Owain1602

Hello all, I've been a member here for a while, trying to learn as much as I can from reading any mildly relevant thread. We recently purchased a 5 acre plot of land in open countryside, on the land is a barn which has approval for conversion under Class Q (expires April 26). The ideal scenario would be to build an efficient timber frame house on a passive slab, after demolishing the existing portal steel frame (current barn does not have a concrete floor). We put in a pre-app to demolish the steel frame (keeping to the original footprint of the barn), and were told the local plan has policy that Class Q approval is not considered a fallback for a new-build dwelling, as such, it would not be supported (although this policy does not appear in the new emerging local plan!). Our architect spoke with the planning officer, and discussed the idea of wrapping the existing steel frame within the timber frame (means extending beyond the original footprint by ~350mm), and apparently was told that this would be supported via a full planning application. So here we are, finalising details of our full planning application, which now needs to include the full BNG calculations and report. The deadline for needing to start implementing the existing Class Q is fast approaching, and if we're knocked back with this full planning application, we'll need to resubmit for Class Q (under the old regulations, before May 25) which should restart the 3 year clock. I have been an engineer myself for nearly twenty years, technically leading projects in the automotive, formula one and aerospace industries. My background was originally in numerical simulation of combustion thermodynamics (CFD), but now work on a fairly broad range of topics related to high voltage systems, battery thermal systems, controls and algorithms. Don't ask me anything about a domestic heat-pump control system though! Nice to meet you all, I'm not sure I'd have the confidence to embark on what we're doing without the invaluable expertise and experiences I've read about on this forum.