Alan Ambrose

>>> they couldn't offer advice on the regulations I don’t think that’s an acceptable stance by your LPA. What if HMRC said it couldn’t advise re taxes, the police said they couldn’t advise over crime, the LPA planners couldn’t advise re planning etc? Fundamentally we expect them to have a good level of expertise in the area they work in.

p.s. here are the the values for various kinds of aerated blocks compared to PIR i.e. you need between 3 and 6x the thickness of block as insulation vs. PIR / EPS etc. Obviously this is a tradeoff vs. strength.

The way I look at this is that concrete, bricks, screed & standard blocks are very good heat conductors compared with any kind of insulation. See the yellow arrow below. From memory, by a factor of x50. You can model it all in therm, but that's the long and short of it. The task is to disrupt that heat flow by putting insulation across the good themal conductors. Insulation (1) at the edge of the screed helps, but you still have the path up the blocks and into the room. Insulation (2) blocks the path completely. You can estimate the U-value / psi-value by just taking the thickness of the insulation and ignoring everything else. Ideally, Marmox as thick as the insulation under the screed?

Yep, but a lot of the wayleave department's work at DNOs is smoke and mirrors, so I would keep pushing until you get to the actual facts.

>>> I guess you could have two consumer units, a 40A one with and a higher power one without this UPS functionality. I don't think that's a big problem in practice. I plan to have 2 CUs anyway, one for battery backed stuff (fridge etc) one for stuff you generally wouldn't run off a battery - heating, car charging, oven etc - all the big loads.

>>> There is a wayleave agreement in place dated 1936. Yeah right, I bet they're not paying anyone for that. Did you get a copy from them? They may not even have a copy, in which case, it effectively doesn't exist. My general expectation is that you can generally rescind the agreement, especially if they're not paying for it. Then it becomes a bun fight over when the pole is going to be moved. You may lose that if you don't have years to spare, but it is a negotiating point.

You can use ubakhus DIY for moisture (and thermal) analysis if you want. It's also a useful way to model the physical wall / roof / floor stack-ups. This kind of thing:

Not all grids are alike - they vary in their load bearing from pedestrian to ‘truck’. You can get a good reading of the load bearing by taking the vendor’s claims with a big pinch of salt and just looking at the grid’s weight/m^2 i.e. how much plastic you’re getting per m^2. Ecogrid came out high up on my list. You could beat the £30/m^2 for materials by getting gravel in bulk - I got it in bags. Like everything, grids need a good solid base if they’re going to last.

Wow! Let us know how it goes.

>>> No expansion tank on the cold side, just on the hot for the unvented cylinder. Good point, but I think as they're linked through the HW cylinder, they should get roughly the same pressure variations. Mine hasn't mattered for a year or so , but I'm thinking I should get round to it.

You just need a square rigger and some oakum caulking, a parrot and a tot of rum.

If nothing else, it gives us a sense of how reliable LPA CIL advice is - i.e. not very reliable.

OK for anyone following along at home .... it's quite hard to make sense of the options. If you cross-reference their drawings and the price list, you're not left much wiser, particularly since not all the options shown on the drawings actually appear to be stocked. This is not helped much by human contact as MEA UK don't sell the lightwells and MEA Germany want you to reference a German area distributor to ask questions. However, here's a couple of pointers: + there's a price list which seems to have the commonly available parts: https://www.mea-group.com/content/uploads/sites/3/2024/02/PLBS-GB-2024-1.pdf + there are drawings: CAD and DWG files - MEA Group Germany (mea-group.com) + there are a few youtube videos. + there's a German configurator app: MEA Configurator (mea-group.com)

That looks good, but not inexpensive - mine ended up being about £30 per m^2. Looks good though and think it'll last for a long while - mine won't have any cars on it.

Sounds like a tiny amount of water hammer. Agree with above. Problem may go away as the valve gets furred up. I have this problem too (I must fix it someday ) - caused I think by high mains pressure - it's 4 bar here. There's also an off-the-shelf version of B above - look for water hammer arrestor or similar. Just possible it's also related to the expansion tank - either the diaphragm going or set at the wrong pressure - so it's not absorbing any fluctuations.

Anyone who has used MEA lightwells - can I ask which components you used? Standard multinorm or the meamax adjustable ones? Do you use MEA's windows and window casings too e.g. thermo window & luxit casing or third party windows?

I believe the wayleave is also keyed to the landowner, not the land - so it becomes void with a new owner. Check out old posts here on this subject.

>>> removal of PD rights is not looked on favourably by appeal inspectors. Removal of PD seems to be standard practice with my LPA. I have an appeal in for re-instatement - it's been in now for 33 weeks - so far no decision.

FYI re 'moving the CIL arrangements from one planning application to another' this was the gist of the conversation with my LPA. Unfortunately, I didn't ask them which exact part of the CIL law they were getting their guidance from. Q As we already have planning granted for a single storey dwelling, we would like to make a start on the installation of services and for the driveway for access. I imagine that we can simply signal a formal start under the original application and then ‘move the CIL arrangements’ as the new planning and/or appeal comes through. Would that be correct? If so, what is the correct procedure for ‘moving the CIL arrangements’? A If your new applications were variations of the original consent, it would be possible to transfer a self build exemption across, however, as you have made new full applications this becomes somewhat more complicated. You cannot transfer a self build exemption from one full application to another. If you make a start and carry out a material operation to commence development, you could invalidate any possibility of claiming exemption on an alternative permission. Given the access arrangements are the same, you would effectively have already implemented a new permission on the day permission was granted and the CIL for it would be payable in full, immediately. I would recommend you wait to implement any permission until you have received the permission you intend to build out to avoid any potential issues down the line.

I was just back-tracking through my emails to read the exact responses I got from the CIL guys at my LPA. I came across this (below) FYI. I assume that comes out of here: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2010/948/contents ... but I haven't checked. So, your root investigation work would not be a 'material operation' according to those definitions. (e) is hilarious as it's fairly tautological. Development is to be treated as commencing on the earliest date on which any material operation begins to be carried out on the relevant land. “material operation” means— (a) any work of construction in the course of the erection of a building; (aa) any work of demolition of a building; (b) the digging of a trench which is to contain the foundations, or part of the foundations, of a building; (c) the laying of any underground main or pipe to the foundations, or part of the foundations, of a building or to any such trench as is mentioned in paragraph (b); (d) any operation in the course of laying out or constructing a road or part of a road; (e) any change in the use of any land which constitutes material development. Clearing the land and preparatory works not included above are unlikely to constitute commencement of the development.

Well that's interesting, I think it's wrong, but I would then check with them 'what if the investigation work turns up information which means I need to move my dwelling footprint?' I think this area of the CIL law is a bit vague and untested, so different LPAs and even different staff may take different views. Bear in mind that CIL is a revenue raising activity, so anything that nets income for an LPA is fair game.

>>> In terms of working with the existing plans we have several issues Ah, I might then just either put in a simple pre-app with a single storey - sketch the footprint you might like in the approximate location and size that you fancy. It's a big plot, so go for whatever size you want from say, 160m^2, up to, say, 30% bigger than the biggest neighbour. Even better if your LPA will engage over the phone for that kind of early enquiry. I'm going to challenge your 'don't want an architect' statement. Either you have a very good idea what you want and can sketch it out (however badly) enough for a technologist to draw up. Or, if you're looking for concept and design ideas, then just interview a few architects and choose one to do enough design to get you through planning. Say, external look and feel and room layout only. You don't have to buy any services past that point. There's a couple here on the 'ub. Depending on how difficult you think it's going to be to get it past planning (a local architect will know) then that's with or without a planning consultant .

Be aware that there is the riparian requirement for the landowner to maintain the ditch - which probably includes not screwing up any drainage function. So, I guess you should be sure you won’t cause highways any problem.

Yeah, they have been reasonably helpful with my ongoing site-investigation stuff although slow-ish and a bit anal e.g. ‘yes you can use a digger to dig, but it can’t be anywhere near the foundations’ etc. If they give you the same story re major design changes, I expect they will, then please ask them where that’s detailed in the CIL law - I forgot to do that, just took them at their word.

>>> dont do what I did and fit the pozi's thinking i could get the ducting in after You didn’t like the flexible duct?