In brief ‘yes’ and yes’!
This is the best house I have ever lived in and stayed in. The building is always warm and constant in its temperature. The underfloor heating provides a gentle, steady heat with no hot and cold points. (Even with heavy snow outside!) It really is phenomenal! I have never felt so well and been more convinced that this was a good idea. Any pain we went through to get here was worth it.

My Mum suffers from constant severe headaches as a result of allergies to dust, pollen and anything else, from what I can gather. She has to take strong medication to relieve the pain and frequently has to use a steam machine to ease her breathing. When she came to stay for three weeks, she never had a headache! She also never needed her steam machine. This is the first time that she has been pain free for years. Anecdotal, I know, but a promise that this is a house that cares for its occupants as much as the environment.

My aunty went from thinking that the design of the house was a waste of space (at first!). I said to her that the beauty of the design is in the space and the shapes of the angled construction. These are now painted a soft, tranquil grey, that gently enhances a bold statement and provides a perfect backdrop to vibrant, abstract modern artwork. After one day, she said, ‘I get it!’ She was over whelmed by the standard of accommodation and couldn’t believe that it worked in terms of heating, on such a little amount of fuel. I have to say that I wasn’t convinced that the heating would be warm enough in the bedrooms, so put in small electric heaters just in case! These, I hasten to say, were never needed! It was a lovely temperature, maintained by constant filtered air flow. The way forward, I think!

Note: We have been nominated for ‘The Northern Building Excellence Awards’!
…………….smashing!

Urban Base

Oh Yes!!!!
I invited many of the key people who helped to make this project happen to a celebration event, just to say a big ‘Thank You’ for all of the support.
There was an excellent turn out and a warm atmosphere sharing positive feedback and a certain reminiscing of the battles needing to be fought to bring the project to a high standard.

What struck me was how these people were strangers to me just 18 months earlier and yet now I feel that they are valued colleagues, who observed on the outside, the emotional ‘roller-coaster’ of the build. I always knew they were there, behind me, wishing me well and on my side. Only in desperate times did I phone them to share the trials and tribulations of the construction industry; with my constant need to stay focussed, uncompromising on standards, responsible.

Some things are on-going in the development so I am not sure that I would class this as finished. The statistics are still being taken as part of the Site Waste Management Policy, because I am interested in how the house performs, and I love doing graphs!
We have had 97% recycled waste for the last part of the build. From the start for the first 8 months we had 100% recycled waste and exceptionally low usage of water and electric.
Because I have gone for 100% low energy lighting by using cfl’s or led’s we are hoping to continue to keep the electric usage to a minimum. Solar panels heat 60% of the water, which also supplies the underfloor heating. This is topped up by a wood pellet biomass boiler. The PV panels will generate electricity. Any surplus will be sold back to the supplier. I have chosen EDF for this.

It is great to have a design idea and a hypothetical formula that you think will work and then see it working and all coming together.

Grants???

As part of the renewable technologies we are eligible for grants to the sum of 2500k. ‘Great!’ I hear you say. Not so fast! Because I am not in a ‘commercial’ band, the grants available are quite small and to be honest, meaningless. I have been offered 500 towards the biomass. The restrictions on this are as follows; you have to buy from a registered supplier and installer. It also has to be a biomass on the list of approved stoves. I was excited when I knew the installer and the biomass that I wanted was on the product list. The issue is that these installers charge a fortune to install. So it is cheaper to have an unregistered installer and not claim the grant.

‘Well, that’s just the biomass example, isn’t it?’

‘Nope. That’s the same for the wind turbine and solar panels.’ I feel that I demonstrated a disproportionate commitment to the renewable side of energy harvesting. The grants have not supported me in this instance. If the government want to see more householders investing in renewable technologies, then there needs to be a genuine incentive in place.

Show Home Now Open!*

What a privileged position to be able to show people around the main house that was my design. Prospective buyers can now see for themselves the quality of finishings inside the house and the beauty of modern, spacious living, that also cares for the environment. Work with nature, not against. One plot has been sold on day 1, but this client knew me and my abilities. Others would have to take a huge leap of faith to come on board before the main house was finished.

In line with ‘see differently, think differently’, I am hoping to offer lifestyles to people that will change them and their perception of what is of value. My development is understated in a way, with very little ‘bling’; but the houses are truly stylish! I found a car made by Toyota who had a similar branding and idea to my development…..Less is more! I am currently in talks with Toyota, to see if they will come on board, in some capacity. Not many property developers offer a free car with the sale of a house!

*Check Upmarket - Urban Base Estate agents for details

I cannot begin to tell you how surreal the last two weeks have been with the utility companies. The story goes like this:
Water man no 1, ‘you need to dig the service trench all the way down the access road.’
Me, ‘Why? You said you were going to do it and you’ve had my money for 9 months for the work’. I had better speak to someone higher, I thought.

Water man no 2, ‘no you don’t need to dig the trench just the kerb raft. You only have to dig the service trench on your land, then we come and lay the pipe. I’ll come out tomorrow (Tuesday) and see if the kerb raft is ok. We’ll come out on Friday and start the trench work ’
Phew!!!
Tuesday – no news
Wed: Water man no 2: ‘I was wrong. You have to dig the service trench.’
Me , ‘WHAT!!!! But I’ve paid you to do it. I will expect a refund then if you are instructing us to do the work.’

Water man no 2: ‘Well, it doesn’t work like that. I think the money you paid will just pay for us to lay the pipe only. Oh and by the way, we are coming out on this Friday to lay the pipe’

That gave my ground crew two days to dig a metre deep service trench, 50 metres long, and to hand dig round BT cables, 3 gas pipes, one electric cable, as well as cementing in the kerb raft…..unlikely!

Services……….need I say more!

This is the equivalent of trying to do business with the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland. I have tried to develop a detailed schedule of works to cover all ground work contractors. We thought we were there and then one said ‘Oh, by the way, we need the kerb line in, from the main road before we will connect or lay the pipework’. This has meant that the money allocated to move the spoil from the foundations will now have to go on the rather premature work, to the access road.

Plot 4 – update

Plot 4 is up and looks splendid! The beauty of coming on board early is that the client can have an input into the internal design. Each client has a different set of circumstances and a different idea as to how they want to live. Some work from home or have a large family and so we endeavour to accommodate their idea of a perfect house. The external look of the houses all have similar features that remain the same but the internal layout can be modified to make living areas open plan or separate, depending on the request from the client.

The houses are substantial in build and still sit comfortably on the site with minimal intrusion on the main house or with each other. It is an exciting time now as I can visualise how the development will look when it is complete!

The main MVHRS guy, Steve) and his mate, Mark, from North Yorkshire came up and neatly arranged all his pipes in preparation for fitting. (See related build pictures, modern art or what!) The galvanised, spiral tubes and the curved joints look like elephants legs playing twister! When uniformly stacked, it looked like a piece that I had seen at the Mima gallery. I was very impressed with the work of both men. They came in, blitzed the job and went.

The bottle-necks and frustrations this week have been down to people saying that they will be in and then not turning up. I went to great effort to make sure that one trade had finished, even though it meant them staying on site till gone 9pm, so that all would be ready the next day, for the follow on trades. Because the follow on trades who were booked in, didn’t turn up, this created pressure a day later. It’s a bit like a roller coaster ride, where the trucks in front just stop and the others can’t move either and no one can overtake………………………….effective communication is the key!

One example is when one firm gave us a fixed price. We understood that we were getting the experienced experts from the company to complete the work. To save money, the firm employed cheap, young, inexperienced workers who made errors that had to then be rectified. I’m not paying for that. I also refuse to pay for sub substandard work and I also don’t accept excuses for inferior quality. Does that sound like I’m unfair?

Anyway, the other thing that makes the hackles rise on the back of my neck, is if workers on a daily rate, don’t have an efficient system in place to complete their task, stand around chatting to other trades (on a price), use their mobile phone for social reasons and who smoke. The loss in productivity is around 3 hours a day. When I saw this happening on site with one of the labourers, I had difficulty keeping an even tone in my voice when I spoke to him. He won’t be doing this again, though!

I can see the end in sight now. The dry liners are in and all trades are superb examples of how to communicate with each other. I have 3 sets of plumbers in. One set are the underfloor and eco specialists; one set are the wet room specialists and one set due to be on site are the Mechanical Ventilation and Heat recovery plumbers. Things will get more complicated when we fit the biomass stove!

There is a bottle-neck at the minute, in that one joiner is on holiday and the other is working flat out but being pushed from pillar to post which is frustrating. I have called for extra back up to help us get the project running more efficiently.

We have an outstanding site manager/foreman, who can turn his hand to anything and works like a Trojan. He oversees the day today workmen and ensures that they have everything they need to enable them to crack on. This is the ship’s captain. What seems to be normal, is that trades drop onto the job, get some of the work done, then disappear off because they can’t progress but then they end up disappearing for too long and preventing the other trades from completing. This takes careful management to ensure that all the small jobs are picked up. My concern is that something that something that appears small, could be over looked. This could have issues later on in the build. People say they will be back to finish but they aren’t and then have to be badgered. We have to stay on top of this, or plaster boards will be going up before the first fix electrics/plumbing/joinery has been fully completed to everyone’s satisfaction.

I think I am adding to this problem by pushing to keep the project moving all the time. It comes back to the age old ‘Time is money!’. I understand where the trades men are coming from but I think they also need to appreciate things from my point of view as well.