LSB

At the moment my project at work is the IT planning for our new 8,000 sqm factory, with a 2 floor office space. Under normal circumstances I work 3 days per week to allow me time to project manage our own build, but not at the moment. We get the water tight building handed to us on the 8th January, then I've got to organise the 1st, 2nd and final fix of all the IT infrastructure from cables to servers. When I tried to place the order for fibre leased lines I was told, there's no fibre on that road and you must have a PSTN line before you can have fibre. Well, as you can imagine that caused a lot of calls, effort and pushing. Now the PSTN is being installed on the 15th (I hope). I'm also waiting for the ducts from the roadside to the building for the fibre. This has resulted in me having to work full time. Then last Sunday I came back from the morning dog walk to find his foot pouring with blood, loads of it. So, padding and bandage applied and off to the vet. He had ripped out a claw and I just couldn't believe how much blood there was. Anyway the vet patched him up, with vet bills at emergency Sunday rate, but that was also another 1/2 day gone. So, my build has gone totally by the wayside, not so much of an issue whilst I'm in the planning phase, but a concern for the future if I'm needed on-site here, and on-site at the factory and then there are life issues as well. And of course I really must do some shopping for the little event in 2 weeks time. I can't see this situation improving much until everyone has moved into the factory at the end of March and the old factory is cleared out. The good bit is the overtime pay can go straight into the build budget which is pitifully low compared with what it should be. I was hoping not to borrow any money, but with only enough money for about £800 per sqm after very expensive preliminaries that is probably going to change. What I want to do is get water tight and do family room with kitchen, master and ensuite and then move in. If I could do this with our existing budget then we can rent our house out and get an income from that to carry on. We really want to avoid borrowing. Anyway, as it's now almost midnight and I have Gary Barlow just finishing his show in the background I must finish my short budget and get off to bed. Take care.

this is the table that started me on this question. The full article is in the January edition of Build It. What worries me is making the wrong decision. I don't have gas so that's out of the question, but that leaves oil, which we use now or Biomass, but getting the pellets is something to consider.

I work for Daikin, you won't have heard of them because they are Japanese and buy other companies, so my branch is Hubbards, Belgium is DENV, Italy is Zanotti etc. But, I work in keeping cold, refrigeration not heating, so I can't help you, but I was planning on having a Daikin. The ASHP branch are in Weybridge, Surrey, what happens is when you apply online they send your details to your local installer, who will contact you, so you don't talk to Daikin itself. But, like the Mitsubishi there is a huge demand at the moment due to the RHI finishing soon.

I'm in my sit office at the moment, but I will find the article and let you know who wrote it.

As part of my barn conversion I was planning to use an ASHP, that was until I read an article in Build It magazine. This considered the cost of installing and running heating and the eco credentials. It included gas (mains), oil, ASHP, GSHP and biomas. Well, somewhat surprisingly ASHP came out at high for cost, very high to run and not very eco friendly. This has put me in a total quandary about what to do. My planning says ASHP with a backup boiler. The best method overall is mains gas, but we don't have that so the best for us would be oil. Unfortunately, due to plagiarism rules I can't post the article here, but I will find out if I can copy part of it for this blog otherwise it's in the latest edition of the magazine. It's said that the best laid plans of mice and men are apt to go awry, but this really is a biggy. We currently have a 30+ year old oil boiler in our current house, which is now making a funny noise, so we are going to replace it rather than just have the usual service. I thought, that's okay I'll use an ASHP, until I saw the costs, so it's going to be another oil boiler, not least because I have a tank 70% full. I am hoping that I'll still get a green grant for part of this. This house is nearly 200 years old and despite us insulating everywhere it is a cold house, except for the extension we built in 2003 which is lovely. I have considered EWI to help, but as the walls must be breathable then I'm not sure how that will affect things. Also, all my savings are in the budget for the barn conversion so I might just leave it to the next owner when we eventually sell it, and sell it in the summer when it's nice and cool rather than bl***y freezing. On the estimating cost front I'm battling on, albeit very slowly, I've done 2 rooms, the first one was estimated at 20k, but that is largely because of buying volumes of things, the hall has come in at a very reasonable 4k. I'm now going to work on the 3 identical bedrooms aside from the master. I think these should be quite reasonable as not much in there. Of course, every room need flooring, decorating, windows, ceiling etc individually costed Next week, more of the same, but not got much time as working extra as very busy and going to visit my daughters brand new house that she moved into on Monday, developer built not self built. The real thing I'm waiting for is the discharge of the conditions.

around here in East Suffolk the LPA are really fussy, they refuse about 70% of barn conversion apps, but that said, once you have planning they never seem to check it, unless someone reports it. Suffolk Coastal & Waveney joined last year and are now East Suffolk covering a huge area, but have only one enforcement officer who I used to work with. My neighbours are really happy we are converting as the barn is an eyesore, so we are very unlikely to get anyone saying anything here.

about 4 years ago someone a few miles from here had class Q for a conversion and decided that a new build would be easier, but didn't apply. Either someone reported him, or the planner drove past, but it got back to the council and when they attended site there was no barn. So, they removed the permission saying that it was to convert and barn and as there was no barn there was no planning.

yes, generally the fee for a full app is about 450. Our planning was approved in May, with contamination surveys as a condition. These have just been completed and I have submitted planning for discharge (£116). I've been investigating and estimating since May and haven't finished, don't be fooled about how long it takes and how many decisions you need to make. In my investigating it would be much easier to build from scratch using timber frame or SIPS, I would if I could. I'm sure you are right, if no one reports you, but there are some small minded people out there. I'm watching a local farm because I'm a bit suspicious about what they are doing. We are very careful what we say to people, particularly as we are replacing the roof, which is not against the app, but is on the edge.

If you apply for knock down and rebuild and get refused then your class Q will still be in place as long as you don't say it is because the barn is not sound, but for another reason like eco credentials. But, I would suggest looking at your local planning portal to see if anyone else has done the same successfully, after all there is no point spending money if no chance of success. The other option is to have a pre-app meeting with your LPA, after our Class Q app was refused twice I did this and the report they sent was great, explaining what we would need to do to be considered for planning, which we did and it was approved on the 3rd attempt. But, in our location we have been told that the barn must be structurally convertible and that planning would never (never say never really) be approved for a rebuild. This is because our barn is in the countryside and it would count as a new house in the country. Ironically, we also have a low roof, but we are not allowed to dig down as we have to use walls, floors and roof and only repair when totally necessary. The roof is going to be replaced as the current one leaks and is not worth repairing. The only digging out we are doing is where the floors are not level and we have already been told to leave 4 inches around the outside wall to keep the walls up. Ours already has walls inside from being a pig building, but we can do as we wish there so they are probably coming down.

our issue is that where the drains are going is narrow so needs a small digger, also digging out the current floor requires a digger to go inside the current barn. as the barn has a low roof we are quite restricted. we have to keep the existing walls and roof. we may end up hiring a small one and buying a bigger one or the other way round, but the point of buying is the flexibility that we are looking for. If we buy we must have a small one because of the size restrictions. The ones we looked at today were shiny and new, one Chinese which was far too small, but the Yanmar one was nice. Now, hubby is going to investigate 2nd hand ones for the same price as new.

trenches water treatment plant rainwater harvesting possible GSHP digging out the whole floor of the old barn of 240m2 digging out concrete paths / yards for drains digging the driveway trenches for supplies, 140m clearing and relocating a bank left by the pig farm, last time we started this we found pigs buried !!! they were buried too deep in subsoil so didn't decompose, all gone now after 20 years, but the bank still needs moving. digging out about 30 tree stumps and possibly other stuff that I can't think of now. except the cart lodge that we want to build later, that will need various holes I expect. we also have an old muck heap that needs moving. the main reason for buying is availability, hubby works part time and works on the build when he can so wants one there when he wants it. we are happy to buy, but don't want to lose a stupid amount when I insist that is is sold even though he will want to keep it.

Hello, we are looking to buy a digger at the moment, just a little one as we have some narrow spaces to get in. Chinese ones seems to be good value for money / cheap compared with other makes. But, are they a waste of time and if we decided to buy a new one, which we could do for a 2nd hand Yanmar, then are we going to lose everything when we sell it when we have finished digging all the holes and trenches that we possibly need. We have really struggled to get one as 2nd hand ones that seem decent goes for lots of money and very quickly and we don't want to get ripped off. We are going to look at a dealer who sells shiny new ones tomorrow, including chinese ones, but wanted an idea of which is the best direction. Thanks

I usually post my blog entries on a Wednesday, but somehow it didn't happen this week. This week I have submitted the application to discharge our planning conditions. Although there were 5 listed, one was to say 'do what you have plans for' and the other 4 were all to do with contamination. Condition 2 was to get a phase 2 contamination report and 3,4,5 were all to do with remediation if any contamination was found. The report was 72 pages, guess that's where 5k goes, and said negligible / low for everything, so there is no remediation to be done. I was hoping that discharging the conditions would be a quick process, not realising that it follows the full planning process as per a new application. So, after hoping to start on the barn soon we can't do anything until this is approved. I must also do the CIL commencement form as well, although I might as well just get on with that now. It's occurred to us over the last few weeks that all the 'stuff' in the barn currently needs a new home, either long-term or temporarily during the build. Down the slope near the house we have brick buildings used historically for the pigs which we used for the bikes. Unfortunately, over the last few years the already dodgy roof collapsed in almost completely when the main rafters broke. This was probably because the front and back of the pig sty had a major argument and decided to go their separate ways. One part forward and one part backwards. The plan was always to knock this down, and we still will in due course, but in the meantime we are rebuilding it for storage with a lean to on the sides for the tractor and dumper. We are almost entirely using stuff we have lying around, except for joist hangers and nails. The huge cracks have not changed in years, not even when we removed the old roof, actually that was probably part of the problem as it was very heavy. We already have metal roofing sheets removed from some other sheds that were knocked down, there is probably not enough for everything, but as we have the barn roof to take down we can finish then. We are hoping to get the roof on the first side this weekend, then I can start moving all the wood. It has become clear that I'm going to need to install some stables as the horses are out 24/7, with just a couple of shelters. Not a problem until something goes wrong and you need to shut them somewhere. I also need a new tack room as the current one is in the barn and somewhere to keep the hay / straw / feed. To avoid another planning application I've decided to get some that are on 'skids' and not foundations so technically moveable. Thankfully, this won't come out of the build budget as I keep virtual pots of money for various things, such as animals, cars, bills etc and the animal pot has enough for this. Next week, it's continuing with looking at what's needed for the new build, including door furniture and tying down the windows I want versus the ones we can afford.

Here are all the planning conditions, because the step 2 phase 2 contamination survey found no issues it means that conditions 3, 4 and 5 are included in the report for step 2. Step 6, is just ongoing. So, nothing about any of the normal countryside things like ecology and landscaping. 1. The development hereby permitted shall be completed in all respects strictly in accordance with Site Location + Block Plan and Plans and Elevations received 29/05/2020, for which permission is hereby granted or which are subsequently submitted to and approved by the Local Planning Authority and in compliance with any conditions imposed by the Local Planning Authority. Reason: For the avoidance of doubt as to what has been considered and approved. 2. No development (including any construction, demolition, site clearance or removal of underground tanks and relic structures) approved by this planning permission, shall take place until a site investigation consisting of the following components has been submitted to, and approved in writing by, the local planning authority: As deemed necessary following the desk study and site reconnaissance an intrusive investigation(s), including: - the locations and nature of sampling points (including logs with descriptions of the materials encountered) and justification for the sampling strategy; - an explanation and justification for the analytical strategy; - a revised conceptual site model; and - a revised assessment of the risks posed from contamination at the site to relevant receptors, including: human health, ground waters, surface waters, ecological systems and property (both existing and proposed). All site investigations must be undertaken by a competent person and conform with current guidance and best practice, including: BS 10175:2011+A1:2013 and CLR11. Reason: To ensure that risks from land contamination to the future users of the land and neighbouring land are minimised, together with those to controlled waters, property and ecological systems, and to ensure that the development can be carried out safely without unacceptable risks to workers, neighbours and other offsite receptors. 3. No development (including any construction, demolition, site clearance or removal of underground tanks and relic structures) approved by this planning permission, shall take place until a detailed remediation method statement (RMS) has been submitted to, and approved in writing by, the LPA. The RMS must include, but is not limited to: - details of all works to be undertaken including proposed methodologies, drawings and plans, materials, specifications and site management procedures; - an explanation, including justification, for the selection of the proposed remediation methodology(ies); - proposed remediation objectives and remediation criteria; and - proposals for validating the remediation and, where appropriate, for future maintenance and monitoring. The RMS must be prepared by a competent person and conform to current guidance and best practice, including CLR11. Reason: To ensure that risks from land contamination to the future users of the land and neighbouring land are minimised, together with those to controlled waters, property and ecological systems, and to ensure that the development can be carried out safely without unacceptable risks to workers, neighbours and other offsite receptors. 4. Prior to any occupation or use of the approved development the RMS approved under condition 2 must be completed in its entirety. The LPA must be given two weeks written notification prior to the commencement of the remedial works. Reason: To ensure that risks from land contamination to the future users of the land and neighbouring land are minimised, together with those to controlled waters, property and ecological systems, and to ensure that the development can be carried out safely without unacceptable risks to workers, neighbours and other offsite receptors. 5. A validation report must be submitted to and approved in writing by the LPA prior to any occupation or use of the approved development. The validation report must include, but is not limited to: - results of sampling and monitoring carried out to demonstrate that the site remediation criteria have been met; - evidence that any RMS approved in pursuance of conditions appended to this consent has been carried out competently, effectively and in its entirety; and - evidence that remediation has been effective and that, as a minimum, the site will not qualify as contaminated land as defined by Part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. Reason: To ensure that risks from land contamination to the future users of the land and neighbouring land are minimised, together with those to controlled waters, property and ecological systems, and to ensure that the development can be carried out safely without unacceptable risks to workers, neighbours and other offsite receptors. 6. In the event that contamination which has not already been identified to the Local Planning Authority (LPA) is found or suspected on the site it must be reported in writing immediately to the Local Planning Authority. Unless agreed in writing by the LPA no further development (including any construction, demolition, site clearance, removal of underground tanks and relic structures) shall take place until this condition has been complied with in its entirety. An investigation and risk assessment must be completed in accordance with a scheme which is subject to the approval in writing of the Local Planning Authority. The investigation and risk assessment must be undertaken by competent persons and conform with prevailing guidance (including BS 10175:2011+A1:2013 and CLR11) and a written report of the findings must be produced. The written report is subject to the approval in writing of the Local Planning Authority. Where remediation is necessary a detailed remediation method statement (RMS) must be prepared, and is subject to the approval in writing of the Local Planning Authority. The RMS must include detailed methodologies for all works to be undertaken, site management procedures, proposed remediation objectives and remediation criteria. The approved RMS must be carried out in its entirety and the Local Planning Authority must be given two weeks written notification prior to the commencement of the remedial works. Following completion of the approved remediation scheme a validation report that demonstrates the effectiveness of the remediation must be submitted to and approved in writing by the LPA. Reason: To ensure that risks from land contamination to the future users of the land and neighbouring land are minimised, together with those to controlled waters, property and ecological systems, and to ensure that the development can be carried out safely without unacceptable risks to workers, neighbours and other offsite receptors

remarkably they are the only 3, we were really surprised and the 2 barns being converted nearby both have 12. Perhaps it is because I submitted so many reports and had to apply multiple times

planning submitted by me via the planning portal

for a phase 2 contamination survey to be carried out. the other 2 were if the above found contamination, but as nothing was found then there is no remediation report or action to be taken.

Please can I have some help on how to discharge conditions. All I can find on the planning site is how much it costs, not how to do it. I have 3 conditions, but they are all linked so I want to discharge them all in one go. Thanks

good luck with the twins, when they are older, if they are anything like mine, the doors will always be opened anyway.

not sure about that, my brother still lives in the area and he says it is really expensive, cheap areas are Sadly Broke, Southmead, Knowle West and any of the huge ex local authority estates, like Hartcliffe. But, I now live on the East Coast (Suffolk not USA) so I may well be out of date.

It's funny how things change, I grew up very close to hotwells in Ashton (not Long Ashton) near the cumberland basin and hotwells was somewhere to be avoided, and don't get me started on Bemy, total dump back then, but now read hot spot. Wish we'd stayed in our 3 bed victorian town house, which my parents sold because it was too big and bought a ex council semi.

that's good, for once not the expensive stuff.

another question on this, when I plasterboard internally, what is the best tape to use to stop cold bridging.

Yesterday, ahead of schedule, we received our phase 2 contamination survey report. No surprises, but it's good to hear that everything is good. The report is 72 pages long, but then for the cost of it I expect to have lots of detail. It's been a long drag to get this far with difficulty getting planning permission and needing lots of reports, surveys and plans We went into this process thinking that we would spend up to 10k trying to get planning and then stop, but in the end it has cost nearly 22k all of which comes out of the build budget. Of course, we are one of the lucky few that can afford to go through this process and then build our custom house, not only the house we really want, but for much less than we would have to pay for it, even if we could find it, particularly in a location like we live in. We are not a very social couple so like living in a rural location without any close neighbours and being able to convert a barn that we already own has removed both the cost and the difficulty of finding a plot. The conversion is slightly smaller than our current house, but as a single story we should never have to move. HID wanted to build something smaller, but I put my foot down saying that I wanted the space for visiting family so we have gone for 4 beds and an office. A point that was emphasised when one of the girls moved back in Monday after splitting up with her partner of 4 years. I have been told by friends that grown up children cannot wait to leave, but do have a tendency to move back at regular intervals. After 2 years alone it's quite odd to have someone else in the house. She wants to move into our residential log cabin, but that is my site office and I'm loath go lose it. I expect I will have to though and it will probably be better that having to look after her again. At least in the cabin she can be independent. Having received the report I now need to discharge the condition, luckily the only one. Then notify the CIL that we wish to commence and off we go. We planned to start in the spring, but now might try some demolition of parts of the barn that are not usable. The first part is removing the asbestos roof from the 'L' part of the barn. One of the specialist jobs, although we are getting the skip ourselves and wrapping it in DPM. I've found that ordering the skip myself is half the price of the contractors bring their own, pity it can only be used for the roof. When I get time I am going to cover up and get close to measure and count how many sheets there are so I can calculate the size skip needed, also to understand the ridge, which is curved. HID has been working on the old bike shed, this has a serious case of subsidence, we were going to knock it down as the roof had collapsed as well. Then we realised that we are in desperate need of storage during the build so a new roof is in progress, which in turn will hold the front and back walls together (we hope). It can then be knocked down when we have finished. At one point I was thinking of using these sheds for the horses, but when we looked closer it became obvious that if they rubbed on it then it would collapse. Right, well back to the estimating, tonight I'm looked at cladding and trying to decide which wood I like best, Red Cedar or Douglas Fir and trying not to think about the cost.

that sounds good. Do note though some of the earlier comments in this thread that once the RHI for solar stopped the price reduced hugely. So, unless your timing works out it may not be a problem. We are DIY builders and haven't started yet, so won't be getting ours for a couple of years, so I'm going to have to hope the price will reduce.