Ferdinand

Worth noting that the PP was 2006 and build perhaps 2008, so our "2020 100k" would be about 70-75k then. F

There are excellent precedents for separating functions eg cooking, living, bathing, sleeping. Think Scout Camps And Stalag Luft 3. But also some posh holiday homes separating guest sleeping quarters. Necker Island? ? More seriously I am sure some dwellings in huge barns will have done some things like this, with the barn as rainscreen / shelter.

It's actually assessed as a new sort of charge called iirc "Building Safety Charge" or "Building Fire Charge" or something, with more demanding arrangements for requiring payments.

Incidentally, just to completely Ferdinandize this thread, I was essentially declared clear of the Hairy Cell Leukemia this afternoon.

It always happens in various ways. There was a shortlisted one of exactly this setup on the Stirling Prize shortlist (longlist?) a couple of years ago ... built in a former yard in London. The last 2 decades vogue for open plan is similar - you reconfigure your furniture and partitions as required. Of course, if you go passive your energy bills tend to zero so the overheads on the bits you don't use become less important. Or consider the 450 sqm barn conversion we have been discussing - one suggestion was to treat a large part of the inside as "indoor sheltered external space", or as the Building Regs might call it a "covered yard". Really that is no different from a palm court, winter garden, or loggia-with-infill (which would be an orangery). I had a friend in France who pointed out that in rural France if they don't need say the second floor they just close off the door and ignore it until the next generational lot of childen or grandparents move in. My own chalet bungalow was sold as Kitchen, Lounge, 2 bathrooms and 5 bedrooms. It is now Kitchen-Conservatory-Lounge, Study, 2nd reception and 3 bedrooms. There's even a Peter Aldington 1970s house we discussed on BH where the central circulation space is the conservatory, and everything is built to join onto that. https://www.themodernhouse.com/past-sales/bessacarr/ (Pic from there) It's a continuum and design language, and where you put the various bits of hardware. I would characterise @the_r_sole's scheme as the house fabric being split by function into an insulated rainscreen and room dividers. He could take it further and make the room dividers dismountable, which essentially turns them into furniture. Which is the same as the way modern offices are built. In one of my favourite quotes: "There is nothing new under the sun." Ferdinand

Did any more of your buildings fall down than usual last year ? ?

Grenfell has also done interesting things to the rates charged for eg PI insurance. https://www.locktoninternational.com/gb/articles/after-grenfell-how-fire-safety-changing-face-insurance

This is presumably England only? Charges to leaseholders will be significant - I would say several hundred a year.

At the moment it feels a little raw - like a whisky still needing a bit longer in the barrel to become vintage, as if you need to think about how you live your life now and in the future eg do some scenario plans (eg "two people working from home", "after retirement with one person in a wheelchair".). I would also suggest exploring houses you find attractive with a tape measure or carry a laser measure. A common thing that we self-builders do is incorporate extra space without really making it work for the money it cost us. I think you may want a larger bathroom / ensuite if you want to spend time there socially with partner - and in a house that size imo you need at least one bath. Double doors can be awkward if you find yourself opening both more than is convenient - eg need to put down a tray. Each half needs really to be normal door width. I would consider having the landing done to incorporate a workspace somewhere, and the stairs less central. And I'm not really sure about that quantity of bifolds. Suspect that at least some of them will never be opened. There's lots of detailed stuff but which will change later anyway - kids will turn that utility into an archery range or skittle ally. Which may be fine ?. You also need to consider the sun and views. If you don't have them on the plan we cannot comment. Overall I like the concepts, but I think you are at about 70% if potential. Let it steep for a bit. 40 sqm is a huge house. Do you need it? Build cost will be 450k to 900k. HTH F

?

@PeterStarck That number for thermal conductivity of Wood Fibre board looks to be too high. I thought it was about 0.04 rather than 0.11. eg https://www.ecomerchant.co.uk/walls/insulation/wood-fibre-rigid.html I noticed it because I need to start a thread about insulating medieval timber roofs after a fascinating visit this week to @dance621's Grade II* listed church. The current recommendation from either the architect or the CO for their insulation is sheep's wool encased in Oak boxes between rafters, and I was wondering about fibreboard with a veneer or a Trompe L'oeil as an alternative. The issue is the cost of the oak boxes, of which they will need up to (estimate) 60-100 at about 3.5m long each, but also the need to guarantee preservation of a 15C oak roof with carved angels, when the angels only have a space of a very few inches behind them. And that the cost of removing a church roof to counterbatten and insulate would be a hell of a lot, swallowing a huge chunk of money. Please wait for the other thread before detailed chatter. F

Love the typo. ? All year round personal Christmas Tree.

That's interesting. Every day is a school day. Looking on the Lambeth site it actually looks like a minimum of 5m, (divide by 5 and round down to the integer) which would be interesting in my 4.83m car. Have to spin it in like a stunt driver ? . But the 5.5m is presumably the 'average' size, assuming an even distribution across the remainder that is rounded. https://www.lambeth.gov.uk/sites/default/files/pl-PARKING_SURVEY_GUIDANCE_NOTE_Nov_2012_Update.pdf Ferdinand

There's probably a detailed post of Jeremy's blog somewhere about his in roof solar. Home page: http://www.mayfly.eu/ F

I don't think 5.5m works for parallel parking bays. Normal cars (big Estates and Tonka Tanks, never mind Tesla Xs) are up to 5m. Though you could try arguing "enter via the end" for the two outer spaces. There is no defined size for such a parking bay, apparently to allow Councils to set it appropriately for each circmstance. Unfortunately that means arguing against may be like nailing jelly to a wall. There is a defined length for disabled spaces at 6.6m, which is close to a third of what it is now. Ferdinand

Try a few searches on Mumsnet to see if anyone has won the battle. Would think there should be some London conversation there.

Suggest a long pile roller, or perhaps spray if you can.

Bear in mind that if it has been there that long you are likely to have an established right of some sort to drain onto the farmers land, so you could expect to preserve that right and might get a quid pro quo for withdrawing it. (The exception might be if it turns out to be a permission letter, in which case he can legally probably just tell you to move it.) Don't be so unsubtle as to ask for money, but you could for example expect to have the outlet from your treatment plant running the same way, or get him to dig it out with his digger, take some earth if you need it cleared out from your plot etc. Or consider whatever else you need - phone lines overflying, electricity wire through etc. Could you just buy a bit of land for a bigger garden? ATB. Ferdinand

You can go in and inspect the file in person - I think without charge. Obvs depends on Corona, but if the inspection is free and they try and charge you for online docs could argue that it should be free as normally inspection would be. Or try an FOI.

My only q there is does PIV work downstairs to upstairs? Never tried it so I don’t know. ATB anyway. F

Just imagining when @pocster is 6 feet underground. It'll have a bloody glass top and you'll be able to go and stand on it, and look down at the skeleton and the balloon. The epitaph will be "Here lies @pocster Silence is golden" * with a scrawl across the bottom in a ghostly script "PS Does anyone want to buy ..." (Sales agent: Doris Stokes) Ferdinand * - Full stops left out of epitaph to avoid emotionally traumatising any millennials or Generation Zs reading the site.

I'm going to take a different view here. Partly because I believe most of it, but also to argue devil's advocate to help you think about your case. (Aside: take some readings with a suitable light meter now - so you at least know what levels should be OK for your daughter). I think that some planning measures apply to *main* windows, which may limit the case you can make to planning. If you consider the current amount of light you get through the side windows to be adequate, then you can probably wholly mitigate the impact of this extension with things under your control ie you may not need to be quite so concerned about the extension. I am making that assumption because there are things currently reducing the light level that you can address but have not done so. That you have not maximised existing potential will make it harder to argue that loss of light from the extension is a material threat. From what we have, I would suggest these are: 1 - That huge hedge which looks to be 9ft high and very long. If that is part yours you can remove it or reduce the height to say 1.5 or 2m. 2 - The glazing bars and surround-frame in those windows take up about 40% of the area. By putting in single panes and mirrors in the reveals and different non-blocking blinds you could probably nearly double the amount of light coming in. 3 - That bike shed is a blockage to some light - albeit minor. 4 - You seem to have about 15% of the windows blocked with a solid blind - surely these should be above the opening for max benefit? If your N argues from the current position, the impact of the extension will be reduced because these blockages exist now. That smaller impact is in your neighbour's favour, and I would argue from his side that it is obvious that D does not need more light in the room because you have had the capability to provide it for X years and have voluntarily chosen not to do so. I would then say that since no one knows what the benefit of those mitigations would be but it is probably far more than any conceivable impact of my extension, it is absurd to restrict my extension since you have not done the maximum under your control. I would say that has an 70-80% chance of winning the argument with the planners. If I was being sharp-clawed, I would add that the priority in your design of your windows was obviously not to maximise light coming in (glazing bars etc rather than a single clear pane), so why the sudden fuss now? I would put the cost of changing the inner frames of those windows to be a single pane design to be about £300-400 the pair, which is eg less than a report will cost. I think for you you need to decide whether you actually need his extension restricted if you do the changes under your control, or whether you are better to eg modify the windows and trim the hedge, and have a dialogue about minor adjustments they can make which will give you a push to get more light. I would be looking at things like asking him to make sure that any side windows he has do not look into yours so that you can have clear glass (ie make sure they are not lined up), to make sure that any fence is not ginormous, and maybe encouraging it to be rendered white or cream so that it reflects more light. You could request these as PP conditions (don't think you will get that). If you are going down the "stop it" route, then I think you need to consider maximising the potential benefit to your D under your control *now* to spike his argument. Not trying to tell you what to do - but there may be other ways to skin this cat that are easier to do and involve less potential of conflict, and you may even get a warmer, fluffier relationship with N. Ferdinand

Were I to apply the ratio in a modern house design, I think it would be to things I look at. eg proportions height:width of atria or windows, or maybe double doors. Or the ballroom ! Bit more detail here, albeit with added kartoffel: https://www.mymove.com/home-inspiration/decoration-design-ideas/how-architects-take-advantage-of-the-golden-ratio/ F

Why not make a feature of the reveal or threshold in something else? The last set of doors I did I put down a piece of varnished Sapele. Not expensive. And yo7 can turn it over later like your grandfather’s doorstep.

I'm sorry that you seem to have got a bad 'un, but I'm pleased that you are getting advice from CAB and TS. I though TS did not do "consumer" any more, but nice to see that in some places they do. At the end of it all it may be worth noting down in a diary or somewhere what you can take from the experience in terms of the way to approach it next time, as a reminder and a way of feeding back the experience into learning. You will get better at this over time ?. If you post it on the thread at the end and we can comment. Don't worry too much - we all make cockups. Was up at a tenant's yesterday where some houses are being built next door, and remembered how I helped the developer get rid of the condition to build an acoustic wall to protect my t's house because the very temporary fence I put up whilst they were building was so good that the Planning Inspector decided an acoustic wall would be of no extra benefit. (Should have removed the fence when I knew the inspector was visiting). F