Alan Ambrose

There’s a utility for measuring dimensions off pdfs. Can’t remember its name but I believe LPAs use it to take rough measurements off pdf drawings. Using it, you could double check a couple of key dimensions.

Ah hah, that's what it is. There's one of these frames about a mile away from us, presumably intended as an outbuilding and waiting to be clad. Looking like a very heavy duty greenhouse atm.

>>> Took the liquid screed guys two hours from start to finish to flow the screed. Can I ask - did it end up properly flat?

I think the basic construction - wall / floor / roof layup and heating system should be described accurately along with the epc in all house transactions. In fact, to get a somewhat accurate epc, the epc person needs to actually know what the layup is and the heating method rather than just guess (officially called 'assume').

The first few items on my list will be: + soil investigation for founds/basement + services to ‘kiosks’ + heras & security + site hut & loo + driveway/access heavy duty enough for trucks + outside and inside storage for materials & lock up for low value tools

@SteamyTea >>>Do you have problems quoting text? Sorry if it bothers you. It is a bit idiosyncratic but I find it more compact and more specific. I use it in email too One of things about the email service was that every reply seemed to be by a different person, so a slightly more involved conversation went round in circles - like talking to a person with no memory at all. The phone service I found better.

Congrats, hopefully that was the hard bit

>>> It could be that Octopus are the best of a bad bunch. >>> I would argue they are one of the best out there, there has got to be a reason they didn’t go bust like so many others Maybe that's the same thing e.g. they're using customer balances to finance their operations instead of ring-fencing them like a solicitors have to. It depends whose morals/efficiency you're comparing against. I've had atrocious service from some of the other suppliers, so that makes Octopus seem 'good'. Have you dealt with their email service? - it seems to have a random reply generator at the other end.

It might simply depend on the state of your supply wiring close to your house. It’s a relatively new kind of query so may take you a while to find someone who know’s what you’re talking about. I think some here on BH have done their own formal application.

It could be that Octopus are the best of a bad bunch. I don’t use the email support as it behaves like a bot and I pay my bills as they arise to avoid the ridiculous build up of huge balances in the supplier’s favour. Agile was fun over xmas when I was being paid for heating up the house overnight. January’s bill was at 17p average, so not great, not bad. I did get advertising standard’s to give them a slap on the wrist for advertising tariffs that they then said were not available. They were able to install a 3P smart meter without making much of a fuss.

I couldn’t quite figure out whether you’re just planning on re-vamping the insides of existing workshops, or replacing some? Worth looking at the permitted development rules for outbuildings if the latter. Anyway welcome.

Actually it strikes me that the simply way of encouraging biodiversity is for each village/town to buy a few acres of farmland cheap and either run it themselves or pay somebody to run it as scrubland/wild flowers/birdseed etc. i was amazed when we let the grass grow a bit (by neglect rather than by intention) on some pasture we had. Next thing there were hawks around hunting for mice and stuff. I suppose a bit of greener/wilder space in the average mass housingdevelopment wouldn’t go amiss. Explaining to the LPA what I’m doing re birdboxes etc? Nextthey’ll want to send someone round to monitor how long the grass is.

Yes, Local Planning Authority. I see, for instance, https://www.davidcosby.co.uk/watercolour-planning-drawings/ Of course, that means there is a market which is helpful. It could be that Mr Cosby might chat to you and give you some advice - maybe, maybe not, but worth a try. I would have liked to have used a service like that. I have some photo-montage renderings for my designs - they show the combination of the CAD building in its background photo setting - but the images are not that pretty or engaging and they don't look 'high-end'. I've also seen freehand pen-and-ink drawings as the only images submitted for a planning application. Unusual but it seemed to work.

Very mischievous, fight planning babble with design statement babble heh? On the subject of AI, this amused me no end: ChatGPT Vs Martin Bot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKzsmv6B8aY

I think a post drifted by me a couple of weeks ago which suggested that you could measure the overall U-value by switching the heating on and measuring the inside and outside temperature difference, the ramp time, and thus calculate the heat flow. Or maybe just get it into a steady state and then observe the energy input, the delta T, and the surface area? Is that an option here? BTW I have a similar set-up to the OP, but a lot of our heating comes from a log burner. Maybe that's an option? Also, I have not done the figures yet, but I believe Agile is working out a lot cheaper for us this winter.

Of course, the 'Home Energy Model' is coming along in 2025 to 'replace epc'...probably another black box. Personally I would be happy for us to all adopt PHPP as it is auditable and I believe the background calcs and assumptions are all in proper research papers (but the ones I've seen are in German). Maybe the 'Home Energy Model' will correct some of the more daft epc quirks - but the targets are not at all ambitious (see below). I think BuildHub needs a political wing . I would like to see the algorithms published with rationale and research data - instead of some hidden professor's ramblings under a tiny consultancy's control then watered down by the big housebuilders. Then some for-profit software vendors with software put though an opaque 'validation process'. I'm having a bit of a grumpy day today - but if you check into Part O, that's exactly what you'll find.

The problem afaik is that it is not clear how the epc number is calculated - the algorithm seems to be a total black box - which is properly dumb. In contrast to PHPP, for instance, - where if you take enough trouble you can see how every little bit is calculated.

Nice, congrats.

Wow, I like the idea of that a lot. For good quality planning applications and for developer’s marketing materials. The easiest way would be to take an architect’s existing cad and ‘trace’ it creating a watercolour overlay - that way the dimensions would be correct. Either the plan and elevations drawings, or perhaps 3d perspective drawings instead of photo-montage. A few contacts with architect’s or architectural technicians might bring in all the work you want. You might like to fish around on your local LPA’s planning site to get the lie of the land. There must already be somebody offering services like that as you often see watercolour-like drawings for £million projects.

‘Small sites’ are apparently the same as ‘minor sites’ i.e. less than 10 houses, including the usual BH case of one dwelling.

>>> The OP is trying to avoid running another cable out to the outbuilding. Yeah, I am saying I think that's unrealistic. >>> That's the way all grid tied inverters are connected as they shutdown when they loose their grid connection. That strikes me as iffy. I much prefer the layout for non-grid tied e.g. I think that set-up needs a bit of work too - presumably you would want the 'critical loads' on their own little CU. I guess the outbuilding supply could come off the house CU or (better in my view) before it. And I don't see an RCD on there for the inverter. I see some RCDs and RCBOs are bi-directional. Also, in most cases, there's clearly some work to do re earth protection.

On reflection I'm thinking that the various versions of the 'build upwards' idea is a government pipe dream and can't be realised in most cases. Duh, apart from anything else, the foundations were not designed for the extra load.

Unless the planners are going to give positive uplift to applications with proper eco-credentials and use this information in their balanced opinion - I think I would be happier if planning stuck to look-and-feel and neighbour issues and left the materials and insulation to building control.

The technology isn't often seen in the UK, so it would be good to make it available here. Weirdly enough I visited a property with something that looked like it today. Are you importing existing European tech? No harm in that btw. The self-build and PH magazines and shows would be obvious targets. Here's the list of drain heat recovery tech in PHPP right now. BTW getting your product in the PHPP spreadsheet would be helpful too - there's isn't much UK stuff in there.

>>> If the previous PO is still not taking on applications, yours will be allocated to another. But obviously note the clock starts again. @DevilDamo - Ah, I see, it sounded to me like you were suggesting that the clock starts again if a new planning officer was allocated the case following the absence of the initial one.