Timeline

So, where is it up to?

Well, I managed to get a permitted development certificate in September, after a lot of juggling volumes to get it under the maximum of 50m³ over the original pre-1948 volume of the house.

This was complicated by the existing rear extension (mid-1980s) and my initial assumption that the 1898 outhouse (shown on the original drawings for the street) would be included in the calculation. But the council decided that I would need to prove that this had actually been built (archaeology of footings?) and only let me know that this was the case 1 day before the deadline for submission of amendments.

In the end I had to do a very detailed volume breakdown, but this was preferable to having to do a full planning submission. Currently the push is on to get the working drawings completed. First priority is to sort out the structure, closely followed by the specification and schedules.

Part of the reason for getting this blog going was to compare notes with other designers and owners about what works and what doesn't in terms of specified products and design solutions.
Whilst it is fairly easy to trawl the net and get a complete overdose of production information from manufacturers, there are surprisingly few examples of extended terraced houses shown online (apart from on estate agents sites of course). As an architect I find this really surprising since these are amongst the most common form of housing in the UK.

As this blog progresses, I intend to pick apart the various bits of the building that I'm thinking about and post some of the more helpful links to publications, web sites and professional bodies, that deal with those elements. It's also likely that I will have to include a rant section as well (there are a few of these that I'm storing up).