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Hello from Essex


JimG

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Hi,

 

I'm Jim and I'm researching for a new build in Essex. The rough plan is a four bedroom house, aiming for Passivhaus levels of insulation and air tightness but without the certificate. We've had our planning application refused >:( but we're appealing and carrying on with research, which is where you lot come in :)

 

It's all a paper exercise so far, so the details are up for debate. The current favourite for the structure is Durisol, but we started off thinking of timber frame and could still end up using block and brick! 

 

Anyhow, brace yourselves for a barrage of questions in the fora! 

 

Jim 

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1 hour ago, JimG said:

[...]

The current favourite for the structure is Durisol, but we started off thinking of timber frame and could still end up using block and brick! 

[...]

 

Welcome.

Read all of my stuff about Durisol. (Just search for Durisol on this site)

 

If you are coming north on the M6 we are at Junction 33 - just south of Lancaster and the Lake District. You will be most welcome to poke around and ask whatever you like.

It hasn't been all easy: I describe the difficulties as well as the good bits. 

Ask away......

Ian

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2 hours ago, jack said:

Welcome Jim.

 

How windy is it in Essex? :) (Sorry, it'll make more sense when you read some of Ian's posts.)

 

Good luck with the appeal - let us know how you get on.

 

Hi @jack, and thanks to you, @PeterStarck, @IanR@recoveringacademic and everyone else for the warm welcome! 

 

It's a fairly sheltered site, although it didn't feel like it on Tuesday night! 

 

The appeal has only just been submitted, so I'm going to be on the fingernail diet for a while :/

 

Jim 

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2 hours ago, IanR said:

Hi Jim, welcome.


Where abouts in Essex? We're a little south of Chelmsford.

Hi @ianr, thank you. Just south of Epping, so not that far in the great scheme of things :-)

 

Jim 

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2 hours ago, recoveringacademic said:

 

Welcome.

Read all of my stuff about Durisol. (Just search for Durisol on this site)

 

If you are coming north on the M6 we are at Junction 33 - just south of Lancaster and the Lake District. You will be most welcome to poke around and ask whatever you like.

It hasn't been all easy: I describe the difficulties as well as the good bits. 

Ask away......

Ian

 

Hi @recoveringacademic, thank you.

 

I've started reading your posts about Durisol, I may have questions later ;-) I'm going to try to use the right forum for that. 

 

Jim 

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1 minute ago, JimG said:

Hi @ianr, thank you. Just south of Epping, so not that far in the great scheme of things :-)

 

Jim 

 

You must be "pushing the boundaries" on your Application, I've been quite envious when watching what EFDC has permitted in planning terms compared to Chelmsford, although I've only looked at Change of Use applications. Probably a case of the grass appearing greener.

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@JimGNot an easy time for you: but you are in very good company; many of us have been through that mill. That said, we aren't going through your mill.

House building is an emotional roller coaster; it teaches resilience. The stakes are so high - emotional and financial. So you will find a group of people here who are going through, or have at some time in the past gone through exactly what's happening to you.

 

That's why there is such a high degree of commitment on the part of our members. You'll get lots of support and a little bit of leg pulling.

We'll be rooting for you. Keep us posted.

Ian

 

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We started off planning timber frame and ended up with ICF based on recommendation from a friend who used it. No regrets at all. We used Polarwall which is a very different product from Durisol. We did the house and just finishing our garage. Would recommend it. 

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1 hour ago, IanR said:

 

You must be "pushing the boundaries" on your Application, I've been quite envious when watching what EFDC has permitted in planning terms compared to Chelmsford, although I've only looked at Change of Use applications. Probably a case of the grass appearing greener.

@IanR. Yes, we knew it might be controversial but were hopeful when the Planning Officer recommended approval. Then it went to a planning meeting and the committee didn't like the external appearance :-( Fingers crossed that the Planning Inspector is a bit more forward thinking!

 

Jim 

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14 minutes ago, JimG said:

Then it went to a planning meeting and the committee didn't like the external appearance :-(

 

It really annoys me that planning committees think that their subjective idea of what's attractive in a building is important (incidentally, I believe not liking the "appearance" is not a valid basis for rejecting a planning application - I assume they couched in other terms, like "not in keeping").

 

Our planning committee is a bunch of elderly, deeply conservative men who want all new houses to look exactly like houses built between 1900 and 1935. It's fine if it's an ugly box as long as it has hung tile and a pitched roof!

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5 minutes ago, jack said:

[...]

I believe not liking the "appearance" is not a valid basis for rejecting a planning application - I assume they couched in other terms, like "not in keeping").

[...]

 

Here you are: chapter and verse What can, and what can't be considered.

And a report of a visit to a Planning Committee meeting . It's not about the building, it's about money.

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1 hour ago, jack said:

While "fora" is the latin plural of "forum", "forums" is more usual in ordinary English. ;)

.Yes but why is the artist / artisan / workman making a home, or perhaps the artists has made it home / to the house or possibly even just moving homewards. English was never my strong point and Latin leaves me frigus.

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1 hour ago, jack said:

 

(incidentally, I believe not liking the "appearance" is not a valid basis for rejecting a planning application - I assume they couched in other terms, like "not in keeping").

 

And you'd be right. Even though the Planning Officer covered that point in his report. And of course having made their decision, the committee then turned for help in wording their objection to... their planning department, who recommended approval in the first place! 

 

Jim 

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7 minutes ago, JimG said:

having made their decision, the committee then turned for help in wording their objection

 

And there's the problem. The decision should be the result of the objection, not the other way around.

 

It annoys me that people will take on an important role yet happily remain ignorant of their responsibilities. We know this stuff and we're mostly amateurs!

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Welcome, we too built a house to exceed the passive house performance level but didn't bother with certification.

 

I can sympathise with the planning problems; my direct experience is that planning committees can be a law unto themselves, often making decisions that the poor old planning officer has to struggle to justify, as the committee had no reasonable basis for making such a decision.  Someone on here (sorry, can't recall who) had a planning committee refuse an application, against the planning officers report, and the planning officer then had a quiet word and told the applicant to appeal, as there was no valid reason that he could give for refusal, even though that was the committee decision!

 

As a bit of light relief, and insight as to how these committees work, I was seconded on to our old Parish Council and sat on the planning sub-committee.  We had an application from a local farmer to move a public footpath and relocate his farm entrance (they were co-located), so that he could get his big forage harvester in from the road more easily.  It was a no-brainer, as the proposed new entrance was a lot safer, better visibility up and down the road and lined up with another footpath on the other side of the road.  One planning committee member was vehemently opposed, and when questioned hard about his objection revealed that he disliked the farmer as he had once been told off for walking his dog across the farmer's land without a lead on..................

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2 hours ago, jack said:

Our planning committee is a bunch of elderly, deeply conservative men who want all new houses to look exactly like houses built between 1900 and 1935. It's fine if it's an ugly box as long as it has hung tile and a pitched roof!

 

We were very lucky because of the Planning Committee, who here, are a mix of ages and genders. The Planning Inspectorate refused our second application so we submitted our third application taking onto account all the comments the Planning Inspector had made and it was refused again by the Planning Officer. I then took it to the Planning Committee who passed it unanimously. No one had voiced any objections at any stage except the Planning Dept. and it had support from the Parish Council.

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Hi Jim - welcome.

 

We're in a rural location NE Essex between Colchester & Clacton.  Just finishing the build now - but we built in blocks not ICF.

 

Our building is meant to look like a three storey tide mill (in keeping with another down the road. Fortunately we got the right planning officer who recommended it, and it went through Committee with a few minor conditions. Also lucky !

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