Friday 29 October 2010

Don't put the champagne on ice just yet.

The good news is that we have had correspondence from our planning officer.  The bad news is that our idea has been completely kicked into touch.  Why?  Well there is a question!

In summary the points were: -


-          Either preserve or enhance the character of the area
-          Should not be located on the northern boundary
-          Retain gate onto Higher Backway
-          Trees and site strategy
-          Bulky mass & incongruous style


We knew that the whole planning thing was going to have it's ups and downs but the real point we don't understand is we not interested in 'making a huge statement' to residents of Bruton.  We don't consider ourselves brash or into heavy duty bling and effectively we're being told either recreate a style of olde worlde or go for some thing bold and contemporary.  What happended to looking at the past of different architectural styles adding a twist to use some modern day materials and hey presto you might have something that makes a statement about the people wanting to live in the house for a long time.  Oh arse!

Saying that I consider this to be round one or maybe the first punch has been thrown.  We've got time on our hands and we know there has got to be some compremises but I'm not living in either a glass box or something that looks like an airport.

Tom has suggested going more modern and using the north south side of the garden in a curve.  In the past he has understandably created ideas more to gauge our reaction (occassionally complete distaste) to then be able to rule out that concept.

-          A more contemporary style building to enhance the local character
-          Reduced elevation on the northern boundary
-          Retained gate – but still make a new one
-          The shape of the building has been shaped by the Monterey Cypress’ root protection zone.
-          More dynamic in styling


And now for a rather pleasing image taken from my iphone - well it cheered me up!

Tuesday 26 October 2010

Oak wood - an honest days work

I think I'm going to ache tomorrow morning..... today I was chopping the last of oak wood we are going to burn to heat the house.  Is this forward planning to such a lengthy scale?  Once again I could be accused of getting slightly enthusiastic about things but this is really important!  So a very large oak tree fell down on the farm and for the past few months I've been going down chopping the thing up with some help of Mike the chainsaw expert and the wood pile is now complete.  Well when I said complete it's now rather large in fact at a guess two years worth of wood maybe more.  Which is all to do with what wood you burn and even more importantly what is the wood moisture % is when you finally try and burn it.  Why?  Yes it makes a huge difference if the wood is really dry which means less wood needed therefore less effort sawing and splitting from Matt, simple!

So more about oak, we might just be able to afford an oak frame house, possibly, just maybe.  It may be more possible as Hamish my brother in law has given us some large oak trees - see pictures.  Apart from that wonderful idea we're waiting for our 3rd planner to get back to us or Tom.  What this means I'll tell you when I actually know.  Flora thought that it would be a nice touch to replace Guy Fawkes on the 5th November with a person from the planning department which I think is quite cruel considering that we haven't even met the poor person!

Monday 18 October 2010

Hemp and I thought it was for just making ropes

Now listen very carefully I shall say this only once, hemp actually is quite good stuff.  Following on from our visit to lets call it 'Hemp House next to a lovely vineyard' last Thursday my attitude towards this natural building material has begun to thaw.  What is so good about it?


  • Great insulation both heat and sound. 300mm thick about 0.19 u value which is pretty good.
  • It's natural and doesn't have to be transported half way around the world.
  • With the right person in charge "most people" can have a go.... I have a cunning plan!
  • Flora likes it because you have the ability to curve off the corners.
  • Price comparison to other building products with the same U (thermal qualities) it holds it's own.
  • Decent thermal mass making it retain the heat in the winter but is cool in the summer.
Ok I would like to say that I'm going to have to see some more examples but this may be good.

Other news.

We had a planning officer assigned to our build and then he wasn't.
But we've now got another one which I think is good.

Tom (architect) has a sleepless nights (bless) thinking about our house so he has showed us an alternative version which cuts out the necessity for the extension or sitting room as I liked to call it.  I'm certainly finding the whole notion of nearly starting from scratch just painful a little bit like Ground Hog Day.

Here's a short video of me giving a crocking narrative watching Dan pulling things up.

Wednesday 13 October 2010

The History of The Ropewalk

To our knowledge The Ropewalk has never been built on.  I've copied an email to us from a local historian.

"In 1838 from the Tithe Map, which you can see in the museum, it was occupied as Plot 618, and known as Backway Paddock,  by the celebrated Thomas Oatley Bennett (senr),  which you can also see on the image of that part of the Tithe Map that I attach.  It is clear from the Tithe Map that T O Bennett was living at Plot 615, now Hamilton House, though he also owned, but did not live in Tolbury House.  He also owned several other small paddocks in the area of Tolbury (see attached).

This is confirmed by the 1841 census, which I attach, which shows the unmarried T O Bennett, with his mother and sisters, living on the High Street.  Thomas Oatley Bennett was born in 1797, and christened on 14 October, 1797, the son of William and Elizabeth Bennett.  He married Mary Besant Mathews in 1842. He died in 1878, and was buried on 14 December, 1878.

The 1851, 1861 and 1871 censuses, which I attach, show him continuing to occupy the house on the High Street, with in 1871 his son, Thomas Oatley Bennett (jun) and family next door.  It seems clear to me that T O Bennett and family were probably occupying the paddock as a garden and as part of Hamilton House, possibly for grazing a pony, and there is no evidence that there was ever a separate dwelling there.

As to Tolbury House, although Thomas Oatley Bennett (senr) is said to have owned it from the 1838 Tithe Map, I have no evidence that the Bennetts actually occupied it until the 1881 census.  It was occupied by Lydia Goldesborough in 1851, Hubert Randolph in 1861 and Edward Hall in 1871(see attached).  Phyllis Couzens (p 91) says "In the mid 19th century Mr T.O.Bennett bought Tolbury House and altered it considerably making it as it is today."

Monday 11 October 2010

How do I stop this from sounding dull? Anyone for concrete?

I suddenly thought just now as I was considering some sort of title of a certain Peppa Pig episode where Daddy pig sends everyone to sleep reading 'The Wonderful world of concrete'.  Oh dear this could be me but only worse as in theory there are more people now reading this blog! (I must be delusional)  Then again I wasn't thinking about concrete oh no it's far more 'green' it's hempcrete.

We are going off to see a hempcrete house near Yeovil this Thursday which up to Passive Haus standards, which for anyone not completely up to speed it will, in theory, only need body warmth and a few house appliances to keep the atmospheric temperature up to pleasant warmth all year around.  Sounds good to me but I would like to go and see what in reality this actually means.  Sorry I digressed from hempcrete that as you might have guessed is made from hemp and concrete then mixed together making it considerably more environmentally sound.  I've heard about this stuff being poured into huge moulds enabling sides of houses to be constructed in a matter of days.  But I'm at heart an absolute pessimist so they're going to have to prove that it's great.  Apparently the hempcrete house is absolutely nothing like any of our drawings but it has lots of eco gadgets that may make everything easier or alternatively cost a fortune and make life a headache. I'll keep you posted.

My brainwave of the day is using the new Second Nature's Eden Block as a SIPS (Structurally Insulated Panel System).  At the moment the large panels are load bearing and fit into place to make a watertight skin of a building in around 6 days.  That is great in my book with speed and simplicity all in one.  The only trouble is the insulation sandwiched in the middle comes in the form of a high density rigid foam that has brilliant insulative properties but is a bi-product of the petrochemical industry.  Alternatively recycled news paper can be blown in and that again has great insulative properties but apparently after a time can squash / deflate leaving gap at the top with absolutely no insulation (I haven't proved this yet but we did have this done in a few panels in the Longhouse so I'm going to try this winter).



   Message back from Tom (our architect) the planners are on the case and we've been allotted a planning officer which fills me with complete and utter dread.


Last thing our topographical survey will apparently be done this week.  That's really not exceeding interesting but you know that I'll someone will be typing out a bill for Mr and Mrs Rawlingson Plant!

Saturday 9 October 2010

Where are we at the moment?

Right I think I'm more or less up to date with the basics so this now gives me the freedom to type the actual stage of where we are in this long process of building a house.

Planning - since three weeks ago Tom our architect has been apparently trying to set up a meeting with the planning authority but at the moment we have not heard anything.  What I can assume is that we're down on the list? Or the office like all government offices around the country are just waiting to hear how deep the spending cuts are going to directly effect them.  Until we have an idea of what the planners and conservation officers think of our design we both feel there is no need to continue to pour over the detail.  They may love it or probably want to change something or worse case senario say start again.  I would like to think the latter is not going to happen as that one of the reasons why we went down the route of employing an architect.  I know from previous work that I can become extremely frustrated with red tape and what I consider over the top proceedures.  This way we have a professional to act as a link man / mediator..... oh I really hope this idea works and doesn't just cause more frustration!

While this happens many friends have asked when are we planning on starting.  The simple answer is when we do!  From the start of this whole project we were both adiment that a sure way to increase ones stress levels and to make the experience less positive was to set yourself targets from such long distance.  Yes I have an idea of what the build may take but envitably something will delay us at some stage.  Personally we would rather take two years planning and six months building.  If we know what we want from the start of the actual build and do not change these plans then we have a better chance of making it a positive experience. Why do I keep on referring to this phrase positive experience?  It surely has to be a crucial part to house that we intend to live in for very long time that from the start we have good memories of how it's development and eventual completion?  If there is resentment in any major way I would imagine it can take many years to stop this bitterness.  There seems to be many forms of possible traps you can land yourself in: -

1)  Financial - not keeping to your budget.  Being unrealistic from the start of the project maybe not leaving any type of contingency fund or suddenly changing your ideas half way through the project.  Either way it's our intention not to be financially crippled by this project.  I just don't see the point!

2)  Builders - being late, poorly managed, bad communication to the client, trying to charge more for the work  or building the house which is not up to the clients required standard.  The last point for me is really crucial as I know that if we want to achieve a very high level of air tightness.  I'm not an expert (I'll keep saying this) so we will be relying on the experts to make this happen which comes down to trust.

3)  Architect - bad communication, rubbish design, high unexpected fees.... but at the moment this all seems ok.

4)  Planners and the powers that be.

5)  Your wife / husband - it's been at times interesting or sometimes frustrating working together.  Both of us creative people and I'm certainly a big picture person.  So being in the right frame of mind to discuss detail or even another idea different from my own can be hard.

After months of going back and forth this is the sort of house we have come up with. 200 m2 with the left hand element being a 1 1/2 storey sitting room with the mezzanine.  This may or may not be an oak frame part but it's just a question of whether we can afford such a thing.  The balcony adds a certain interest to the facade.  The problem with using a computer added software it that it always looks so stark which is completely the opposite to what we want.  Lots of people (especially in grand designs) mention contemporary, sleek, modern.  We would probably use words like gentle, balanced and inviting.

Back to basics

This continues to be a fascinating exercise of attempting to express my thoughts that whirl around in my head all day and sometimes the night in a vaguely logical format.  However I suspect I'm not there yet but it's all good practice!

I should actually get back to basics (without wanting sound like an old political slogan) and describe the plot of land we intend to build our house on.  Flora would rather call it our garden because it is an established wall garden roughly 75 m in length, one end is around 25 m and the other is around 35 m.  The long aspect faces SE / S.  The garden is nestled in between the large roofed and slightly imposing telephone exchange on one side and on the other Provender Mill, a former industrial mill now having being resorted a black cladded residential building rising up to five stories in height (though only a small element).  Behind is the primary school that I started my school days (in between is a quiet one lane road).  To the south and again crossing a small road / lane is a two storey restored stable building now being used as another residential cottage.

Looking East towards Provender Mill behind the trees

Facing south towards Ropewalk Cottage (the old stable)

Our northern boundary wall with the quiet road and the primary school

View from the primary school showing Provender Mill and part of the garden

Elevated shot showing Provender Mill and to the right all our trees

Wednesday 6 October 2010

KISS

If anyone says that keeping it simple is not the way to build a house then stop reading!

Today I thankfully had a few people at work with the patience and skill to rectify the massive problem over trying to get a geothermal heating system to work!  Why has it not worked for over 5 years (well it might have done but we simply do not know) since The Longhouse was built?  Well we thought it had been?  The Longhouse has been warm over the coldest months so we all thought that the everything was ok ..... ha ha ha!  I first became concerned a few weeks ago when I was walking around the Longhouse in my socks and felt the floor was warm.  Not good.  I had turned the heating off in March.  I'm not going to try and write down what had to happen to ensure the system actually made the thing produce some heat.  My head could have banged against the wall numerous times when it was explained what didn't happen or what should have happened in the original installation.  I don't totally understand the complexities nor am I likely to in the future, as to really understand how the system is performing you really have to have a very good understanding of mechanical and electrical engineering.  So the way I see it is that if we don't want to go through the process of having to pay for heating engineers and pumps seizing up then just go simple.

Insulation is not sexy.  Journalists and men building their own houses like to research and chat about kit.  In a ever changing technological world this is a perfect example of a self interest.

Sunday 3 October 2010

My thoughts on choice

This blog has one aim and that is to help those aspiring to build an 'environmental' house make those important decisions easier by learning from my mistakes.... why reinvent the wheel?

I'm not a qualified expert and do not call myself any type of consultant.  I do think that I have more knowledge than quite a few people mainly due to a genuine interest (bordering on spog) and I project managed the build of the Longhouse at Mill on the Brue in 2004/2005.  But that is whole other story...

The LongHouse
The Longhouse at Mill on the Brue

I have decided over the past few months or even years of researching building materials that we in fact have far too much choice in the whole subject matter (have a look at www.greenbuildingforum.com for a read that can take a huge amount of time and if you're not careful come away with a headache).  Dare I suggest that in times gone by we used the easiest and most local material available which made the whole process relatively simple.  However we know that in turn this constraint in materials meant local an local style which is fine until you want a little more individuality or better insulation or a different way of living in our homes rather than the traditional compartmentalised living rooms.

Ok, back to the question in hand what do we want to build our house with?  Well our 1/4 acre has just fallen into the extended Bruton conservation area so this may throw up a few constraints later on in the planning process.  To answer the question I still, after over five months of going through the design process don't know what we're going to build the house with.  It's getting to the point of needing to make a decision but not until we are happy with the general layout of the floor plans and the facade of the house that not going to happen.  I seem to be jumping which is not the intention!

The choices are in fact relatively simple when you list them down: -


  1. Block work - i.e. breeze block, insulation, breeze block is the normal / traditional or what most people have had their houses built with over the past 50 years.
  2. Soft wood timber frame - over the past 20 + years the majority of large housing developments have gone down this route.  Quick construction time, cheaper than 1. but less thermal mass.  So it can warm up very quickly in the summer and then doesn't retain any heat in the winter.
  3. Terracotta bricks - quick construction, good insulative properties, lets the house breath (water vapour out which I think has to be a good thing).
  4. Straw - cheap material, good insulative properties but how many old houses have been built by straw bales?  Will they last many years?
  5. Cob - cheap material, construction time long time (but I have heard of interesting methods speeding up the time).
After that you just increase the amount of insulation to the highest you can afford....

Ok if you're being really green I think you also need to consider the amount of energy the material it has taken to make.  So breeze block is high and soft wood is low.

The other consideration is nasty chemicals which can then be released into the atmosphere.  Apparently the high density foam (the bi-product of the petro chemical industry) is now considerably better than it used to be.

Friday 1 October 2010

My first ever blog

Well eventually I had to do it ......
That is type something down, somewhere so I have memory of us during our house building days.  Both Flora (my wife) and I agree that we have about the same memory capacites of goldfish.  So in years to come all those frustrations, reasons why we did such things will be completely covered up by rose tinted glasses.  This actually may be a the best idea considering the enormity of the task.  We both feel that building a house from scratch is a huge responsibility which isn't to say that we're not enjoying the design process it's just quite important knowing that this house is the place we are going to centre our lives around for many years to come.

Let me give you the basics.  This of course I'm assuming that someone is actually interested in our smallish project.  We have managed to buy 1/4 acre of land just off the High Street in Bruton, Somerset.  My family has lived in the beautiful small Saxon town ever since I was four years old.  Having flown the nest after university I returned in 2004 to help run the family business - Mill on the Brue Activity Centre.  I'll go into the relevance of the family business later (if I remember).  My wife Flora is creative to say the least and I've also learnt that she's far better at the detail than I ever will be (good thing at least someone is).  We have two girls Polly aged 2 3/4 and Isla 9 months.  As I type both of them have woken up and are now chatting, help! Mum is still asleep I would love to have more uninterrupted time to do type some thoughts!