees (through gritted teeth no doubt).

If is not economical / practical to avoid the stuff underneath, argue this with the archaeologist as unless the finding is of significant importance it should not be an obstacle preventing development. I have had similar with trees in conservation area and they conceded that keeping them was not practical.

Agreed. The bit to the right of the front door would make a four bed developer house.

A big issue to consider is that timber frame will shrink in height by about 20mm so you will need to be able to accommodate this at the junction to your existing building, particularly after first floor level. A plan may help - you can post pdfs.

You will need to allow for the window opening in the timber frame to move downwards relative to the blockwork opening. This will be more so for upper floors.

Expanding foam will not work as a seal. It is good for insulating but you will need mastic if Compriband does not fit.

Don't mess with lining paper, it will book worse. Electric sander will lose any edges.