LSB

We have just started our Class Q conversion. It was made very clear to us not to remove anything that is considered part of the barn and therefore part of the conversion. Our LPA removed planning from someone local who took their barn down to rebuild it using the same materials. He was then refused any planning as it was considered a new house in the countryside, just using recycled material, they didn't care that they came from the same site. This was spotted by a planning officer just driving by for something else completely rather than someone reporting them. So, the best you can do is rebuild what you have, but don't do any new work and then talk to a planning consultant. It does depend on where you are, but around here Class Q is not liked by the LPA so they are very strict, including the complete within 3 years rule. Luckily that is just to make it habitable rather than completing everything, this is our saving grace as funds won't be available to do the whole inside within 3 years as we are doing DIY when we have the money.

UKPN have agreed to supply me with 3 phase electricity, but they want to know what my KVA requirement is. Build is Barn Conversion. UFH ASHP MVHR PV panels 2 ovens hob usual white goods 2 power showers cart lodge 2 EV charging points. I'm sure that there are other things, but nothing out of the ordinary. I asked my sparky, but he hasn't come back to me yet so I thought I'd look into it. Does anyone have any ideas on the needs of each of the above.

totally agree, if it was possible I would have knocked down and rebuilt, but the LPA, they say NO NO NO. So, conversion of nothing. We also considered once we had planning selling the plot, but whoever bought would then be our new neighbours and I would hate seeing someone else getting the rewards.

I'm also a Suffolk barn converter so someone else local.

lovely looking house, I'll be so happy when we get that far.

We plan to move in as soon as we have enough rooms completed, then rent out our house to pay for the rest to be finished. Although we may lose out on some VAT reclaim this is when we will request our completion certificate. All the structural work will be done and things like mist coats, just not the final finishes, some floors etc. It will be finished from the structural purposes so LPA are happy, they said the inside is just like when anyone decorates. We also have to consider CGT on this house, but don't want to sell if we an avoid it. Thanks for your advice, there is so much to consider when building aside from the physical build.

So, I've spoken to the LPA, Punter is correct, but it turns out we are fine, thankfully. Although I said we expect to take up to 5 years, we are planning on getting the barn water tight this year with first / second fix next year. It is only the internal decoration that is likely to take up to 5 years and the LPA said that's not a problem, the time is just for the building to be habitable and signed off. We only have to have bathroom / kitchen / bedroom / living area for that, the spare bedrooms 2nd bathroom etc. can take longer.

I wish, I spoke to the LPA about that previously and they said absolutely no chance as it will count as a new house in the countryside. It would be so much easier to knock the barn down and build a new house.

Hi Punter Thanks for this, I will definitely check with the LPA, but just to clarify my friend's is also a barn conversion, the only difference is that when she got planning class Q didn't exist as it does now. I have now emailed my LPA to get their stance on this and will post my findings when they respond, which could be some time as they are all WFH.

I have just re-read my PD approval and not only does it not mention starting within 3 years, it certainly doesn't mention finishing within any period of time. Therefore, thank you for your concern and advice, but I shall not take too much notice. It our LPA should decide to comment at any point in the future then I shall ask them where this is included in my PD approval and in the worse case scenario submit a retrospective application. I follow local planning very closely, particularly class Q, and have been doing so for a couple of years as part of trying to get my planning and have never seen this clause anywhere. I have a friend who started their barn conversion 20 years ago, and do a very small amount each year, and unlike me they are on a main road with close neighbours. We have only one enforcement officer for the whole of our LPA, I used to work with her, and she only investigates anything when she receives multiple complaints, simply due to the volume of work.

We don't have a mortgage, but if we do have to sell within 10 years the buyer may need one and then that will require a warranty.

The build needs to start within 3 years, nothing about finishing I have submitted the CIL commencement notification, to make sure it is done. The reason I was trying to avoid an architect is because we parted company with the original one and getting another one to start from scratch will be very expensive as he will do drawings from scratch. I'm sure I will have to, but trying to avoid more expense that doesn't actually build anything.

thankyou kind sirs, I will tell HID

We have an old first fix Paslode nail gun, does anyone know where we can get this serviced. We bought it second-hand so don't know any suppliers that might help. TIA

We now have all our conditions discharged and agreed and can start to plan the real deal this year. Our build is a Class Q barn conversion, which like lots of people on this forum is going to be an almost total DIY job, partly out of satisfaction and wanting to know everything is done right, but in all honesty also due to a rather restricted budget. We had an architect draw a set of original plans (no measurements) and submit for planning, refused, we paid another few thousand to do the same thing again, refused. Part of the refusal, in both cases, was due to some reports not included. When discussing this the architect said that we shouldn't have to submit, such as ecology and if the LPA wants them then they should permit with conditions. Maybe this is correct, but I said let's do them anyway and the architect pretty much said no it was a waste of money. So, end of relationship. So, I went ahead, got all the requested surveys myself and I then personally submitted with my own planning statement, we had approval in 5 weeks. Since then I've been muddling along getting the conditions discharged and creating a huge spreadsheet of every material cost I can imagine, this came out @ 169k. But, what now? Now we are planning for the physical stuff I decided that I should look at insurance and warranty. But, I was surprised to find that, apart from sqm, it's also based on build time. As we don't have a definite figure, but know it is going to be a labour of part-time love it is likely to be 5+ years. This means that the insurance & warranty quotes are coming in at many 1,000's. I understand that this is because they are covering us for years, but it still seems very high. I know circumstances change, but there are a number of reasons why I'm not sure I want to pay about 5k for the warranty because of the slow build time. 1. The general opinion is that they are not very keen to pay out. 2. As we are doing all the work ourselves will this even be covered, the only external tasks are going to be a small amount of electrical and plumbing. If we build a wall, and do it wrong, we are not going to try and claim on any warranty. 3. We have no intention of moving within 10 years 4. Currently, there seems to be a total lack of competition, Protek are out of the game for the next few months, that leaves Buildstore who can pretty much charge anything. I'm probably not seeing the bigger picture. Building Regs: I've ready about these and know what regs we need to meet, but I don't understand how to do BR plans, what are these, what do they include and under normal circumstances who would do these. Do, I need another architect, a Structural Engineer or can I do these myself, I've never even seen any. On our previous renovation projects this has been organised by our main contractors. I'm no engineer, but I'm pretty good a calculations. The other big question is, what needs to be inspected. Some months ago, I spoke to the LA building officer and he said because we have to use our existing walls then he doesn't need to do any foundation checks. But we only have 3 walls, so what about the new one. Also, due to a low roof height we are digging out the floor to allow depth for slab and UFH. Should I be explaining all this and then having the existing walls checked in case of anything that needs underpinning. At the moment there is a floating floor on top of the original base, who knows why (maybe the pigs liked it), but it means we don't know much about the foundations. The SE checked the foundations on the outside when he did the structural survey for the planning. Our interior layout has changed since our original plan, the external ones must stay as they are. I spoke to the LPA and they basically said, do what you want inside as long as the external dimensions don't change from the plans. Can anyone help, tell me what they did etc on this so we can try and progress when it's not so freezing and covered in snow. Thanks

It's a good plan, I have 3 piles, one woodshed for burning now, when that is empty I move to woodshed 2 which is seasoning and finishing drying, then there is the random big pile waiting to be cut & split, which gets more in the area each time we get more. As of yet this has all be dead wood / trees around or nuisance weed trees, but we do need to start planting more as I think we only have about 5-8 years supply. But, with the current house we burn lots as it leaks like a sieve whereas the new one should be air tight so much warmer to start with.

There are more Tesco's in Bicester than any other town in in the country, all ready for those Graven Hill residents/ When Grand Designs featured it I thought the plots were 100k, was that for publicity

this is what I want, who supplied and how much did it cost, and can we DIY

Thanks, the man who visited seemed to think it would be okay, but whether that was because his computer said 'yes' I'm not sure. He seems to just say that it wasn't a problem because there was 3 phase already there. But, the big guns are coming out next week. I'll post some pictures tomorrow as the issue we also have is digging the trench down 3m from the bottom of the pole to get to the level of the yard, which is of course covered in concrete just to make life easy. Good news is that HID got the breaker started today in the shed, just needs the handle repairing now, it got dropped at some point in the past and just left.

I don't know, our current one comes out of this pole, about 1m below the big grey metal box and 4 wires (3 phases and an earth) go to 4 other poles, then to our house. I'm assuming that the same will happen except the wires will go down a pipe thing on the side of the pole and then into a duct for the under ground bit. I'll find out more next week, but I'm not very knowledgeable about these things.

This power connection doesn't go anywhere near a road, it is from a 11,000v supply just on the corner of our land and the barn we are converting is 10m from this pole. All this is about 125m from the nearest road, our existing 3 phase supply comes from this pole. What was noticed is that there is a single phase supply ending at this pole, which doesn't go anywhere else, so they may remove that, it runs along the boundary of our land. Also, our existing supply was shrouded 20 years ago when we renovated our house so they are going to remove that as well. But, these 2nd two items are not chargeable.

There will be VAT at 5% as it is a conversion not a new build. It is an underground connection to a box on the outside of the wall. As the wall exists, but doesn't have the EWI yet they are going to put a 'box' so we can move. This is 3 phase.

about 10m along and 3m down from the base of the pole

I haven't got one yet, this was the initial visit, the proper engineer is coming out next week to see if he can access the telegraph pole from out land or if they need to go into the farmers field.

Today UKPN came to site to have a look, engineer coming next week to do better survey. Anyway today they said the cost would be £2090 for connection and £170 for the cable. We are to dig the trench ourselves. Is this cost reasonable and what is to be expected.