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An observation for those that need to heat a work/office shed during the self build process. We have a timber garden buiding, 5mx6m, that we used as a lounge room duing our restoration while living in the caravan. This had a 6kw log(s) burner which worked very well over a couple of winters provided it was lit early, had more than one log on it, didn't let it go out and had plenty of logs ready. Last winter this fire was moved into the main building inplace of the intended log burner that was now out of scope for the budget. I was intending to use part of the garden room as my hobby shed. With a budget of around 200 quid, we had a choice of either finding another log burner, using an electic fan heater, staying in bed or finding something else. The something else is a 8kw Chinese diesel cab heater. I put the heater on the inside with the burner air intake and the exhaust through a couple of proctected and sealed holes to the outside. The 10 ltr fuel tank and pump also on the outside. These heaters are 12v (24v available), I used a 240v to 12v 20A supply set at 13.8V foating a used mobility scooter battery. These heaters require a shutdown process, the battery provideds that should we lose power. It will also run the heater for a few hours. Key thing for here though and the reason for this post is the cost of running it. It says 8kw on the box but it is not. It is six at the most. From 5 degrees C it will get the temp to 19 in about an hour. I have run it on heating oil (kerosene) for just over 100 hours and it has used 0.505 ltrs per hour avarage over that period. The oil cost £1 per ltr. So 50p for 6kw per hour does not seem bad given 34p kw of electric would have been £2.04. All in cost has been less that £160. The power unit, a fuel cutoff and second filter included in this cost. Much better than a LPG heater as it does not fill the air with water.

Just incase anyone missed it probably easier to link to this thread - here is the finished office and link to the previous thread. VID_20220515_165908.mp4.ac562247315873a15cd0716b64a81a3d.mp4

Hi guys, This is my first post and would appreciate some advice if anyone can help. My parents own an office building which they have been trying to sell but I have always had other plans for it and suggested making it in to flats as its such a large space. They had a buyer which has recently fell through and now they are finally considering converting it into flats. The positive from the situation is that the person who tried to buy the property had gained prior approval for Class O Permitted Development however, the plans he had were not what I had in mind and he wanted to make a HMO. So now we need to put another prior approval request in with new plans that match what we want. I have tried contacting the planning office numerous times but no response, i'm assuming due to Covid. I wanted to get a bit more info about what we can have under the Class O PD but don't want to pay for pre-planning advice if can be avoided due to cost and the time the council will take to reply. I have also looked at the legislation which is very vague and can't find anything on the internet. My question is, with Class O PD, can you keep part of the building as an office space and convert the rest in to flats without getting full planning permission? I have attached an original plan of the building and drawn on the other to show the flats and the office as I would like them. I believe you can have as many self contained flats as you want at any size under this PD but i'm just not sure about keeping part of the building as the same use class as the original. I hope someone has had some experience with this and can please help! Thanks Sam Office Original Plan.pdf Office Original Plan 2.pdf

Seems madness considering the ups and downs of my self build project. However, over the last year I have been trying to find a “new” office for my accountancy practice, we are currently in a house that’s been converted into an office, which isn’t ideal. I wanted it to be within 3 miles of my house but was willing to go up to 10 miles away. It had to be somewhere around 1000sqft, give or take 500sqft. I wanted it to be well positioned if possible for visibility and for the building to not be an eye sore. It seems this is just too much to ask. I’m now considering buying a plot and having a glass/contemporary style office built. Perhaps I am being too picky.