The stone to be used
(L-R)Swinton, Blaxter, Hazeldean
This week, as well as getting all the windows in and the first floor boarded out, we also overcame the final two planning hurdles.
Way back when we got our planning permission, the planners at the Council had imposed a number of conditions on our build amongst which was a requirement to inspect the exterior finishes to ensure they maintain the amenity of the area, and the need to submit and follow a soft landscaping plan.
So, after gathering together the many components for the outside of the house, we invited Barry from the Planning Department over to view them.
We had a perfectly sensible discussion about the stone and tiles in use in the other buildings nearby, about the style of our house, “a modern interpretation of a traditional structure”, and about how the house would eventually sink into its surroundings when the tiles were on the roof.
All the finishes (clockwise from bottom left)
Swinton, Blaxter, Hazeldean sandstones, black whin, red sandstone, red cedar cladding, ScotRend render, all on Cabrare Grey slates from Spain.
We looked at the proposed stone, the slate for the roof, the render for the rest of the walls and the red cedar for the small amount of timber cladding we had agreed to.
The stone will be mostly the Swinton green grey sandstone which makes up most of our neighbouring buildings. We’ll mix in about a fifth of the more yellow Blaxter and Hazeldean sandstones, all from the quarries in the near vicinity.
We may also include one or two pieces of the Whin and Red sandstone, both of which can be found lying about here and have also been used for farm buildings.
The slate is Cabrera grey slate from Spain. Again it matches the colours of other roofs nearby and is a hard wearing variety.
The house will be covered mainly in Scotrend’s White render but it will appear somewhat off white because of the slightly roughened nature of the finish.
Lastly the red cedar will appear, lightly treated, in small quantities where we need wood cladding.
All of this Barry the planner approved of so we are ready to go.
Then I produced my garden plan which is a sketch of the likely garden design. Again, no problems, and he told me agreement in writing would be coming our way very shortly.
By Carol April 18, 2013 - 6:30 pm
I can’t believe how straightforward this has all been. Good job you didn’t go on Grand Designs – Kevin wouldn’t have been able to do his dramatic bit about impending disaster just before the advert break. House is looking fantastic!
By Nick Prior April 18, 2013 - 7:06 pm
Well, we reckon it would have been a whole lot more fraught if I wasn’t camped out next door. Its been a little surprising how much difference a little intervention makes when there’s a query. Being on hand means you can keep the momentum up.
A good example is how we all addressed the problem of one of the windows not quite installed right. After a site meeting where we all glared at each other, I went and had a quiet chat with the joiners and we’ve come up with a good solution. If we’d been miles away in Manchester, we’d have been yelling on the phone at each other and getting nowhere, and Kevin would have been doing one of those knowing looks to camera.
As it is, we are keeping to the planned schedule pretty well, and ahead of it in some areas.
Keep reading for more on slates, partition walls and fancy insulation this week.