I love it when a project starts on site. It’s always refreshing to see the ground breaking with the first cut. Let’s face it the drawings and planning permissions and building warrants etc are all just a formality to get us to the stage that we all want to get to and that’s the start of the build. This is what the Client really wants to see. It’s like Christmas morning for the Client. The arrival of the JCB marks the first tear of wrapping paper.I’ve attached a few images of a new bungalow build for a farmer in Strathaven, South Lanarkshire. Block Architects didn’t design the house we simply negotiated a design through the Planning and Building Warrant Process. The house was supplied by a local timber kit designer/manufacturer and we were happy to assist.
The Planning Process on this house was interesting in that National Planning Policy required the Council to condition us to improve the Carbon Footprint by an increase of 10% over and above the requirements of the current building control regulations. I have been involved recently with other similar builds in other local authority areas and yet we haven’t been asked to meet the same regulations. This is no slight on South Lanarkshire Council. At the end of the day this has the overall benefit to the environment and as Architects I am wholly in support of getting Client’s to think positively of these extra ‘burdens’.I suppose the question of reaching congruency between and within local authorities departments is difficult to answer but surely if this edict comes from high it is a no brainer that all authorities should adopt it?
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