Bought a field, building a house
Discussion
So today we completed legals on our plot/field. It’s the final plot available, with 15 in total.
Each plot has something different on it, based on the outline permission’s design guidelines and there’s room for some creativity. Our plot was initially reserved for a member of the farmers’ own family and is fortunate enough to have some added freedoms in the design guide.
We had a rough idea of what we are looking for in the building(s) and the architect we are working with is fantastic, he’s already come up with an initial concept.
Realistically, by the time we register the title, complete site & geo surveys and submit for planning approval, it’s unlikely we’ll get started on groundworks until spring ‘23.
We already have our turd tank installed though
It was part of the deal for the land and the farmer installed it soon after we put our deposit down on the land.
Each plot has something different on it, based on the outline permission’s design guidelines and there’s room for some creativity. Our plot was initially reserved for a member of the farmers’ own family and is fortunate enough to have some added freedoms in the design guide.
We had a rough idea of what we are looking for in the building(s) and the architect we are working with is fantastic, he’s already come up with an initial concept.
Realistically, by the time we register the title, complete site & geo surveys and submit for planning approval, it’s unlikely we’ll get started on groundworks until spring ‘23.
We already have our turd tank installed though
It was part of the deal for the land and the farmer installed it soon after we put our deposit down on the land. Equus said:
caziques said:
Bottom lines:
Underfloor heating
No fossil fuel boiler
Enclosed showers
Proper heat recovery/ventilation system (two fan)
Orientate for solar gain in winter
Shade from the summer sun
Plan for solar PV
Underfloor heating
No fossil fuel boiler
Enclosed showers
Proper heat recovery/ventilation system (two fan)
Orientate for solar gain in winter
Shade from the summer sun
Plan for solar PV
What you get when a heating engineer designs your house...
Reality is, even current building regulations will ensure your house is well insulated to the tune of "pretty cheap" energy bills, and insulation/energy saving systems will have progressingly less impact on bills, as per law of diminishing returns. So biasing/compromising budget and design to save an extra £10 a month doesn't make sense.
As for OP, we are about 2/3rds of the way through our new build project (big bungalow build thread), so best of luck with the project!!
Andeh1 said:
I agree with the principle, even if I wouldn't have it as my North star!
Yes, it's the latter I found amusing.Solar orientation (with solar PV and shading linked to it) is, of course, all very well if your plot facilitates it, but it's only one aspect (pardon the pun) of assessing site constraints and opportunities, and here in the UK it's very often a case of beggars can't be choosers.
The rest of the stuff is hardly top of the list when it comes to writing a design brief.
It would be my dream to do something like this but unfortunately here in the south east where i am theres more chance of Someone giving me their already built house in a field
The only new builds i see near here are:
A field like that but with 50 houses on it
or
A field like that where the parents own the land and the son or daughter gets the planning and builds a single property.
But thats going to be lovely, i look forward to seeing it done
The only new builds i see near here are:
A field like that but with 50 houses on it
or
A field like that where the parents own the land and the son or daughter gets the planning and builds a single property.
But thats going to be lovely, i look forward to seeing it done
Equus said:
Solar orientation (with solar PV and shading linked to it) is, of course, all very well if your plot facilitates it, but it's only one aspect (pardon the pun) of assessing site constraints and opportunities, and here in the UK it's very often a case of beggars can't be choosers.
To be fair, the OPs pictures don’t appear to indicate there’d be a problem with finding a suitable orientation!Sheepshanks said:
To be fair, the OPs pictures don’t appear to indicate there’d be a problem with finding a suitable orientation!
We've not seen any drawings, yet, but remember that it's one of fifteen plots, so the first thing you'd look at is how it relates to the plots around it, and the plot access.Its too early for trying to successfully multiquote on the replies
The farmer has installed the signed off tanks in the 8 complete properties and the 5 currently in build, so fingers crossed/touch wood, hopefully ours is also in the correct place. Their locations/orientations are marked out on the overall development’s plans but I don’t see any dimensions to verify the location.
Total plot size is 1.2 acres, access via private road which is shared between all the houses. We are the last house in the initial tranche of 10, the road hooks a left immediately after [what will be] our drive, leading to the later additional 5 units.
There’s no mains gas supply and the design guide pushes towards alternative heat sources. GSHP isn’t brilliantly suited to the stodgy clay we have all through the central belt from what I have been reading, so it’ll be insulated to the eyeballs and running ASHPs with underfloor. Solar PV [+battery] is on my agenda, they’ll certainly by installed on the garage block, just trying to convince SWMBO on the rest of the house.
Had never heard of a Potton house before. If our plot was down Oulton Park way, maybe. Not really in keeping with either of our tastes or styles tbh.
The farmer has installed the signed off tanks in the 8 complete properties and the 5 currently in build, so fingers crossed/touch wood, hopefully ours is also in the correct place. Their locations/orientations are marked out on the overall development’s plans but I don’t see any dimensions to verify the location.
Total plot size is 1.2 acres, access via private road which is shared between all the houses. We are the last house in the initial tranche of 10, the road hooks a left immediately after [what will be] our drive, leading to the later additional 5 units.
There’s no mains gas supply and the design guide pushes towards alternative heat sources. GSHP isn’t brilliantly suited to the stodgy clay we have all through the central belt from what I have been reading, so it’ll be insulated to the eyeballs and running ASHPs with underfloor. Solar PV [+battery] is on my agenda, they’ll certainly by installed on the garage block, just trying to convince SWMBO on the rest of the house.
Had never heard of a Potton house before. If our plot was down Oulton Park way, maybe. Not really in keeping with either of our tastes or styles tbh.
Equus said:
We've not seen any drawings, yet, but remember that it's one of fifteen plots, so the first thing you'd look at is how it relates to the plots around it, and the plot access.
In my defence, the pictures make it look way bigger than 1.2 acres.I guess being where it is, solar gain might not be a regular issue.
Tom8 said:
Just out of interest, how do the financial mechanics work for this? Have you sold a house to give you cash to build and live in a rental or do you have a mortgage based on the planning permission and to cover your existing dwelling?
...and linked to this: how is the infrastructure (specifically the private access road) being delivered, managed and maintained?I've worked on a few 'consortium' self-build sites, and this is always the big bug-bear: someone has to lay out £several hundred thousand (on larger schemes) in advance, following which getting the individual self-builders to deliver their builds in any sort of order to support this and recoup your money becomes a major exercise in cat-herding.
From the original landowner.prinicpal developer's perspective, it's far from an easy way to make a quick buck!
Equus said:
Tom8 said:
Just out of interest, how do the financial mechanics work for this? Have you sold a house to give you cash to build and live in a rental or do you have a mortgage based on the planning permission and to cover your existing dwelling?
...and linked to this: how is the infrastructure (specifically the private access road) being delivered, managed and maintained?I've worked on a few 'consortium' self-build sites, and this is always the big bug-bear: someone has to lay out £several hundred thousand (on larger schemes) in advance, following which getting the individual self-builders to deliver their builds in any sort of order to support this and recoup your money becomes a major exercise in cat-herding.
From the original landowner.prinicpal developer's perspective, it's far from an easy way to make a quick buck!
We haven’t sold our current place yet, but will have to before the new place is finished. Won’t be able to arrange a self build mortgage until we have plans.
Infrastructure wise;
- access road, border & verges are retained land of the farmer to which we have access rights defined in the deeds
- initial road access (base course, I would call it graded gravel) is already in place up to our plot and to the 5 plots beyond
- final tarmac surface to be laid no more than 6 months after completion certificate issued, in our case, we’ll have tarmac to the end of the drive by the time we cut dirt as some of the 5 plots beyond us are nearing completion
- water / services to be run to the plot boundary within 6 months of the disposal of the plot, spring time fits in with when we would potentially need such things
- 1/15th liability for each plot in ongoing maintenance etc
Equus said:
We've not seen any drawings, yet, but remember that it's one of fifteen plots, so the first thing you'd look at is how it relates to the plots around it, and the plot access.
Our architect visited the site some time ago in order to get a feel for it and the concept is largely developed on relating the building to the land. We’re a couple of ridge lines up from where our current house is, central scotland is not flat so it doesn’t make sense to build a big flat house.We only have a neighbour to one side to really consider and the design he has created is more about looking inward to our plot, or north / south to the hills beyond, and largely obscuring the neighbours’ property to the east.
His first pass:
I won’t lie, we went to the first meeting with the architect having given him an outline of what we were after, not really knowing what to expect or how much more detail we would need to give. We were absolutely blown away when he had already created a concept model!
Edited by emicen on Wednesday 24th August 16:17
emicen said:
His first pass:
I'm impressed - I can't remember the last time I built an actual, physical model!We do all our 3D models on computer now (with a 3D-printer if we need to turn it into a physical object), but I find it slightly ironic that the software we use has a rendering mode that allows you to simulate the aesthetic of a polystyrene model, if you don't want full colour and photorealism.
It's a bit like the fact that we used to prepare Planning Layouts for major housing developments on CAD, then trace them off and colour-wash them by hand to con the Planners into thinking they were 'hand crafted'!
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