Ferdinand

You need to be clear whether this is for Land Reg or Planning. The latter needs a full topi of your site to know where to build it. The former just to be able to identify your Land. Planning will believe your statements about the location of your boundaries, and leave it up to you and your neighbour if you are building in their garden.

Normal Land Registry boundaries are subject to a General Boundary Rule , which means "-ish", which is why they rely on boundary features. ish is plus or minus a couple of feet. So carefully drawn identifiable-if-someone-visits boundaries on paper are OK.

Actually I meant this week's one called Ugly House to Lovely House with that extension, which is a Chatlue Luxton George Clarke one. http://www.channel4.com/programmes/ugly-house-to-lovely-house-with-george-clarke Ooops. Lessons about budgets, and the sizes of some houses, and some budgets. The Colchester one has the architect who designed it in 196x revisiting now. This is a George Clark series, and talks about the compromises with a 150k budget faced with a architect 450k proposal that ends up at 250k after optimisation and trimming. Really good programme. Less .. imo .. pretentious at the edges than Grand Designs. We all helped @Visti cost engineering a George Clarke design here after the Quantity Surveyor produced a startling estimate. One of our best threads. Both series worth watching. My theory of architects is that you get the best from an architect by getting enough knowledge to be able to engage at as equal a level as possible. You keep their wonderful flights of imagination grounded. F

If it is not going to be closed for all that time but only for a day or two, could not some unknown party add a guerilla sign with details of possible access?

Welcome. I think that you could expect an Architect to give a greater conceptual and inspirational 'design' input due to a wider and deeper training / experience but that an Architectural Technologist may well do as competent an implementation of the process. The most important thing is to find someone who matches your requirements and working style, as there is a vast variety of both. Take care to broaden your horizons before you get into the nitty gritty. So going to visit previous work and talking to previous clients is important. On the studio decide whether it is an artist's studio music studio etc and visit lots of similar spaces e.g. Is it required to have many moods for inspiration? Can it be more of a pavilion? Can you use interesting glass or make it like a hobbit hole? In your project it should be possible to find umpteen similar schemes, which may give you sufficient inspiration - in which case you may want to self-design or just engage a pro for the initial stages. I would commend the programme from Best Laid Plans this week which had an unusual double height kitchen extension. http://www.channel4.com/programmes/best-laid-plans Ferdinand

I think I have some sympathy for the developer in this situation - the second application was perhaps a cheaper and quicker Plan B to Appealing the first, and may eg have allowed building to commence months earlier. Since it was a new application, the relevant people would have received another notice and seen the new post on lampposts etc, and if they chose not to follow it up then that is mainly their own responsibility. Unless I have not understood the precise process in these circumstances.

Can confirm that my new pre-owned Makita charger charges up a 5Ah Makita battery much quicker than an hour . But no USB charger F

I would argue for keeping it simple rather than using automated blinds etc if you can - eg overhang plus fixed lights, except perhaps one or two openers - since it will be a bit of a performance to be up there for maintenance, unless eg you half an easily walkable roof. Doesn't @Calvinmiddle have some of this?

Excellent points @Temp, but I think that I have done as much as I can on this occasion. There are no other objections - the only other dwellings adjacent are being converted or belong to the applicant. I think the proposal is so fundamentally flawed that it is not addressable by minor amendments: 1 - The main 3 fundamental points are: a) That the proposal requires to remove all the amenity space and parking from another house the applicant is currently building under a previous PP; the Officer was clear that that was a very basic issue. b) Even if the houses were reduced from 4 to 2 bedrooms there is still not enough amenity pace (private garden); and c) there are too few off street parking spaces. b and c are clear violations of basic policy, and our Council does not often ignore those without a detailed planning case being made - here that has not been done. Point a seems just to be a weird thing to propose - perhaps they forgot. I think I will still put my objection in as planned to be sure. Though the consultation end date was some time ago (25/10/2017), comments up until determination are taken into account, and that date is after 20/11/2017. 2 - Then there are various more subjective things as discussed up thread, such as loss of amenity due to a 30ft high 30ft wide blank gable 1.6m from my fence. I do have a Plan B in that the current proposal essentially cuts off my Easement for new services (negotiated with the developer when I brought the house last year). The Easement allows me to insert new services and ancillary equipment to support them at will if buildings do not exist on the easement corridor, and is broadly drawn; at present it is just a plot with no PP. I have already served notice that I intend to put services into the easement in the next weeks, and I will make sure they go to the extent of the Easement corridor. I can take everything about 2.5-3m away from my boundary. I was glad my solicitor is very experienced and supplied the wording and drew the hatched area on the deeds - protecting me more than I realised at the time. Brief legal advice indicates that if necessary I can protect that at law. So I am probably about as sure as I can be, given the vagueness of the planning system. I think this is a better option than eg getting it called into committee. Cheers

I have won this one by the sound of it. I went to see the Council yesterday, with a view to framing an objection, and the Planner stopped me first and said that they were advising the Applicant to withdraw the proposal, and that if it was not done the App would be refused due to overdevelopment and other issues. Then he showed me the reasons, which were essentially all the same things that I mentioned in a phone call to them 5-6 weeks ago following this rgread - that which are in the first few posts here and the responses. Thanks for all the advice. I will post a few reflections later, then ask for the thread to be hidden tomorrow - but I will take the relevant non-identifiable bits into a blog post. I have not needed formally to object, so I will not have an overly antagonistic relationship with the developer.The learning point seems to be that the Council generally do not look at a Planning Application in detail until the end of the comments period, so there is mileage in a strategy of 1) doing homework early and giving formal or informal input before the Council reaches a view but 2) still being willing to go in all guns blazing latish in the daybut before a recommendation is fixed. So now I need to make sure that the next round has a Planning App for something acceptable to me. Ferdinand

I thought they would have a list on the website, but they seem to want to price in the context of each project.

Unable to obtain a price from Durisol UK, so this price list from Hungary quotes a price of 800 Forints for a D250 non-insulated block which is called a 25/16 unit. At today's exchange rate that is £2.27 per block or £20 per sqm, or £50 per metre run on blocks for a 2.4m high wall. So we have based on a cost for Durisol D250 blocks at about £20 per sqm, £10 per sqm labour, and £5 per sqm concrete. Rules of thumb suggest Durisol 250mm garden wall 2.4m high (400mm below ground) with 50% concrete content at £100 pcm concrete should therefore be around £100-110 per meter run plus bits and pieces. Bet UK made Durisol blocks are not £2.27 each for a D250 . Ferdinand

Can you tell me an approx factory gate or delivered price of the Durisol blocks without insulation eg the D250 or D170 options for a pack or 10 packs of 50 or 60 (resp.)? Aside to anyone: basic Durisol blocks are 250mm x 500mm x varying thicknesses so the coverage is 8 blocks per sqm. eg D250 is 250mm thick. Getting a price out of Durisol UK is like gaining enthusiastic consent from Esther Ransome to have her teeth pulled with a doorhandle. Ferdinand

The prices for having the work done I would expect - very much guestimates since my last garden wall was a barter deal. 9 inch brick garden wall 2m high = 2.4m high incl. 2.4m foundations incl materials. £400-500 per metre run. In stone would be perhaps £600-700 per metre run. Rendered breeze block In block I would guestimate £10 per sqm for blocks to be laid, £12 per sqm for materials, and £25 per sqm for render materials and labour. That is £40-45 per sqm or £150 per metre run with founds at £30 per metre. Please shoot this down as I am not familiar with the costs in detail. Coping would be on top of that. By comparison stout concrete 100mm post / gravel board / vertilap (i.e. Way beyond diy shed quality) panel fence would be about £50 per metre run. Of that about 30 per metre is materials. Was after alternatives that make garden walls realistic for me to have built, as I like them. I really want a cost of £200-250 per metre run for a 2m 9" wall built by somebody I employ, all in. Ferdinand

I have one block he gave me ,so I can try a small garden wall :-). F

Is Durisol suitable for a garden wall - say a 2m high wall enclosing a back garden, either on the boundary or as a divider? In the past all sorts of materials have been used for garden walls which are then rendered over and capped at the top. I am wondering if Durisol could be used for such a purpose, as it is inexpensive, fast, easily incorporates reinforcement, and is suitable for render. The full above ground sections can probably be done as a single pour after an earlier pour for the foundations, and perhaps the copings can be plonked straight on top of *that*. Compared with the cost of a traditional brick or stone wall, that looks attractive. Does anyone have any thoughts? Ferdinand

Thanks for the comments on this thread, @A_L, @Hecateh, @JSHarris, @PeterStarck, @Temp, @ProDave I agree with most comments. 2m in 3 years is doubtless demanding, though something a little ambitious - say 1.4-1.6m in 4 years - may be achievable. As to how I would do such a boundary, I think I might adapt the traditonal field hedge principle of "dig a ditch, build a bank, plant the hedge on the bank" but with a definite boundary feature as the location of the boundary on the traditional hedge-bank-ditch layout is less recognised than it used to be, like the "your fence is on the left (or is it right?)" rule of thumb. So I would probably do something like this, which should add to the height of the hedge and give it a boost. Would require a minidigger and perhaps a post-hole borer for any long length of boundary, but to me it does not look particularly difficult to do. I would go for the concrete + postcrete + strainer wires + chainlink type boundary fence here because I cannot guarantee a post + rail horse type fence to last more than about 12-15 years once it is inside a hedge. 1 - Put in boundary feature - I am suggesting something like one of those 1950s concrete post + chainlink fences that are still in many of the hedges on our council estates. Cheap and last a long time. 2 - Dig a ditch / French drain inside the boundary to allow for hedge maintenance / growth. Elsewhere on the forum we know the potential value of a French drain round the boundary. 3 - Plant hedge on bank made from contents of ditch - may need top / sub soil managing, compost and careful choice of hedge species. Would very much help on some soils. Ferdinand

Cheers

I have an easement through a neighbour's plot which I am planning to open up in order to insert pipes and ducts for future services. It is 2m+ wide with a wording allowing the insertion of new service media incl. eg for the supply and removal of energy, telecomms, data, water, sewerage etc and "all structures, machinery and equipment ancillary to those media". I am planning to insert a soil pipe run, a water pipe run, and 3 or 4 runs of normal 2" duct. I can terminate the runs in my plot alright, but will need a "something" at the other end just short of the pavement in my neighbour's plot such as a chamber or similar. At the moment the neighbour is just a plot with nothing built on it, hence the desire to put things in now before it would cause significant disturbance. 1 - Can anyone tell me how I should do the terminations at the other end, to keep them protected and tidy until they are used in the future? 2 - It is quite a wide easement at 2m+ and I want to put an indicator bollard or similar just to remind them where the far edge is to stop them digging it up. Can anybody suggest a suitable item to concrete in for this purpose? 3 - Are there regulations as to depths and so on for trenches and hazard tape etc. Can anyone point me to a list? Cheers Ferdinand

Aha. That is the name for "the flap" . Now I know. Cheers F

Will be interesting to compare photos with the LBB bathroom. My wall is about the same length, and i put in a 1600 bath with the gap at the tap end boxed out slightly in MultiPanel to conceal shower plumbing, with a narrow piece siliconed on at the end to be removable with a Stanley knife to give access. The Lo Carbon Tempra has a summer bypass setting, does it? Is that inside the box? It should be possible to set it to turn off when the light is on to save your tenants cold-flushes :-o . btw, which drawing package did you use? I pointed my man at the bathroom, and after an initial conversation over a tape measure, went and bought the stuff and more or less said "bathroom" "suite and taps" "please fit", with a few tactical adjustments along the way. Square the room was not. This is the bathroom fan I am currently fitting: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00CJ8L8ZM/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Ferdinand

If it is a rental then have you considered installing a trickle mode + boost fan eg dMEV? For a rental the constant slow ventilation is very good background insurance against eg the T forgetting to switch the other one on, or the recirculating hood being less good than an extraction hood. I know you considered this in your bathroom, but what about the kitchen? On the T switching it off, I would play as loose with the regs as possible to make it more difficult to switch off - eg install a non-switched FCU or put it somewhere awkward. In my view humidity controlled ones are not worth the pfaff and complexity - the money is better spent on one that is nearly silent and won't annoy the T, plus some firm tenant condensation education at the start. Have you addressed the other end of making it easy to do things like dry washing in a way that won't cause condensation? eg 1 - Put tight shelves over or fixed covers across radiators to prevent washing being dried thereupon. 2 - Provide an outside washing line if you have the space. 3 - Provide an effective indoor drying facility that is easier to use than the rads and harmless - eg pulley in the bathroom and / or clothes horse if renting furnished. 4 - Clause in the agreement for condenser dryers only. Where I have externally venting tumble dryers, I tend to offer to get my handyman to do the fitting just to be sure. My own policy is to install a Nuaire loft fan in all refurbs and a Vent-Axia Lo-Carbon Tempra with Remote Monitor potential so that I can guarantee (subject to T switch-off) a continuous flow of air through the house from top to bottom. The retrofits have been a bit painful bank-balance wise since it is about £450 plus fitting for the two each time, but it is an investment I think justified. The mistake I made once was to put the Heat Recovery Fan in a small bathroom, which while it does recover 75% of the heat also guarantees that the incoming is slightly cooler on the skin, and the T complained about feeling a cold draft after climbing out of the shower in the nud - which was a fair comment. Now I put them in kitchens or utilities away from the cooker. Ferdinand

HAve you got a bit of left over building board you have used elsewhere such as cement board or fermacell?

I admit I am not especially keen on pockets - recessed niches seems like a lot of extra work to create a lot of dust traps, though I do like lobbies and loos off hallways with diagonal doors as ways of creating usable space.

Thanks for the detailed comment, Jeremy.