And we thought our site was awkward...

[jamiehamy]

Work has started near us on a house - I wonder how much extra the slope is adding to the cost?! 

[ToughButterCup]

I don't know, but it looks as if they'll be straining at an angle, as it were.

[Jeremy Harris]

It may well have been more cost effective to fit a lift at the front, rather than create a path up a series of hairpin bends.

 

Here in England that access wouldn't appear to comply with Part M, as the gradient exceeds the max allowable for wheelchair/disabled access, unless there is access from the rear that is on less of a gradient.

[jamiehamy]

The house a few doors along actually has it's own funicular railway up to the front door as well as a path! 

[AliG]

On my site the removal of earth to equalise a 1m rise across the depth of the house was a surprisingly high cost.

 

They are going to be paying a lot for simply dumping the earth they remove.

 

As @JSHarris asked is there access at the rear? There are certainly houses further up the hill.

 

There are quite a few houses in Edinburgh built on hillsides like this. There were no access rules when they were built, but I for one would hate having a house where there was a large number of steps up from the street or the garage which is often built at the bottom of the slope. It is just too awkward. 

 

My in-laws have a site that slopes by around 3m from the road to the back of the house. This works OK as they simply added an extra storey underneath with the garage in it.

 

This looks like around 10m judging by the fence panels. That is some slope.

[jamiehamy]

No access to the back - you can see the funicular here - it's the house next door. 

 

I wonder if they'll install a tower crane - not a chance they will get anything up there with a pallet of anything heavy surely?

 

 

 

 

[Ferdinand]

Not a good implementation.

 

You need two so the balance each other. 

[Jeremy Harris]

I'd really like to have a go at building something like that railway.  Having a plot with a slope like that would be all the excuse I'd need...............

[Ferdinand]

i just proposed a variant on that to @AliMcLeod for access to his back garden. With pictures. Wheelbarrow and bike ramp.

 

Or grooves in side walls of a flight of steps and a hook at the top for a winch.

 

Bike wheeling grooves are becoming more prevalent everywhere now.

Great minds.

 

 

F

 

Piccies:

 

Edited April 6, 2017 by Ferdinand

[Ian]

@jamiehamy

Mark Brinkley's "Slope Law" - every 5 Deg of slope = +£5k in costs (although it's obviously not really that precise and can cost considerably more.)

 

@JSHarris

Part M of the Building Regs allows for exemptions to the standard wheelchair requirements if the site is steeply sloping.

[AliG]

I knew someone would want to try and build their own funicular once they saw it!

[jamiehamy]

The same as Jeremy, it's something I've been thinking about for a good while - we have the slope for it! I visited the funicular house, it's out of action just now, problem with the winch but he has all the original technical drawings/specifications that I could probably borrow at some point. But House first, garage next, some TLC for the cars and then see what happens

[MikeSharp01]

This is the loco on the railway here at millstone manor. This loco can handle the 1:30 slope with around 1T on a truck from the drive up to the log store, workshop and top station (Moss bank) it takes a bit of time to steam up but the battery electric loco is ready to go as required to transport things up the garden. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on your view, the drive goes to the front door so the front of the house can be fed without the railway.

 

 

Edited April 6, 2017 by MikeSharp01
Typos

[ToughButterCup]

17 hours ago, Ian said:

@jamiehamy

Mark Brinkley's "Slope Law" - every 5 Deg of slope = +£5k in costs (although it's obviously not really that precise and can cost considerably more.)

 

Now I know why the houses in Great Malvern (my home town) are so expensive. I used to live on the Old Wyche road, one of the steepest streets in the UK. Handbrake starts, no problem. 

 

[Onoff]

If you want steep then check out Baldwin St in Dunedin (NZ). World's steepest street I think. I've been up it in a 4WD and it just felt like it was going to tip back! Going back down wasn't too pleasant either:

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldwin_Street

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ian]

24 minutes ago, recoveringacademic said:

 

Now I know why the houses in Great Malvern (my home town) are so expensive. I used to live on the Old Wyche road, one of the steepest streets in the UK. Handbrake starts, no problem. 

 

@recoveringacademic

It looks like a fantastic place to live!

Btw, Mark Brinkley's book "The House Builders Bible" is useful and a good read.

[Jeremy Harris]

Interesting to see that Gold Hill, Shaftesbury (just a few miles from us) was a contender, most probably because of the old Hovis ad:

 

 

 but it's "only" about 16 deg, whereas Wych Road is over 17 deg and the steepest, Vale Street, is 22 deg. 

 

Gold Hill is a bit of a nightmare, as it's cobbled, so traction isn't great.  It's also often teeming with tourists, even all these years after the Hovis ad has stopped being shown.

Edited April 7, 2017 by JSHarris

[Ferdinand]

There was a brilliant Grand Design in Falmouth by Kathryn Tyler. Cornwall that put the double garage underground at the bottom that would have been a suitable idea here.

 

Called "Lizard Peninsula, 2010".

 

House itself pcs, here: http://www.linea-studio.co.uk/album/corkellis_house.html

 

Slideshow

 

 

Designer presentatiion:

 

I love the boyf draped subversively and seductively over the staircase-with-no-banisters.

Ferdinand

 

[Jeremy Harris]

It's next door to a friend of mines parents old house, in Dracaena Avenue, which at one time was the local boy racer hot spot (lads trying to see how many multiples of the 30mph speed limit they could hit - one managed a claimed 5 times the speed limited on a Z1000 before getting stopped at Penryn Bridge...............).  The drive is steep, but not excessively so.

[ToughButterCup]

5 hours ago, Ian said:

It looks like a fantastic place to live!

[...]

 

It was indeed. Everyone visiting our front room for the first time was drawn to the large 'picture' window looking out over a thousand square mile view of the Vale of Evesham: Gloucester Cathedral to the south, Bromsgrove transmitters to the north, and Broadway to the West. 

Watching the progress of lightning strikes on the power grid in the valley was an especial treat as the strike's effect flared along the HT lines blowing up sub-station after sub-station.

Since the Radar Station (RRE, later RSRE) was within spitting distance (where I believe @JSHarris worked) , the RAF would regularly 'attack' it; I vividly remember a Jaguar fighter crashing into a field right below us - strange to watch an aircraft crash from our vantage point several hundred feet above it. The impact caused a perfect smoke ring to rise in the still air......

[Ian]

2 hours ago, Ferdinand said:

There was a brilliant Grand Design in Falmouth by Kathryn Tyler.

@Ferdinand

Agreed!...that was one of my all time favourites from Grand Designs. It had a lovely feel to it!

She's a very talented lady.

[Jeremy Harris]

5 minutes ago, recoveringacademic said:

Since the Radar Station (RRE, later RSRE) was within spitting distance (where I believe @JSHarris worked) , the RAF would regularly 'attack' it; I vividly remember a Jaguar fighter crashing into a field right below us - strange to watch an aircraft crash from our vantage point several hundred feet above it. The impact caused a perfect smoke ring to rise in the still air......

 

Sadly I was the one that managed it's closure, and the move to Porton Down of the remaining staff and labs, around 8 years ago now, as a part of the rationalisation of defence research to two main locations.  I'm not sure what's happened to the site since then, though.  The private company, Qinetic Ltd, still owned a fair bit of the site, not sure how profitable it was.

Edited April 7, 2017 by JSHarris

[jack]

31 minutes ago, Ian said:

@Ferdinand

Agreed!...that was one of my all time favourites from Grand Designs. It had a lovely feel to it!

She's a very talented lady.

 

Agree completely, she did a stunning job. In fact, we stole a couple aesthetic ideas from her (didn't do as a good a job though )

 

On time and under budget as well (her's, not ours!)  

[AliG]

I found the planning application. I don't feel I should post someone's application without them knowing about it.

 

They are putting a parking area with retaining walls right next to the road and then building the house on a flatter area further up the site. The main issues seems to be grading the site for access to the area where they are building, they won't be removing much earth. The path from the parking to the house will be pretty steep.

 

Due to the layout of the street it looks like the house faces a gap between houses further down the hill so should have a nice view of the river Clyde. Indeed it looks like the plot that hasn't been built on may have one of the best views in the street.

[jamiehamy]

I would have thought progress would have been more given that they started in April - but it's a pretty tough site. Looks like they came up with the same solution as us - the 360degree telehandler with crane jib - a very versatile piece of kit.