Ferdinand

Make sure the topo identifies anything off your plot that you may need to address ... eg the pavement across from your driveway, where your splays will go etc. It will add very little to the job, whilst a return visit will add loads.

What a cop out. Build a wall-of-death bicycle window or up-and-over-backswards backflip window. Make it happen or they are not walk-on windows ! (Update: Or a bridge over a pond as the only route to your door)

Cheers. Did not know that Ozzie was in the set. Now I need one of one eighth of an octopus in my freezer.

Need an octopus emoji. Was feeding somebody stir-fried octopus and Prosecco last night. F

Off topic .. quirky but interesting plan. Ferdinand .

So based on that you have one month and a bit to mitigate your risk. Perhaps get an option agreement in place with the final field person if you can, for expenses plus a suitable sum, to cap the liability so you know where you stand, then consider a borehole as that number sounds acceptable for a borehole. You will have to pay him a smallish fee plus legals, as you know. Make the agreement long term enough to cover you selling it on, and make it transferable to a purchaser. And see if you get a good ideally binding estimate on a borehole, which sounds like a way of avoiding all the water problems ... maybe. But it sounds like the one to buy anyway. But decide PDQ if you are building or selling on; PP is a rapidly wasting asset and land values are another pin the tail on the donkey operation. Everybody buying it will do as much due diligence as you have. Alternatively lock the PP in by digging a suitable something soon after purchase, which will take the pressure off. Glad to see you are making a fist of managing the risk. F

I think that would be argued under loss of amenity, but I do not see this being close enough to anything to impact that. I think it has to be very close indeed. Useful note on loss of amenity https://www.designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/Planning_objection

Thanks that is quite useful, but I would need to see all the adjacent buildings and relationships, and orientations, and topography to comment in much more detail. I think I have pointed out most of the potential forms of objection that should be available. Things you will be able to do could include eg making the wall facing the neighbour less blank, or more interesting, or smaller eg a mono pitch low on that Side, or a partially hipped roof. As a wildcard, could you put your upstairs what we It is on the end and make the whole thing single storey; that feels like an extreme compromise however. I think you are correct to have a conversation if you can. I think an informal phone call to the Planning Officer to try and identify their latest concerns may be helpful, to ask about their interpretation of their policy, and to explore what they generally would think of as acceptable; they will have to form an opinion on that for their report. But take care not to make commitments, and you can only expect useful indications in return. But it will still be useful, probably. Ferdinand

Online salesman and potential forum reading thieves. Yes.

Being harsh. Looking at it from the point of view of the land to the left of your garage on the pic, I make it that your garage is 1m or so from boundary, is essentially 6-7m high, and that the ground it is built on is higher already than next door. From the other side it must look rather .. er .. imposing. If I have that right, then I would probably be objecting very vigorously on grounds such as massing, overlooking, shade depending on the orientation, dominance and scale. I might also try my hand at a Visual Impact objection if I could make it stick. I would also possibly argue that it looked designed to be a future dwelling by stealth, which is not a planning matter but could stir up a useful controversy in the minds of the planning committee. I would probably want no windows on my side, and to lose the upper room or move it a lot further away .. like attached to the house. I may not have those relative dimensions right, however, and am not entirely clear wrt the relationship between the dwellings. A crop from the large scale council map showing the adjacent plots and properties, or from a Google earth, might help. Ferdinand

Can I add a few late comments here? I second @Mr Punter .. take the time that you need. You have put a lot of things together; now let it steep at least for a little to make sure that you get your decisions as right as possible. I would counsel deliberately exposing yourself (wait for the next word @pocster) to things outside your immediate experience here ... eg go and visit other houses to see how they are laid out and hw your friends live. Delibrately ask them what they would like to change or do differently. What facilities do they need. See how 2 people or 2 people plus one old mum live in a house. Get a list of questions to be thinking about etc. Have a few nights away in modern AirBNB etc. Do some scenario planning as to how you will live in it at differ not stages of your lives, if parents move in, if disabled or frail etc. You can design for adaptability without having to put all the extra stuff in now, but you need to have thought about it. Tou have some excellent comments on design and layout. I would add to think sooner rather than later .. say when your app is in but being processed ... about how to manage the construction, especially on hiring vs buying then selling items of kit, and getting things like trade accounts set up. My specific comments on the design: Make all your shower cubicles large ones ie one dimension 1m or more. It makes a huge perceived difference. Make them wall to wall at the end of the small oblong rooms. I would try and make all bedrooms en-suite .. there is space for a pair of ensuites between beds 3 and 4. I agree you need space for a full disabled shower room downstairs .. you never know when it might be needed. Inwuld make provision for that corner of the downstairs, and perhaps the pantry, to be a potential granexe with kitchen in future. Very little extra work required to do that. You have extra space for your stairs; use it. Make them shallow Ie say 35 degrees not 42. That just makes it feel comfortable, and much easier for older people. I am not clear what happens behind that settee on the landing, as it is blocked whichever way round the stairs are. Personally, I would consider making that the Yoga spot, as you potentially get light and a view, plus space to stretch out. It could be made into an informal Carrel when not being used for meditation. I think your grouping of ensuites is rather scattergun, and will cause pipe routing and potentially noise issues. I think your parking needs thoroughly reconsidering. It was very awkward in the initial sketch, and it is still. A two or three car long tandem or trandem cul de sac is unlikely to work. I think I would have three or four generous side by side in front of the double garage (which is a good size), with a turning spot for reversing down the N side of the house all done to recommended turning dimensions, the latter leading on to a porch or portico such that people can alight and vehicles can be loaded through the wide door. Ideally that turning space would be wide enough for a full size removal lorry to reverse in to prevent having to carry things the extra 10m, and ease future deliveries. The NE corner of the plot looks as if it is looking for a use. I would make that into either trees/shrubs, or possibly a workshop or work / hobby room. You could stick your storage there for the build, and leave it afterwards .. but remember that you may want it out someday. My take. Ferdinand

That would be my pressure controlled outlet ,,, ?. And pipe diameter was how they regulated the continuous water supply to individual properties in Ancient Rome.

A serious question. How is the flow attenuated down in this setting? I know how it is done on a balancing pond, ‘cos I had to have one designed ... they use an electronically controlled outlet with a flow regulator. But if it is just a big water tank with an in and and out, how is that done? is there some kind of pressure controlled outlet that gives the max allowed flow when the tank is full, or is there some other clever mechanical or electronic gubbins? @JSHarris does not have that challenge, as his SUDS is a soakaway-with-storage iirc. Ferdinand

2 no 90cm x 60cm 50mm pressed council slabs sat on whatever is underneath. About £6 each. Permanent installation? Set in minimal mortar, or glue. PS I think the roof numbers are higher due to water velocity running into gutters, and that roofs do not divide roof area uniformly across drainage routes, so it is a increased to reflect possible disproportionate maximum intensity for a single drainage route. F

That’s a £27 donation to BH, based on 2% of the saving ?.

Oooooer! This has lots of angles and issues, and the potential outcome could be almost anything. A Serious Question. Before this gets tangent-ed with lots of useful, but not precisely relevant, information, could you answer the following questions. 1 - Have you bought the plot yet ie exchanged or completed? This affects your negotiating leverage. 2 - Who told you it ‘would all be fine’, and what record do you have? Written and signed? Or verbal only? Witnesses? The underlying question there is how much of a warranty have you been given, and how well can you get redress if it turns out not to be fine at all. 3 - I am assuming that you have the cost of the Physical work well understood, and that we do not need to address that at this point. Though it sounds like a substantial sum to do, and there will also be the cost of disruption to the owner of the final field, insurance for others’ pipes etc. Make that a separate thread if needed. Keep this one focussed on the Easement. 4 - Classically, this is one to find out the cost first, and then deduct off the value of the offer. The risk around getting supplies needs to be managed before purchase, or you could potentially meet dragons at the breakfast table. 5 - Really all that can be said firmly about the potential costs without more info is that: a) - the minimum will be the expenses of the other guy if he decides to donate you access, b) - the maximum he can possibly charge is set by the net cost of you doing it another way. Eg If your Plan B is to dig a borehole at a cost of 40k (including rolled up maintenance costs for x years), then he can charge you 39k minus the implementation costs for the rest of Plan A, which is your ultimate point of adopting Plan B. In utilitarian terms a best outcome for him is to get you to point B. Other factors above affect these 2 numbers, and who gets to pay it. I am sure that people can quote anecdata, however, and that the numbers will be nearly nothing to the *headdesk* inducing uncomfortable. 6 Do you have a viable Plan B? You will need to know the cost of that to inform your negotiation and walk away from Plan A. If you guess at the cost of Plan B then you will be playing Pin the Tail on the Donkey, without having seen the donkey first. 7 Is there anything non-pecuniary that the Final Owner wants, that you can supply? You may be better offering expenses plus an in kind lollipop. I really hope that a lot of these issues are already scoped out, and that the final owner is reasonable / fair. Ferdinand

The 15% mentioned is for existing buildings, and from a 2015 base .. for clarity. That is on top of the -15% app. achieved between 1990 and 2015. Having said that, I agree that it is quite timid target, and is not on track for -80% from 1990-2050. Reducing the consumption carbon footprint of a typical house by 50% .. say from a D/E to a B, roughly saves as much as the entire carbon footprint of a new build. SpAnd there are millions and millions of these as opposed to 200-250k new units every year. F

No problem there ... the in house CPU discussed elsewhere used to be programmed in Octal. Hexadecimal is for wimps...

This piece in H&R acknowledges the concept of in-slab ufh, but does not give a howto, which may be what you really want. https://www.homebuilding.co.uk/underfloor-heating-guide/ There are various pages from Installers eg https://www.buildingservicesindex.co.uk/entry/44100/Warmafloor/Underfloor-heating-for-structural-concrete-floors/ F

Try this, and assume some replies from people who are feeling less frisky than I am this morning. F (runs and hides)

I guess it also depends on what whether it is a max, a min, or an average in that department. This is from prospects.ac.uk: Starting salaries for graduate or assistant planners are typically in the range of £18,000 to £25,000. With experience, in roles such as principal planner and team leader, salaries can reach £30,000 to £45,000. Chief planning officers, heads of departments and directors can earn salaries of more than £55,000. So I make that roughly 28k after 2 years, 30-37 after 3-10, and some more with Team Leader or Extensive Experience. I would call Senior Planner as an experienced individual who is not running a team, with 5-10 years experience. F

I make that about 32k now, taking into account pay caps etc, which is 10-15% above the national Average salary for full time employees. Not unreasonable, depending on the definition of Senior. Ferdinand

But if there is no loo in the shower room, whether en-suite or downstairs, some people pee in the shower. That is one that I personally find offensive, but I am not sure that I am in a minority or majority. I am also not sure whether it is a generational thing ... perhaps conditioned by experience for some living in tiny flats or rooms I shared houses in cities. Or even by experiences of some when in the armed or uniformed services. Ferdinand

I'm following the lead of a few others, and starting a blog on my own platform. It is called "This New House", and will let me reuse some content from the 10,000+ posts I have on various forum sites from the last 10-12 years, and also let me comment on questions beyond the scope of Buildhub. This is the blurb: The new website is here, at This New House.

This is the recommendations graphic from the report. It seems to be motherhood and apple pie. 20190219-Committee-for-climate-change-Homes-of-the-future-are-needed-today-Infographic-A4-ban-gas-cookers.pdf And the report itself: https://www.theccc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/UK-housing-Fit-for-the-future-CCC-2019.pdf Ferdinand