Planning permission was approved on the 3rd of January 2013.
🙂
I’ve consequently made a page with some of the planning process plans, sketches and screen grabs from SketchUp.
Planning permission was approved on the 3rd of January 2013.
🙂
I’ve consequently made a page with some of the planning process plans, sketches and screen grabs from SketchUp.
Although the main pipe that goes from Perranporth to the sewage treatment plant by Cligga goes past the front of the house, that is under pressure and isn’t a pipe we can discharge into.
At the moment Silver Spray is a soakaway !
So, as the house is being “upgraded” we’ll be fitting an on-site sewage treatment plant. These treat the toilet waste and to a level where the water meets the rules to be discharged into the groundwater.
This is what the neighbouring properties all have.
Next door to the east, Ramoth have a Klargester BA 450 BioDisc (now part of Kingspan Environmental) unit, that was installed by Dorset based Environmental Drain Services Ltd.
Talking to Environmental Drain Services:
An email in from a buddy who has managed quite a few commercial and larger (multi dwelling) building projects:
The only other things to be aware of and concerned by is the type of building contract to be used. The standard form JCT contracts, I believe, are biased towards the contactor, the ACA standard form was written by Architects and is more balanced.
You also need to think about the level of damages for overrun on the contract. This is slightly more complicated than it might appear. One of the most crucial decisions made by the contract administrator is the issue of the Practical Completion Certificate as this signals the contract has been satisfied.
If there is an overrun, as invariably there is, he has to decide who is at fault and you are in the territory of the famed “critical path”, ie if the delay prevents progress on the rest of the build its on the critical path and who ever caused that delay in culpable. The reason these decisions are important, even for one week is there is a swing for every week by approximately twice the level of damages assuming damages are set at a level similar to the “preliminaries” figure. Prelims are the costs to the contractor of being on site, ie his admin costs. So if damages are say £2000 pw and prelims say £1500pw and there is just one week delay caused by the contractor he is £3500 down. You get the picture it can get very prickly.
Good luck, I am sure it will go well, new builds tend to be easier, provided they are well planned, because there are less unknowns. Keep an eye on any unusual materials and/or bespoke items that have long delivery lead in times and/or are coming from none standard sources as these can be the source of serious delays.
How about, as suggested ages ago by Jo Brannan, reducing some of the north, sea facing glazing (glass windows, doors, panels) to have more of a frame on the view.
Yes it’s great to have some rooms where it’s full whack the view, where the end side walls, roof and floor are the frame.
But maybe some other rooms have less glazing. Walls are also much more thermally efficient and cheaper for the heating efficiency of the building.
This extreme framing (ie mostly wall Vs small window) works to amazing effect.
The above photo is from www.houzz.com
For this endless ocean view, instead of the windows going floor to ceiling, the designer chose to pull the focus tight by using a smaller window. The minimally framed window creates the look of art on the wall and brings your attention to the balance of sea and sky and the subtle gradient of color.
It seems almost any frame, can end up adding to the view:
Today, Robert (the architect) and I had our second pre application meeting with Cornwall Council.
The first pre-app was great. We felt the verbal meeting and post meeting written response were both very positive. They wanted some tweaks / work done on 2 small areas. The first was more that we hadn’t covered that we were making all the considerations we should. We did have it all covered, but this was written up in the pre-application we made. The second was that they felt we could change the treatment of one of the areas to visually improve it.
So this second pre-app was to go over our submitted suggestions and ideas. The planning officer had a preferred option, which, in our view, looks great and lets us crack on with finalising plans.
The next step is to run the general scheme past a few potential builders, and probably a structural engineer and probably a Quantity Surveyor (QS) so that we can confirm it’s all feasible to build and that the budget is sufficient for the current plans and ideas.
I’ve come across some interesting figures and links to research in an article in the Green Building Magazine (by www.greenbuildingpress.co.uk).
In 2007, around 16% of the CO2 equivalence impact was constructing a building.
– This covers the manufacture of materials and components, transport and construction.
84% of the CO2 equivalence impact of a building was down in use emissions.
This data is from http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/biscore/business-sectors/docs/l/10-671-low-carbon-construction-igt-emerging-findings.pdf
That is why policy to date has been biased to making buildings more operationally efficient.
The article then makes the point that raises the importance of embodied (construction) emissions. Namely that since emissions are cumulative, 1 tonne of CO2 equivalence impact occurs for every year this “CO2” is in the atmosphere. So 1 tonne of CO2 at the start of a buildings 60 year life will have twice the impact of 1 tonne emitted during the building’s life.
The longer a tonne of CO2 hangs around in the atmosphere, the more damage it can do.
So it’s potentially dangerous to focus on carbon-intensive solutions that are installed at the point of construction, so that they reduce the operational emissions.
So, it is best to look for principles, materials, solutions etc. that will reduce both the construction (embodied) and operational energy of a building. So, as it’s often said, the general advice is still to optomise the fabric efficiency of a building before other measures.
The October 2011 report by the NHBC Foundation (“Housing Research in partnership with BRE Trust”) – Operational and embodied carbon in new build housing – A reappraisal:
Until now, focus has been almost entirely on the carbon emissions resulting from using homes, but clearly the balance between those operational carbon emissions and emissions from producing and installing the materials – the embodied carbon – needs to be considered.
This publication explores a subject which has to date lacked a strong and accessible evidence base. It looks at a range of carbon reduction scenarios as delivered through typical house types and estimates the likely impact both in terms of operational and embodied carbon – providing an insight into the contribution of different technical responses to the low carbon agenda, including the balance between operational and embodied carbon.
Twenty-four scenarios were appraised, using SAP software to determine operational CO2 emissions and BRE Global’s Environmental Profile methodology to analyse embodied CO2eq emissions.
The research considered the following variables:
Rob from ra-studio is continuing to come up with amazing architectural and design solutions for the project. Successfully converting my “living requirements”, tear sheets, thoughts and ideas into something that is really coming together.
As the house layout gets closer to something that will need to be costed up, we need to add in the context of the space in front and behind the house, so I went through my notes and found this magazine page and sketch:
I like the low wall from the patio, for sitting on, then a flower bed, instead of a wall. Central steps that’d go down to the flat grass over the garage roof. I don’t like the drop in height from what will be the lounge.
Interesting to find this early days sketch layout:
There is also the “Droskyn Development” planned for the land to the south of the house. Below is an annotated illustration from the thus far proposed plans. This means there will be properties, across a road to the rear of the property.
Despite the parish council voting against the proposal for 31 houses on the land behind Silver Spray, Cornwall Council have voted 10-3 in favour of the development – with conditions.
Tescan Ltd has been granted outline planning permission for a mix of private and affordable homes, including an eco-style subterranean luxury house built into the side of the cliff, that campaigners claimed would be worth more than £2 million.
Create a fire side seating (snoozing) with a view nook ?
With the latest layout / design ideas in from architect Rob, this could either go below the wall from the dining area (to the right of the fire as you look at it), or to the left of the fire and so surrounded by glass and closer to the view.
This could fit in well with the idea of a glass corner and the other fire place posts.
I’m reading Kevin McCloud’s 43 Principles of Home. From watching Grand Designs I didn’t get this much of an impression of him being aware of eco / environmental / sustainable issues.
Anyway, not related to that, but a great design methedology bit from NASA:
From http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/plantgrowth/reference/Eng_Design_5-12.html
STEP 1: Identify the Problem — Students should state the challenge problem in their own words. Example: How can I design a __________ that will __________?
STEP 2: Identify Criteria and Constraints — Students should specify the design requirements (criteria). Example: Our growth chamber must have a growing surface of 10 square feet and have a delivery volume of 3 cubic feet or less. Students should list the limits on the design due to available resources and the environment (constraints). Example: Our growth chamber must be accessible to astronauts without the need for leaving the spacecraft.
STEP 3: Brainstorm Possible Solutions — Each student in the group should sketch his or her own ideas as the group discusses ways to solve the problem. Labels and arrows should be included to identify parts and how they might move. These drawings should be quick and brief.
STEP 4: Generate Ideas — In this step, each student should develop two or three ideas more thoroughly. Students should create new drawings that are orthographic projections (multiple views showing the top, front and one side) and isometric drawings (three-dimensional depiction). These are to be drawn neatly, using rulers to draw straight lines and to make parts proportional. Parts and measurements should be labeled clearly.
STEP 5: Explore Possibilities — The developed ideas should be shared and discussed among the team members. Students should record pros and cons of each design idea directly on the paper next to the drawings.
STEP 6: Select an Approach — Students should work in teams and identify the design that appears to solve the problem the best. Students should write a statement that describes why they chose the solution. This should include some reference to the criteria and constraints identified above.
STEP 7: Build a Model or Prototype — Students will construct a full-size or scale model based on their drawings. The teacher will help identify and acquire appropriate modeling materials and tools. See the design brief for a sample list.
STEP 8: Refine the Design — Students will examine and evaluate their prototypes or designs based on the criteria and constraints. Groups may enlist students from other groups to review the solution and help identify changes that need to be made. Based on criteria and constraints, teams must identify any problems and proposed solutions.