Hopefully very shortly we’ll be sharing some of the final proposed plans and within 4 months we are hoping to have a yes or a no to them. However we have been warned that at the moment in the recession the planning authority seem to be generating work for themselves as its very quiet and people are having plans returned for further clarification, it seems even “Eurocrats” are having to justify their jobs.. That said Charlotte is very clued in and i’m feeling more relaxed about the whole thing already..

In another stroke of good fortune today while driving back from Never we drove past a house local to us that has EXACTLY the same barn door windows and dormer seatings as we have had in our plans… We were advised previously that these are not in keeping with the area and we’d have trouble, however we can now prove 100% that they are. It must have seemed strange us stopping outside a house to photograph it, but don’t worry we did knock to ask the owners about it but alas they weren’t in, we’ll be going back.

Below are a few images just to give you an idea of what we’d like our barn opening and dormer windows to look like.

Today was a good day for the renovation… Time for a Leffe to celebrate i think

Ray of light?

So does screaming and shouting get somewhere or is it just timing and the gods sense of irony?

Today and well this week as a whole the process has taken great leaps forward and now we actually have time scales and the ability to get a more accurate cost plan for some of the work now things have been confirmed.

So the good stuff

Excellent meeting with the architect on site.
He’s looked at the plans and there isn’t anything in there that should cause a concern and he doesn’t see any issues getting permission through. This is excellent as we feel kind of validated with the amount of work and research we did with other properties in the area to create something we really love yet in keeping with the local area.

We need to make one small change to the dormer windows but this is more of a design render issues and a problem. You’ll see on the render the distance between the window itself and the edge of the dormer is quite wide. We need to scale this down to make it more traditional. NO PROBLEM! There is also a suggestion on the colour of render to use on the outside that we’ll look into a well, so all that is VERY positive after a few very hard weeks.

Next movement was on the confirmation of what type of beams we need for the mezzanine and an inspection of the beams that we’ll be working around.

The beams that are there are fine which is what we wanted to hear as this is a big cost, we’ll need to treat them but that was always to be expected. Another bit of good news was that the beams we need to use for mezzanine are a standard off the shelf size. Nothing super interesting needed here and this really helps on cost. The “madrier” will be 230cm x 80cm and the placement is suggested to be 60cm apart which is double that i had worked on, which in turn halfs the number of needed beams and the cost. Also in another stroke of good fortune we can get these from a local timber merchant in Nevers.

Dawn is off to see the supplier tomorrow so i’ll then have a very solid idea on costs which will help me sleep. I’m expecting around £200 / €230 a beam but wouldn’t be surprised if they came out close to €300 and we’ll then need 18 of them and not 35 (ish). So again that’s positive.

Now the frustrating stuff
With every plus there is a minus, and in this case it’s just time! Since it’s taken everyone so long to come out and see us, we are now in French holiday season so this is really going to put the brakes on ANY progress until possibly December but you know what? I’m OK with that, i’m just going to roll with this as i understand this is just how it’s got to be.

How do i come up with December you ask?
Plans back from architect with dossier to send to planning September 30th(ish)
Projected time to get approval of plans – 2 months.

That takes us to the 1st december at the earliest and in Montpillard the winters are awesome! Awesome in a “we live in London” type of way, were we don’t get snow drifts. If there is snow in Montpillard there is no way we’ll be able to work in that weather, so while i plan to place the order for the mezzanine floor as soon as we get the go ahead i’m not sure that’ll be able to be fitted until maybe March, but i’m going to try and find a builder for a december fit so i can see end the year with a new level in the house.

What can we do?
Again here’s where things become wooly and my hands are tied. We have a downstairs bedroom that is essentailly a room in the barn that was made, at the opposite end of the barn there is a cowshed, made the same way with free standing wall and beams put up. Now if i want to put the mezzanine in that would mean i need “change of use” permission which i don’t have. However if i want to remove the free standing rooms i DON’T need change of use permission. It seems to get complicated when you want to put something up rather than take it down… SIGH.

So i’ll remove the cowshed and create a big open space , that needs to be done anyway and i can feel like i’m making progress.

So all in all a VERY good meeting and now I really feel finally we aren’t being held back and that’s all I ever wanted. No it’s time to start the hard graft of removing very heavy brick walls, just what i live for

The model is the first bit of work we have from David who took the previous contractors ArchiCAD drawings and converted it for us so that we could pan around the property and get some sizes etc etc .  In time we will of course release the autoCAD files so you can rip the building apart and redesign the interior until your heart is content.

The idea in the long run is to open the plans up to everyone and run a competition with a cash prize to the design that works the most for us and we’ll then build the house accordingly( submissions will have to be practical people ) .

You already know we are huge fans of the power of the internet and the talent that lays at the other side of the computer screen and we want to tap into that and use the collective creative juices that are out there.

Here is a simple video I captured so you can see the model :

Google SketchUp
The model is in Google SketchUp format.
You can download SketchUp (standard ) FREE for Mac & PC HERE .

Download The Model
The file is 4,1Mb zipped and comes out to 12Mb+ when unzipped.
You can download the model by clicking HERE

Your rights of use ( please read )
We are releasing this model under the CREATIVE COMMONS rights management. The copyright we are releasing this under is BY-NC which basically means :

This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, and although their new works must also acknowledge you and be non-commercial, they don’t have to license their derivative works on the same terms.

So you are free to change the model,  release your shared work but not for any commercial gain.  We have given this to the community for free and insist this is carried on.

AOB
If you have any problems, questions or comments please feel free to use the comments section below or get in contact with us through the site.

A judicial review would have tied up planning for a decade and the proposed solution was to drop the house by 1 to 2 meters (up to 6ft), remove windows and change balconies. These changes would have been catastrophic.

While the guy had planning permission and agreed heights and designs etc etc some critical aspects were not written down and when challenged by a neighbour the planning permission was revoked and that’s when the troubles started.

3 years later and the house is almost finished but the guys dream has been shattered and his desire to live his dream that he had for 20 years is destroyed.

There are two lessons here which both I believe are as important as each other.

Lesson 1 – Neighbours!

Those next door to you or those around the corner from you. You have to take into account neighbours.

I’ve entitled the post “The importance of good neighbours” but it could easily be entitled :
“The importance of being a good neighbour”.

We have a set of neighbours called Sid & Liz who are amazing. They have welcomed up with open arms, they have helped us every step of the way and are a fantastic inspiration to what we’d like to achieve.  It’s not just the big things like planning advice, electricity and water connection they help us with but it’s the small things that are simply lifesaving.

With this in mind this is why you MUST MUST MUST develop or renovate with those around you in mind. We know we’ll be making some noise and sooner or later they’ll be some inconvenience and at this point you need people on your side.

Renovate or develop with those around you in mind. Work to enhance and add to where you are, after all you/we have decided this is where we want to spend the rest of our lives and those around you have the same idea so keep that in mind with everything you do.

Lesson 2 – Get everything in writing

With all property development there are rules and rules need to be followed.
When things are agreed make sure you have them in writing and stick to what has been agreed.  These rules are there for a reason mainly to protect everyone’s quality of life so stick to what has been agreed.

We are in the middle of getting plans drawn up, these plans will go through changes, edits, improvements and no doubt setbacks.  It’s to minimize these set backs that we are being meticulous about making sure these plans show the house before and after the renovation and that whatever we want to do is clearly shown on the plans what we will be submitting to the planning authorities

GRAND DESIGNS UPDATE
I found a link to the episode I was talking about above, please take time to give it a read.
Chilterns Water Mill: The Story

So with the job up on ELance we are getting a staggering response to our request for some help modifying the plans.

This is all great and encouraging, however some people seem to be having issues downloading the provided files so its time we made them available to all.

Drawings
The drawings you’ve seen before are available on Flickr HERE but if want to download them as full size PDFs then select this : 4.5Mb PDF

ArchCAD file
Here is the file that we have been sent. It’s our understanding that you can open this file in AutoCAD but that is really up for you guys and girls to check before applying for the role : 18Mb ArchiCAD Zip

ArchiCAD Libraries ( not sure what these are for but here they are ) : 8Mb Zip

Visio
Here is my attempt to modify the original plans with Visio to give you an idea of what we want impimenting properly on the plans. The Visio Zip can be downloaded from here : Visio File 340k or there is the HQ 300dpi Jpg here

And finally if you want to see the original ELance.com here is what it basically said :

We have some basic house plans that we had done by an architect that we now need to make changes to, to help up visualize the new layout for the renovation.

We have the “official” plans in digital format and can supply you the files so all the scales etc etc are correct. These plans are currently in ArchiCAD and you will need to be able to open and modify these and return them to us. Ultimately we are not worried what format you use as long as we get an electronic copy along with PDFs etc etc of views that we require.

The original digital file is complete with all current sizes of what is there and we need to place some rooms and some stairs and see how things start to pan out. We know what we are looking for and can be very specific about our request, we have made the changes in a Visio files ( sample export attached ) , and need these properly scaling to fit as something tells me this is not 100% accurate. I can export these from Visio into AutoCAD if you like to a re sizable Vector Image .

Unfortunately i have to add the following : Please on bid if you can fully follow through and deliver as we have been let down before hence we have “half” as set of plans.

Update – 050209
We have now selected a bidder to work with, so please do not apply any further. Some if the portfolios we see where excellent and we would certianly work with a lost of you. However this time you were all pipped by someone who we think can help us deliver out initial vision. Many many thanks.

What made this more disappointing was the fact that we thought we’d found an architect that understood us, the house and the vision. The architect even came to stay with us for a few days to measure up and talk through the ideas, and while i “think” ultimately we got what we asked for (plans of how the building is now) we really thought we were starting a relationship that was going to continue as the house grew into our home, so when things fell flat it was a major personal blow to us both.

Time came and went and plans didn’t materialize however 50% upfront payment was made so we hung in there. Heated words were often exchanged in our house and tensions were running high. Months after due date and with me basically on my way to the guys house drawings arrived. I say drawings and not plans as the drawings are missing some key parts (as I’m now painfully aware….need i say “bathroom”). But onwards and upwards.

I’m a HUGE believer in the power of the internet and am now turning to the online communities to break out of the traditional mold and challenge people to think openly. We have the basic layout and the files are in digital format and are looking to post them in some architect forums to let people run wild with their own personal vision of what the house could be like.

Now we are fully aware and expect some of the ideas, layouts and designs to be far fro our taste or practical for that matter but somewhere in there we are hoping to find some true inspiration and someone we’ll choose to work with closer before we then get the plans finally looked at by a French architect.

So in time i’ll post the raw drawings and CAD files on here for you all the play with (they are in ArchiCAD so you’ll need to do some converting) but for now i’m just going to go over and measure the sides of the house again and let the internet hopefully throw some interesting inspiration out way..

UPDATE : We are getting some excellent idea’s thrown out at us from people at ELance and some great feedback from the Architect community on what we should have done BEFORE we got anything drawn up ( or not ) and i’ll be approving all these comments shortly and will try and do a full write-up with the help of these contributors as advice to others before they find themselves down a blind alley like we have.

THANK YOU ALL

As promised we are posting up our house plans in an “as is” state at present.

These small images below click through to the main Flickr gallery where the full size images are housed.

These particular images we have issued online as Creative Commons so you can download and alter them but not for commercial use. You will not be able to do a great deal but it may help you follow along as we discuss moving walls etc etc.

Beamed Structure

End Elevation