flanagaj

I am terrible for overthinking things and am really struggling with the best way to install the water connection to the static caravan and also to the yet to be started house. The image below shows what I have done so far. I have pulled a trench to the boundary and also then a trench to where the static caravan will go. The issue I have, is that the water board want to inspect the pipe before they will connect us. My original plan was to just put the pipe in for the TBS, but pull the trench slightly further into the plot so that I could have a tee feeding the TBS and a capped off length of pipe. Once the trench was filled and we had water, I could then pull the trench for the static caravan when I need to and the pull the trench to the house. These would obviously be done at different times, as the site has not been cleared and cannot be started until we have our conditions discharged. The LPA have confirmed that we can put the water in for the static as this does not constitute development. I don't like doing jobs twice and burying a pipe, only to dig it up later and connect to it seems a pain. I also don't like having joints underground, but given I need to have water to a static and a temporary standpipe, I am not sure how I can avoid it. It would be fine if the water company didn't want to inspect the TBS before connection as I could simply leave a coil of pipe above ground, but they want the pipe buried. I don't understand why they simply don't just install a double check valve at the meter and then any risk to contamination is handled. The circle on the roof is the plant room and where I will feed the mains supply to. Note. The driveway entrance shown is a new driveway and the shown patio ... does not exist. It's currently a wasteland.

Ok. Does the cable have to be run in a duct or is it simply buried like an armoured electrical cable?

So Openreach have come back and the contribution fee is only £567 + VAT, but along with the offer is a contract that is 35 pages long. Now, I am not sure whether I am jumping ahead of myself here and we will need to wait until the house is actually constructed before I can get fibre installed. I assume that unlike electricity or water, there is no concept of a temporary connection for fibre and as a result it is too early to get Openreach involved?

Who can work out whether glazing satisfies Part O?

Do you mean a full planning application?

Any guidance regarding the green roof that we want to get rid of. As I stated above, they have already signed off condition 8 (Biodiversity) and the case officer says that removal of the green roof will breach condition 8. But I made no mention of a green roof in that report and apart from it being shown on the plans, there was nothing in the conditions relating to having to have a green roof.

That's a very good question and I have no idea why the technical architect we are using submitted them under a NMA. Given condition 1 of our planning grant states "The development hereby permitted shall be carried out in accordance with the following approved plans: Location and Block Plan - Drawing No. 24-WLC-PA-01 Proposed Site Plan - Drawing No. 24-WLC-PA-10 Proposed Floor Plans - Drawing No. 24-WLC-P-20 Proposed South and East Elevations - Drawing No. 24-WLC-P-30 Proposed North and West Elevations - Drawing No. 24-WLC-P-31 REASON: For the avoidance of doubt and in the interests of proper planning" Would you suggest that we forget a NMA application and simply submit a variation of condition for the minor window style / size changes? If I can submit multiple variation of conditions under one application then that would save me having to pay one NMA fee and one variation of condition fee for the driveway change.

So our NMA to change the window style, remove green roof and reduce the width of the driveway has been refused. The reason given is as below. "I refer to your proposal received on 28 July 2025 concerning your proposed non-material amendments to the approved drawings. The Local Planning Authority has now considered the amendments but has resolved that they be NOT ACCEPTED as an amendment to the existing planning permission for the following reasons: The amendments by the insertion of the brick piers with narrower access would result in a breach of condition 15. The amendments to the green roof would have implications on the Biodiversity Enhancement and Mitigation Plan which would result in a breach of condition 8. The proposed windows could be considered acceptable as a post decision amendment; however, they would need to be submitted independently from the above elements that are not acceptable. If you wish to pursue the matter you are invited to submit a revised planning application for the proposal or alternatively you could apply to vary the relevant conditions under a variation of condition application, details of the application can be found at:" It's frustrating as it will mean I have to spend another £296 for just the NMA for the window change. But I am hoping that I might have a potential 'get out of jail card' in relation to the green roof. Condition 8 was discharged two weeks ago and the Biodiversity Enhancement and Mitigation Plan I submitted to discharge the condition had no reference to a green roof. The plans did show a green roof, so not sure whether I would be in breach of condition 1 . Do I raise it with the planning officer that condition 8 has been discharged and there was no mention of a green roof in the report?

You have maybe just become a life saver with that reply! I didn't even consider that option and will potentially mean we can move into our static onsite. I work remotely, so need data connectivity and 4G /5G is not existent on site.

Does anyone have any experience with Openreach, eg, getting a new connection to your property. I registered with the developer portal, uploaded a site plan .... I then received a call from an Indian call centre telling me that they have been unable to locate my site (no idea how) or the planning grant. I then simply received an email telling me that my application had been cancelled. Should I be going through a third party for getting my connection, or did others do exactly what I have been trying to do? When I login to the developer portal, the registration has vanished and there is absolutely no evidence that I ever submitted one.

I was under the impression that regardless of whether an objection is valid or not from a planning perspective, if you receive more than the planning authorities threshold, the application automatically goes to committee. We only had four objections and we had to go to committee. None of the objections had any merits in relation to planning policy. Thankfully, the planning officer had recommended to approve and our application took no time and was unanimously approved by the committee members. I would not wish committee on anyone. Some of the applications that were recommended for approval were refused by the committee, simply because objectors turned up and were like rabid dogs. Quite sad really.

I cannot brick lay, nor can I do electrical work, but I am planning on doing as much as possible on my own. I have found a chap who has self-built two homes himself. He is mainly groundworks, but that is perfect for me. I just don't have any family members who could assist. We all live miles apart. I have no choice to do as much as possible myself, otherwise, we'll overspend and we will have to sell 😞 We had a quote from a builder who for some reason ignored the brief and quoted for everything. He came in 150k over estimators online!

I have never done or seen an example of drawings submitted to BC and as a result have no idea how much detail is involved. For example, I am currently looking at Posi-Joists and thinking of getting a quote, but I am now thinking that the technical architect will need to provide this level of detail in his technical drawings that he will submit to BC. The same goes for the ground floor slab makeup. Do I need to tell him that we are planning on having the unconventional insulation / dpm / 100mm slab with the UFH tied to the steel mesh?

@nod Apologies, but can you clarify what you mean, as I didn't understand a word of it. I am also very interested in the approach taken with the construction method. So I see you have got a solid 100mm + 225mm + 100mm wall? I have not seen this before and always assumed that you just laid the blocks as standard and then filled the cavity with concrete. Is this an alternative option to that approach?

I pulled the sizes from this page. Specifier - Wolf System Easi Joists

Can anyone advise here regarding how they would arrange the joists for the below floor plan. Would you simply lay n joists across the 6.4m span across the whole length of the house? We are using sleeper walls, so could also have the joists orientated across the sleeper walls, this would mean that the widest span would be the width of the kitchen at 5.7m. But if you do that, I assume that you will need to add batten to the top or the bottom of the joists to ensure that the finished floor level and also the ceiling levels are the same? I did ask our technical architect who is doing the drawings whether we will have a steel and he replied "I haven’t designed any steels or structural elements. The structural engineer will do this. Do you have an engineer in mind?" Which did concern me a little. I just had a quick look and a steel spanning 5.7m will be 300mm deep, where as a Posi Joist is only 254mm (600mm centres) or 219mm (400m centres) we are already quite restricted on height and a 300mm steel would eat into this height and also make any duct / pipe routing slightly trickier and require a bit more though. That being said, bouncy floors is definitely something that I would rather avoid.

So if you don't have an internal thermostat and use weather compensation, how do you control the zone valve to switch the flow off to your UFH and rads?

Are you basically saying that you have a single thermostat for the whole house?

Does anybody have an example schematic for the above. In our last house we had a single zone and radiators. Things have moved on now and I understand that with UFH you have the manifold which allows for n individual circuits, but if I am correct, these are not zones, but simply a way to balance each of the loops. Much like you would with the valves on a radiator. So how many zones are people installing. Again, if anyone has a system design that they can share, that would be great. Thanks

No problem. I have redacted the details. Obviously, each report will differ based on the site, but hopefully provides an example as to what they were after. Biodiversity_Enhancement_Mitigation_Redacted_LP_Final.pdf

I'm not sure I speak for others, when I say that most requested reports are nothing more than an annoyance and red tape. Let's take the Construction and Environmental Management Plan (CEMP). We are renting a Persimmon property and a quick glance out the window and I see stone saws being used without dust suppression, piles and piles of rubbish just piled up high (Animals will make it their home) .... I am building one house and they are building over a thousand. It's hard to conclude that it's nothing more than keeping consultants and others in employment.

Apologies. I meant Radon. Depends on your viewpoint, but a lot of the reports are simply box ticking exercises that create employment for said consultants. Not sure where the Professional Indemnity insurance comes into play for any of the mentioned reports.

So when our planning application was granted, it came with 25 associated conditions. Some of them were informational, but a number of them CEMP Biodiveristy Enhancement & Mitigation Plan Lighting Strategy Tree Protection Water efficiency Required us to submit reports. As we all know, when a report is requested, it usually involves writing a cheque for a few hundred quid. Well, on this occasion I decided I would try and create the reports myself by feeding ChatGPT with the information from the planning grant and all of the reports that were used to gain planning. It did a very good job at creating the required reports and apart from the Argon report (still waiting), the LPA has signed them all off. Given our previous architects wanted just shy of 2k to go through the conditions and arrange 'experts' to create the necessary reports, I am pretty chuffed that for once, I have been able to save some pennies. Hope this helps others, who are also trying to avoid the continual cheque writing.

So a 5kW unit which can also operate in cooling mode will then suffice for both heating and cooling. Regarding the modulation. What about when it's 10C outside and your heat loss is < 1kW. If the unit does not modulate that low, does it simply mean it will be cycling?

My PT is 2.2Kw, Extractor 1.2Kw and bench saw 2.2Kw. These will all be running together as sometimes I am moving between the two machines frequently. The electricity company has said that there is 2 phase and mentioned 46KVa, so I assume that would mean two 23 Kva lines into the consumer unit. So on that basis maybe it will be ok. I think my issue, is that I have no idea how I go about calculating the size of the ASHP and the Air conditioning unit. I know people have said to go with fan coils upstairs, but given the recent warm weather and the large amount of glazing, I want a simple solution that I know is going to work. Turn on the AC and within no time the rooms can be chilled to 18C. No faffing around. We won't be using electric showers as we intend on having a HW cylinder. Dual ovens and an induction hob. Apart from that, there isn't anything else that is significant.