Bluemouse

Sometimes. It depends on access, easements (eg. your neighbour's being allowed to cross your yard) and sometimes planning (if you are in an area with no permitted development rights). The main problem with extending across the whole width is the reduction of daylight to the existing room. If it's a one storey extension you should be able to throw more light back in with rooflights in the right place. There are plenty of builders on here that can provide you with more advice on the cost but £1000 per m2 won't normally include VAT. If you open up the rear wall of the house, you'll need to put in a substantial piece of steel and an engineer will need to advise on that (it'll affect the foundations too). Large areas of high quality glazing can push the cost up quickly too. I see a wide variation in costs coming in for residential extensions - sometimes up to 75% difference in quotes. Allow at least 10% contingency.

Theoretically, what has been given approval before doesn't set a planning precedent. As Dan said, get the architect/technician to do their job - gaining planning approval isn't a one-shot process. There is room for negotiation during the 8 weeks process and even if you have plans refused, you can go back with a revised scheme for no additional cost. To be honest, a 2 storey rear extension with attic conversion on a terrace throws up a variety of issues that need proper consideration early on. You can easily get planning approval for something that will cause problems at building control stage. For example, you will need a 30min fire protected stairwell that leads to a final exit which can have an impact on your ground floor layout. Any good architect or technician will design with those things in mind.

Doors also count towards the 25% + removal of anything existing - it's based on opening size rather than the area of the glass itself. There is a sample weighted U Value calc in Part L1b (existing dwellings) of the building regs which can be downloaded for free here: http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/buildingregulations/approveddocuments/partl/approved#ApprovedDocumentL1B:ConservationoffuelandpowerExistingdwellings You can have extra glass if you bump up the insulation elsewhere to compensate but there is a limit to how practical/cost effective that is. You will need to prove the U value of your construction elements (roof, wall etc) so use the Celotex U value calculator which will help you work out what type of insulation you need to meet the regs. The fantastic glass pavilions are generally part of a much bigger build that will involve a SAP calculation - this will take into account the whole building's energy performance and there will be some very expensive high-performance glass involved. Plus high levels of insulation elsewhere and often some micro energy-generation. Basically, if you want extra glass/light, it costs more. But normally worth it. I can do the weighted U value calcs on an hourly rate if you need additional help or just don't have the time to do it.

There is a planning application ref: 10/01135/OUT. It's still 'pending consideration' so I assume it's still active. You can view the drawings etc online http://publicaccess.sheffield.gov.uk/online-applications/. It's for approx 14 houses.

We can also help (another small architects practice). We can work on an hourly rate if it's a very basic 'drawing-up' job or provide more comprehensive design services if you want us to develop designs. Vanessa

Thanks Nickscape - I'll get onto that

steveroberts I'm going to be laughing about that for the rest of the day! Never design for free...whatever creative industry you're in. It never does anything than make the client recommend you as cheap. I'd rather stack shelves than give away my skills like that - years of money, hard work and other people's time went into producing any designer of quality. Good design can change everything. Surely in a world with the Ipad clients can understand that now.

I'm not too bothered about the mailing bag but you're definitely right about the high quality packaging. I refuse to buy what could be a good product if the packaging is rubbish. I'm aware that may be silly but I'm a designer. Design is important and I always feel that if the manufacturer isn't bothered about the box, they probably don't pay the goods inside enough attention either.

To answer your question Spider 1 - I believe there are a couple of new houses on Wadsley Park Crescent that are timber framed (according to estate agent). We have at least one timber framed new-ish school in Sheffield and Persimmon homes are using timber frame. As are Ben Bailey who have recently completed some new stuff in Stannington if you want to have a look. There are loads of new, more interesting examples of contemporary timber framed building around as I'm sure Rodmonkey is aware. Scandinavia and Germany have proved the newer systems (new to UK anyway) work over the longer term in challenging climates. Condensation is indeed the major problem in timber framed construction - it has to be designed (and built) right to avoid dewpoints in the wrong places. On the whole, these kind of houses utilise the roof space and/or have a warm roof construction to avoid roof void condensation issues. I'm not going to make specific recommendations on here but Oakworth homes and Peak Oak frames are Sheffield-based timber frame specialists plus Graves & Starey have experience with timber frame. There will be others. As ever, when choosing builders or designers, make sure you like both their previous work and that you get on reasonably well - you'll be spending significant time and money with whoever you choose and you need to be able to communicate effectively with them.

A lot of our current new housing is timber frame - if it's detailed and built right it will be fine. Several of the mass house builders are doing it and Germany builds most of its housing stock in timber frame. Mortgage companies will lend on them in most cases - just check with your specific provider first. NHBC are happy to warranty timber new builds. There are a few companies in Sheffield specialising in timber frame and some of the smaller builders are starting to welcome it as it's a fairly efficient, fast construction method. SIPs - there are a few manufacturers who have locally approved installers/partners, the best known is the Kingspan-Tek system but there are others - start here. http://www.uksips.org/profiles/?type=1.

Ring the council - my husband ran a stall for a few weeks to see how it went and they were very helpful in getting him started. He decided against it after a while so didn't go ahead with a more permanent pitch. https://www.sheffield.gov.uk/business-economy/markets/become-a-trader.html

As far as I'm aware these houses are timber framed. Timber walls can still be supporting - you'll need an engineer out to check for you.

I'd go. You expect a few hiccups with pop-ups. You go to try something new and they have a buzz - I would have thought your idea should iron plenty of the hiccups out as you could offer advice to operators about what works and what doesn't. If you tasted food/had minimum requirements for each operator and made that clear in your marketing I would have more confidence as a potential customer.

To change the brick colour would require going back to planning. Brick colour is always stated on planning drawings as it has a huge impact on the appearance of a building. However, it could probably be changed without too much drama on one house out of an estate of new houses but the planners may charge a fee to do so (this can be different in different areas). Someone is also going to have to make the change to drawings and communicate with the planners which is going to add to that cost. It certainly shouldn't require a whole new application so if it's important to you, keep pushing. You could contact the planning department and ask them what their likely fee would be and what their initial thoughts on the change would be. If you think the salesperson is bending the truth, you can check the planning drawings yourself - if it's a recent-ish application it will be online and if not, you can check them at the planning office.

Hi Yes - you will need drawings for planning permission. You will also need building control approval. Converting a house into flats will require more thermal upgrading and significantly different fire resistance + escape requirements from a house. It's normally do-able but sometimes more expensive than people first think with this type of project. I would recommend talking to a builder that has done a similar project before and get a few ballpark figures so that you can see if you are going to make the right returns. Obviously (as I am one) I'm going to recommend you get an architect to do your drawings. At the very least, get an architectural technician to do them. Check that whoever you use carries professional indemnity insurance. They'll be more expensive than someone who hasn't got it, but it provides you with some comeback if they get something wrong. If you do them yourself, you may well get planning permission for something you can't get building control approval for. Which is annoying and potentially expensive. Have a look at http://www.planningportal.gov.uk - it has useful planning advice but also links to the building regs which you can download. Hope that helps