ETC

Yes.

If i was in your shoes I would speak to your neighbour to start with - if you like the look of his house ask him who did the drawings and go from there. Whoever you choose tell them EXACTLY what you want and ask them for a fixed fee for this service - including all expenses, printing, mileage and so on - plus VAT. You could also ask for an hourly rate to be kept on the end of the telephone.

And bash again. You guys really do not like architects. The truth is that 90% of the drawings done in this industry are not done by architects - plan drawers! Check who you employ for starters - an architect should (and is legally obliged to) agree the cost of his services with you before he lifts a pen (well in this day and age a mouse).

Are you sure he was an "architect" - bet he wasn't!

Time to bash the architect - again!!

Absolutely.

As I said - pay peanuts and get monkeys. I have seen so so many sh*t designs on this forum it is unbelievable - but hey it was as cheap as chip so who cares!

You get what you pay for. Pay peanuts get monkeys!

I really can’t see a problem. Windows need to be guarded where the opening sash is less than 800mm from a floor. An EEW has a range of between 800mm and 1100mm from the floor to the underside of the opening sash. Have your cill height at 1000mm and make the window opening suitable for the required ventilation. Can someone explain it to me please?

800mm is minimum not maximum height at an openable window. Lower than 800mm you will need guarding.

You need a full landing at the top and bottom of a staircase - you can have a cupboard opening onto it but you need 400mm space between the doors and the top step - you can’t achieve this unless you open the door into the store.

What’s more important - not falling out of a window or getting enough fresh air?

Very easily Joe - use a restrictor stay.

Can you post the requirement for window openings to be not lower than 1100? Thanks.

I agree - the Guidance is Guidance but there still needs to be a bit more consistency between BCOs.

Roof lights can go down to 600mm above FFL.

Conor - where the windows are LOWER than the required 800mm above FFL a restrictor stay to an EEW (or any window for that matter) is acceptable as long as it complies with BS8213-1:2004. The requirement here is for guarding - would your BCO have failed your windows if they had been taken to FFL? where there is no requirement for the lower edge (of a EEW) to be not less than 800mm above FFL.

Madness - putting a 25mm step is a complete waste of time. There needs to be a bit of common sense when measuring the height of an EEW. Thicker carpet would have helped! It doesn’t make it right though.

Not a good idea - the EEW is there for your safety - I’m surprised that BC have even allowed you to put a step in but if they are happy put it in and leave it there.

I wouldn’t put PIR in a floor.

My personal opinion is this: If you provided the person who drew up your BC drawings with drawings that didn’t show a door between the kitchen and the hallway containing a staircase then I suspect you need to accept some responsibility for the error. However the person who drew up your plans should - in my opinion - have known that Building Control would have asked for something to mitigate the fact that there was no physical separation between the kitchen and a hall containing a staircase. Building Control should - again in my opinion - have noticed that there was no physical separation between the kitchen and the hall and staircase and should have asked your agent to provide separation or some other means of fire protection before the drawings were stamped. The cheapest thing you can do is to put in a door between the kitchen and the hall/staircase. The only people who will benefit from court action will be any legal representation appointed. This is my own private opinion but I suspect you are flogging a dead horse thinking about legal action. Whatever happens get proper legal advice rather than taking advice from random strangers on the internet.

Questions. Did you ask the person who drew your plans to have the kitchen open to the hall? Did you review the drawings before they were submitted to Building Control?