Alan Ambrose

BTW the LPA don't care about the interior layout - assuming it's fairly 'home-like'. You can probably change that without a full application.

My feeling is that the architect will have done whatever he or she thinks will get through planning with the highest probability to secure the landowner their £ prize. That establishes the principle and a min GIA etc. If you don't like that, you can reapply with something you do like. A quick pre-app or informal chat withe the LPA if you can arrange it with an idea of what you would to get a reading. Even better if you can do that before purchase. Once you have drawings for planning, it might take anywhere between 8 weeks and a year for the LPA to process your application.

>>> You could put it into an IP65 plastic box Yeah agree, plastic or fibreglass. Would be liberal with my use of glands, silicone grease, mastic etc. Under some overhang protection or a little roof to keep most of the rain off, if possible, have a slope on it, probably some drain holes etc. >>> our walls’ steel rods were acting as a faraday cage I wondered if something like that was the problem. >>> but isn’ta direct burial cable exactly designed for that? There are two sorts of outdoors cat5 - one is just standard cat5 with better UV protection, the second is the armoured stuff which usually also has a interference-resisting braid or foil screen. I still prefer to clip round the bottom of a fence etc or run in corrugated conduit rather than directly underground. I prefer to 'do it once, do it right' but there are no rules re cat5, so you can choose your own level of risk. If underground and in a conduit you can swap out the cable later if you need.

Are there any ‘assumed’ values in the current calc - they will generally assume ‘conservatively’ i.e. not to your gain. On a similar note I would double check all their input data. Stuff as simple as GIA can be substantially out. SAP calcs are fairly cheap and therefore often it’s a fairly careless procedure.

They do get logged on a .gov site - you can look-up the current sap for any building that has one.

OK apologies if there was a mis-communication. My thoughts, hopefully a bit clearer: + I think Ubiquiti kit is good but I believe U6 Pro is described as ‘indoor’ i.e. prob not waterproof. Poss to cover area from indoors - I don’t quite get the scale of your drawing but I’m imagining max coverage 5-10m? + my pref is to run PoE cable to everything possible and avoid wifi except for mobile / occasional devices for the reasons mentioned. + from memory cat5 signals are a fraction (50%?) of the speed of light so local cable length is irrelevant. Any delays will be software / wifi authentication / round trips over the internet to China etc. + the Reolink PoE doorbell is about £100 with no ongoing charges. I don’t get why you would use cat5 for power and not for signal, if I understood you correctly. + there are some phone apps that will let you temporarily position an ap and then measure the signal at the places where you need it. + any cable route is good where it works installation-wise for ease of routing / avoidance of damage etc. I probably wouldn’t have the cable sitting in water if I could avoid it, just because of long term permeability of the sheathing. Hope that helps.

Err, not possible to run cat5, armoured if you like, with PoE? No need for battteries and no problem with wifi signal.

You take a bit of a leap of faith - not warranted for either of my accounts right now. I did get ‘hello’ to check that they could in theory change my dumb 3P meter for a smart 3P before moving. It took 3 months and multiple and fairly firm prompting on my part, but they did at least accomplish that - something that Eon were incapable of doing.

>>> I have been with Octopus for my last house and this one and can’t fault them for customer service and reasonable prices, >>> I have 3P and am on Octopus but they can’t/ won’t offer me a 3P smart meter so I can’t change to any of the more appropriate tariffs. 😞 I have had Octopus fit a 3-phase smart meter - it took about 3 months. OTOH I am getting no sense at all from Octopus support - to the extent I'm suspecting there's just a bot at the other end. For instance, they won't let me sign up to any of their smart tariffs, even though they have installed a smart meter...

>>> Alan contact Andrew Read (andrew.reid@suffolk.gov.uk), until recently he was our local councillor, taken over by Sally Noble, but she's not been to any meeting yet so don't know her yet. Thanks, Jill.

Depends on how much competition in your area, but here (in East Suffolk) it is effectively sales value of planned building (say, £4-4.5K per m^2. for a swish place) minus build cost (say, £3k per m^2). That is, negating pretty much any profit you might make. It may be better in Yorkshire. There's a bit of subtlety you can add e.g. stamp duty you won't have to pay for an equivalent property, price inflation between the time you buy the plot and the time the house is build. But that's fiddling around the edges. Maybe look at any plots you see advertised in your area over the last 2 or 3 years. Check plot price vs. size of building with planning permission. Analyse.

Yeah, EPDM roof on ply, insulation to taste. Super waterproof and probably 30 year life.

Electric under floor is good because it is quick to heat up. It's great sitting on a lot of insulation and it's easy to fit smart controls. It may depend on how often it is used. In my workshop which has OK, not great, insulation, but where I'm fairly active and thus like a lower temperature, I just have a wall mounted fan heater on a smart control. Works fine. I use it maybe 30% and don't notice any particularly high bills. The fan heater only gets use in the 3 winter months anyway.

FYI I'm getting random nonsense back from Octopus 'hello' email address. In fact I suspect it's been chatbotted.

If it any consolation, I have the same problem with East Suffolk LPA.

I ordered £1.5K of green oak from UK Timber https://www.uk-timber.co.uk/ during Covid, worked out OK.

>>> A re-build requires a Full application. I sand corrected...

Actually just remembering back to when I scraped off my own Artex - well the bumpy bits at least: It was all really the lumps / stringy bits that came off - there was next to no dust. It's the dust if anything that'll get into your lungs, the lumps certainly wouldn't - well unless you try to snort it.

Maybe a polite informal chat with them? You still want them to do snagging and maybe other jobs in the future. Politely suggest a compromise based on the various parties actual costs?

>>> is there anything proactive I can do I think the practical answer to this is 'no'. That may sound like cold comfort, but I'm sure you'll agree there's little point in worrying about stuff you can't control now after the fact. FWIW I think the risk is low. I remember scraping some Artex ceilings 30 years ago, and I had no idea it contained asbestos. It doesn't worry me and I concentrate on other risks I can control, like when I'm up a ladder or driving or drinking whisky. (I seldom do all three at the same time, for instance).

>>> In areas that have got the issue sorted you have to buy "credits". Is that related to RAMS 'Recreational Avoidance Mitigation Contribution Payment' or is that different? >>> if you drop down dead you can't live in the house for the 3 years needed to keep the exemption. I guess 'not your problem' at that point

There are some automatic fire extinguishers which might be worth investigating too.

Traditional oak framing joints + dowels or A4 stainless coach bolts if you want it to look more contemporary. Your design looks like it's halfway to traditional joints already. They don't have to be millimeter perfect - this is rustic green oak right. Robin Clevett has a video or two on YT showing a little bit of green oak work he did.

>>> nutrient neutrality issue Well that's a new one on me. Bats, newts, archaeology, contamination, heritage, flooding, SUDS, access, materials, sustainability, trees, ecology, design, overlooking, noise, solar gain, ventilation etc etc etc ... but nutrients ?

Swings and roundabouts - materials are expensive but coming down in price a bit, contractors are getting a bit more reasonable and more available. Maybe the major factor is availability of good plots in the area you have in mind. It can take an age to find the right plot, and then an age to get planning for the thing you want - anywhere from a year to say 5 years, depending. Also, you have to balance the normal value of your time against the cost of contractors. It's unlikely you will have enough time and energy to make much of a difference if you have a full time job at the same time. Some basic calcs may help you decide - typical cost of plot in your area plus, say, £1.5 - 2.5K per m^2 build cost, depending. Are you in the right ballpark?