Hello,
we just wanted to introduce ourselves as we might be spending a lot of time on here! My wife and I currently have at least 1 self build on the cards [we own a small Water Tower in Shropshire which we're converting as a weekend bolt hole for ourselves]. The other is hopefully for our family home; we have an opportunity to buy an old MOT station and convert it into a 4 bedroom house, the location is unorthodox to most, overlooked, backland strip etc etc, but we're not normal people, and we don't like normal buildings so it suits us, it's close to the train station, in a lovely conservation area and near the decent schools...and my favourite pub is 3 mins way. This is the one I'm out of my comfort zone with as A: it would be the family home so a lot riding on it's success as a building, and B: we need to borrow a fair amount money to buy it and i'm not sure that is even possible yet as we're in the middle of a global pandemic, plus I own my own business so low-ish salary + dividends etc I fear the odds are stacked against us but it's one of those things we have to at least attempt.
The Water Tower:
We own this one out right, it's is currently in for planning for the change of use - we did pre-application on this one and I'm pretty comfortable we have the backing of the planners, the conservation officer and pretty much the entire village it's in to get it converted and restore. We were due to start works properly on it this spring but with everything that's been going on the scaffolders closed down, as did the local company who were making the windows so other than installing a new drain, removing some asbestos and doing some emergency lime and brickwork repair to the inside and ground floor external it's on hold until we know where we are at with the family home in the next few months.
The MOT Station:
So we don't own this yet, we know the owner well and the building is not on the market, and we have an option to buy on it subject to planning. This site is contentious, but we have given it everything we can to try and do the best for the site, we've had very good engagement from the neighbours who have put in letters of support, and whilst with out local council anything could happen, I'm quietly optimistic it will gain permission...this is with the planners and due for a decision towards the end of August. I've also had to detail & specify this project up to construction level to ensure we can build it for the money we want to spend - as you can imagine having got this far we're far too emotionally invested in this one if it all falls apart but that's the nature of the beast I guess!
I suspect I'll start a few threads over the coming weeks and annoy everyone immensely, in the meantime I'm attaching a picture of each of the offending buildings for you all to shake your heads at ?