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...and does an MVHR system located in the loft space get round those problems which you have described @Sensus? p.s. Forum politics is a depressingly boring subject but Prince Andrew is, indeed, a bastard.

I've been quoted £18/m2 for labour for blockwork (in Glasgow).

It's a fair conundrum! It does with Ecology but you're still talking about 1%+ above what you'd get on the market.

That looks really good, how long did it take to grow? We have to have permeable boundary treatment meaning we can only have a structure of sorts if we green it.

Thanks - I shall have a look. Does anyone who's built with a mortgage have any experience of then remortgaging without a structural warranty? Loath to spend £2.5k unnecessarily but it's a false economy if stuck on a self-build rate or thereabouts for a decade.

i am putting together our landscaping plans just now and had initially thought we'd do hedging at the front (on a site which slopes approximately 3m across it's full 36m boundary - the first 15m of which is fairly limited in depth and will be used for parking only) but given it's slow growth and fairly mundane look I've thought otherwise and that it'd be good to have a sort of natural raingarden/household SUDs type set-up, perhaps with a bit of rockery included, over the first couple of metres of the plot (from the pavement to the buildline; the floor level will sit from 0.2-1m above). I would however like, at parts at least, some tall plants/grasses etc. that give a wee bit of height and which are evergreen. Any ideas? And has anyone seen anything similarish which looks particularly good (and could point me in the direction of it)?

It is definitely not for me!

Interested in this option. Anywhere I can find further info?

Sounds a good approach and one I'll adopt re: budgeting in a contingency.

There's a cohousing group near Plymouth - website here: http://www.bowdenhouse.co.uk/ And others in the south-west which can be found along with useful information on cohousing here: https://cohousing.org.uk/

There's a cohousing group near Plymouth - website here: http://www.bowdenhouse.co.uk/ And others in the south-west which can be found along with useful information on cohousing here: https://cohousing.org.uk/

Can sheds/hot tubs be claimed for if they're on the planning?

Sounds a terrible product for the 'homeowner' - all the responsibilities of homeownership with a sliver of the benefits, and at best static real terms housing costs to effectively rent what is pitched as your own home. And aimed accordingly at desperate people, with loans for income multiples that mainstream lenders rightly wouldn't stretch to. And therefore far too much risk for a measly 5% return for the investor.

Deleted - wrong thread.

Indeed. And still wrestling with it as we're about to hit the button with planning drawings. I'll avoid the politics too except to say that successive governments of all stripes have been similarly spendthrift (the current one more than most if the leaked aborted Budget was anything to go by) and at least in an independent Scotland we won't be paying for England's expensive wars and European exits!

Watched both the water reservoir project and the clifftpop lighthouse one tonight. Thought the reservoir one was fantastic - great idea, great design, great home delivering fantastic family living at great value for money. Felt a bit for the guy with the lighthouse - part unfortunate victim of circumstance (and bad professional advice), part pigheaded. You'd have thought he could have afforded a QS from his 250 grand in fees though.

Thanks. Our two upstairs showers will be c.3m apart but across the doglegged stairs - hopefully no issues with using the same WWHR. I'll need to speak with a plumber to confirm.

Great, thanks. We have two upstairs showers and a downstairs one that'll be used for guests/mucky kids in the same way so I'll look into connecting a single unit upstairs then.

Great, thanks. And yes - showers (particularly as kids get older) will make up for most of our hot water usage. I presume the systems are all much of a muchness? And is one for the property sufficient or one for each shower (the numbers start to change if you need three installed)?

Relatively cheap for high quality design and build social housing in that neck of the woods given recent cost inflation. Some of the big English social landlords have paused their development programmes (for sale to cross-subsidise affordable) as the numbers just don't stack up. Doesn't include land costs. But presumably yes. In general terms it does send out a very positive message about the social value of good design and the public sector should be leading the way in making better places, so glad to see it won albeit it's not quite to my tastes. Some very nice little sustainability features like the brise soleil canopies.

Thanks - which means it wouldn't work particularly well with an ASHP then, presumably?

I've had a look at this technology and it sounds a bit too good to be true based on the sales pitch - 70% heat recovery, 4-6 points SAP boost and £80-100/year savings for a capital cost of £350-700 (based on pricing from Powerpipe). Has anyone installed? Do they work with ASHPs/DHW cylinders as easily as they do with a combi boiler? Do you need one for every shower unit or just one at or around your water tank?

We didn't (in Scotland) - our solicitor had to complete an LBTT return but no Additional Dwelling Supplement was due as there is no additional dwelling.

The Smart Export Guarantee comes in from 1 January with Octopus already offering 5.5p/Kw which is more than the feed in tariff when it was abolished. And in Scotland at least you can borrow interest-free (over up to 12 years to fund it). So the numbers look a bit better and if it helps make a dent re: sustainability (or just makes you feel a bit better about it) then it's perhaps not a bad price to pay.

So for an MCS approved installer to supply and fit I couldn't reclaim but would instead need to argue the toss and get them to zero rate it?