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Green Building Bible, Fourth Edition
Green Building Bible, fourth edition (both books)
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    • CommentAuthortony
    • CommentTimeOct 20th 2022
     
    My friend got a grant for EWI to their Victorian terraced house, planning permission has just been refused as the front wall will move out 80mm from the neighbours wall.
  1.  
    As I have said before and say again IMO the UK planning process is broken and not fit for purpose.
    Assuming the front wall is not the street boundary (i.e. there is a front garden) and both houses are rendered I presume an appeal will follow which only adds time and expense.
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      CommentAuthorfostertom
    • CommentTimeOct 21st 2022 edited
     
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    •  
      CommentAuthorfostertom
    • CommentTimeOct 21st 2022
     
    Posted By: Peter_in_HungaryAssuming the front wall is not the street boundary (i.e. there is a front garden)
    and it's not Listed or in a Conservation Area or National Park, EWI should be Permitted Development?
    • CommentAuthorbhommels
    • CommentTimeOct 21st 2022
     
    If they decide to use brick slips to try and make it look the same as currently they can just go ahead as it will then be permitted development.
  2.  
    Posted By: bhommelsIf they decide to use brick slips to try and make it look the same as currently they can just go ahead as it will then be permitted development.

    You are assuming it is facing bricks and not rendered. Using brick slips would make the project very expensive perhaps to the point of non-viability.
    • CommentAuthorbhommels
    • CommentTimeOct 21st 2022
     
    Posted By: Peter_in_Hungary
    Posted By: bhommelsIf they decide to use brick slips to try and make it look the same as currently they can just go ahead as it will then be permitted development.

    You are assuming it is facing bricks and not rendered. Using brick slips would make the project very expensive perhaps to the point of non-viability.

    My assumptions got triggered by the word 'Victorian". In 99.3% ;-) of cases this means a facade looking like it has been constructed using bricks.
    And brick slips are more expensive than render, yes. I am not sure at what point one decides it is non-viable though. What is the price tag of increased comfort?
    • CommentAuthorwookey
    • CommentTimeOct 29th 2022
     
    I'm not sure the permitted development rules still apply if you actually ask and get refused?

    Which council is this? There are many thousands of examples of EWI of semis and terraces being permitted in the UK. What's so special about this one?
    It's actually very hard to spot unless you know what to look for, especially if there is a drainpipe at the join.
    • CommentAuthorMike1
    • CommentTimeOct 29th 2022
     
    What's the price of brick slips these days? Haven't come across them for a few years...
  3.  
    My Dad, who was in Planning when it was with Min of Hsg and Local Govt (a while ago!) used to react with exasperation when I said something (a shed, for example) did not need Planning permission. He would point out that Permitted Development is a general (implied) Planning permission for defined works. So if the proposed work *is* PD (rendered EWI in place of render or brick slips in place of bricks) there *should* be no argument. BUT the Planning Portal says '...where there is *no* change in external appearance'. When I did one for a client with a rendered house using and EWI Gutter (where an extended gutter forms the 'roof-ette) for the EWI) I did a pre-planning enquiry to see that we weren't going to get hit by a Planner's view that the gutter looked 'lumpy' and was therefore a 'change'.

    So, to answer Wookey's point, if you qualify with the PD req'ts I don't think it *can* be taken away, because it is enshrined in law. However, as above, it is open to interpretation by, effectively, any and every Planning officer. If a Planning officer wants to opine that a projection of 80mm is a 'change in external appearance' they could.

    @Tony, has your friend applied for a CLOPUD?
    • CommentAuthortony
    • CommentTimeOct 30th 2022
     
    Either that or planning, I think planning permission but it has been refused, wrongly in my opinion. LA applied to itself as it is a LA grant funding the works , backstreet location
  4.  
    Madness. 14 years working in Planning and still regularly banging my head on the table, not least from the Tories effectively banning onshore wind in 2015. Policies to address climate change and sustainability everywhere but so easily ignored for some other spurious reason.
    • CommentAuthorlineweight
    • CommentTimeNov 9th 2022 edited
     
    Permitted Development rules don't actually say that there should be no change in external appearance. They say

    "the materials used in any exterior work (other than materials used in the construction of a conservatory) shall be of a similar appearance to those used in the construction of the exterior of the existing dwellinghouse"

    This actually means that you can use a "similar" material but actually change the appearance quite substantially, because it doesn't require you to replicate details as such.

    I know lots of people here will disagree with me but I think the rules are too permissive about external insulation on street facades. I see plenty of external insulation jobs that frankly look awful. And that includes houses whose original material was a rendered finish, and which could have been EWI-d in a sensitive way to look OK. Convert all of the UK's brick faced victorian terraces to externally insulated street facades and we'll have an incredibly ugly urban environment.

    Especially on a terrace house, you can still make a big difference to energy efficiency by externally insulating rear elevations and the roof. A compromise level of internal insulation can usually be done on the front facade.

    In any case, lots of EWI jobs are detailed so badly (don't try and deal with bay windows for example) that I look at them and wonder how much energy loss they really prevent.
  5.  
    Sorry Lineweight, my error re change in appearance. I am pretty certain that's what it used to say, but it now refers, as you say, to '(materials of) similar appearance'. I agree with you re awful-looking (and often also awfully-detailed) EWI. My rule of thumb for a lot of things (EWI, insulating reveals of exg windows with both EWI and IWI and many others) is that the end result must not look stupid. Works well!

    Re bays I love it when someone actually bites the bullet and replaces the entire bay on top of the new EWI (using an awful lot of brcketry!), but oh, it's pricey. Doesn't happen often.
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