Land, Modular Build & Roof Top Real Estate

All Planned Out

2007-03-22T14:14:00.000-07:00

ALL PLANNED OUT, THE WORLWIDE IMPACT OF THE BRITISH TOWN & COUNTRY PLANNING SYSTEM: LONDON 18-19 MAY 2007.

This conference is likely to be one of the most important worth attending this year. If you are a planning professional or developer we urge you to seriously consider adding this to your diary. The conference will set out to explore how land use planning will affect us domestically and internationally in the 21st century. The British planning system has been seen by many around the world as a role model since its introduction soon after the end of the 2nd World War. Times change but the planning system has always remained very conservative. How might this change? Do we need change?

This conference is likely to be one of the most important worth attending this year. If you are a planning professional or developer we urge you to visit the link here.
This conference is likely to be one of the most important worth attending this year. If you are a planning professional or developer we urge you to visit the link here.

http://www.audacity.org/APO-01.htm

Airships?

2007-03-10T14:38:00.000-08:00

Okay, off-topic though still with relevance, we are going into the Airship business. If you're a Developer, Agent, Civil Engineer etc and need to survey sites and want affordable aerial views we want to hear from you. We are buying a 20' remote controlled blimp (another name for an airship) with a camera mount, base station so we at ground level can see what the camera sees up above and take photos of whatever it is you want photos of. We also want some sponsorship and are looking for around £6000. With this you will have your company name embellished on the hull of the blimp and you will have free use of it and it's operator for two years. When on other jobs you will of course gain free advertizing from it's everyday use. Give us a call on 01843 834938 or email us via the website at http://www.landsolutions.co.uk

(Above image for illustrative purposes only)

Greenbelt & Gardens

2007-03-10T13:46:00.000-08:00

Two items of news in the same newspaper on the same day caught my eye this week. The Daily Mail reported the story of Graham Head, a farmer who breeds minature horses on the North Downs in Surrey. Seems that Mr. Head built himself a bungalow on greenbelt land. Now it seems too that Mr. Head never applied for planning permission, and who can blame him? With the ridiculous planning laws in this country he would never have gotten it anyway! The bungalow is a three bedder and in order to hide it from any eyes in the skies Mr. Head built it under an open barn as the picture here clearly shows, c/o the Daily Mail (see link below). Mr. Head had hoped to live in the bungalow for years and to hide it on the ground he had hidden it behind bales of straw. The secrecy was such a strain that his marriage crumbled. Neighbours and passers by grew suspicious and informed the local council. Mole Valley District Council. I lived in Dorking for years and know this area up round Ranmore Common. The whole area is beautiful. However, ask yourself how is it that when driving around, walking, whatever one finds houses tucked away. They were obviously built prior to the 1948 Town & Country Planning Act or if newer have replaced something of that vintage. At first glance (link below) ask yourself how much this bungalow imposes itself on the countryscape. Probably if you visited the area you'd still miss it. There are areas that need careful planning thought applied to them but a straight denial to new developments ought not fit in to that process. Surely there is an argument to allow only self-build singular projects to be built in open countryside subject to planning instead of a blanket denial? Mr. Head broke the law, he has only himself to blame but you can understand that with all this land available self-builders get frustrated. Land that is available within settlement boundaries of towns or bungalows and the like that have seen better days, which were built prior to 1948 in open countryside and are ripe for rebuild get snapped up by developers.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=440771&in_page_id=1770&in_page_id=1770&expand=true#StartComments

The next piece of news concerned a story again from the Daily Mail concerning a concerted effort led by Tory MP Greg Clark and Labour backbencher Chris Mullin to have gardens labelled as Greenfield sites, as opposed to brownfield. This all stems from the fact that developers land assemble sites from existing gardens. Suppose you and several neighbours have gardens of perhaps 150' and they decide it would be good for their bank balances to sell off a chunk of this to a developer. That is land assembly. Gardens are classed as brownfield sites therefore are fair game for development. Greg Clark, Chris Mullin and others aren't too pleased with this and want Greenfield status applied thereby making it much more difficult to develop these sites. They instead want what I suppose they would term as real brownfield sites developed. Old industrial sites, yards, depots, warehousing, that sort of thing. Stuff that does get developed. That is okay if there is an abundant supply but especially in the south-east of England, there isn't! Also, where does the industry, commerce and supply industires go? Councils will often refuse planning on this type of site as it takes away employment opportunities. Admittedly developers do not like these kind of sites as they are often inpregnated with heavy metals and need the first foot of soil removing and taking to landfill sites. That all costs money and face facts, developers like anyone else in commerce and industry aren't a charity! The Campaign to Protect Rural England have said too it is worried about garden grabbing. It calls for stronger powers for local authorities. Really, the CPRE seem to lack any real credibility over planning issues and perhaps should stick to the countryside where they come from. As in the post above, the time has come where we got rid of this ridiculous situation of insisting on a blanket ban on building in what is often termed Greenbelt and let the people back into the countryside from where they were removed by the Enclosure Acts of 150 years a go.

The first story here shows it is nigh on impossible to build in the countryside, the second story shows that when you don't build in the countryside but in the towns and cities there are people out there still ready to criticise you. http://www.answers.com/topic/enclosure-acts

Live in your Toyota?

2007-02-19T13:45:00.000-08:00

Not a lot of people know this but Toyota make houses! They have been doing so since 1975. Housing takes less than 1% of Toyota’s $183 billion annual sales. Design wise a buyer cab choose from several designs which includes sleek contemporary to standard fare with tiled roofing and balcony windows.

Average floor areas of a typical Japanese home have increased since the early 60s from 60 square metres to 94 square metres in 2003. The reason mainly down to the population which is in decline and ageing fast. I think we all know that feeling!
The Japanese have it all sown up of course. If you’re looking for a house visit your local ‘housing park’ where the likes of Toyota and rival homebuilders have set up model homes. Customers there are able to place orders and with the wonder of mix and match can design a layout and interior to meet their needs.

Visit Toyota here:-http://www.toyota.co.jp/en/environmental_rep/03/jigyou.html

Diary Dates

2007-02-18T09:49:00.000-08:00

Thought I ought to summarise some of the exhibitions diarised for this year that have been mentioned in this blog:

Futurebuild at London Earls Court 27 Feb-1st March URL: http://www.futurebuild.co.uk/page.cfm/Link=217/t=m/goSection=1/trackLogID=176425_E164D4ACDC

Grand Designs Live at the London Excel Centre 8-10th June and at the Birmingham NEC 5th-7th October URL: http://www.granddesignslive.co.uk

Interbuild at the Birmingham NEC 28th Oct-1st Nov URL: http://www.interbuild.com

Sorry, for some reason the URL link activation button doesn't seem to do what it is supposed to so please copy and paste the URL into your browser.

Grand Designs Live

2007-02-18T09:32:00.000-08:00

The Grand Designs Live exhibition for 2007 is on the 8-10 June 2007 at the London Excel Centre and the 5-7th October at the Birmingham NEC. Visit their website at http://www.granddesignslive.co.uk

Interbuild Exhibition

2007-01-09T15:45:00.000-08:00

The UK’s excellent building show will be staged from Sunday 28 October to Thursday 1 November 2007 at the NEC's three largest exhibition halls 3 / 3a, 4 and 5 in order to allow a better groupage of products together and to provide visitors with an even easier way to navigate around the show. Usually this show is held earlier in the year around April time but a consensus of opinion has seen it put back to the autumn to better suit their clients and the public alike. Visit http://www.interbuild.com

Grand Designs Magazine Awards

2007-01-09T12:21:00.000-08:00

The Grand Designs Magazine Awards chaired by Kevin McCloud are here again. Here is word for word in italics an email I received from them this evening. Any takers?

The Grand Designs Magazine Awards are back for 2007 and we are beginning our search for the best products and domestic architecture from the last two years.

Kevin McCloud is once again chairing our influential panel of judges and is keen to see more of the quality demonstrated by the 2006 entries.

In conjunction with our sponsors and our esteemed media partner, The Independent, we want to see projects and products that raise the bar. So if you are a reader who has sweated blood to create your own grand design, an architect who has worked on a great project, a fledgling product designer or a grand master whose name we already know, these awards are for you.

Entry forms are available now to download or you can enter online from the 15 January 2007 at http://www.granddesignsmagazine.com/awards

We are keen that you enter the awards, and would like to send you email updates. If you do not wish to receive email literature relating to the Grand Designs Magazine Awards, please use the link at the bottom of this email to unsubscribe .

The excitement is mounting and we want to ensure that you have the opportunity to shine.

Regards

Claire Barrett
Editor, Grand Designs Magazine

Your comments on new builds wanted!

2007-01-07T15:26:00.000-08:00

Kevin's Grand Design

Seems Kevin McCloud, the presenter of Channel 4's Grand Designs is angry at the state of housing in Britain today so much so he plans to build his own suburban housing estate to show it can be done properly. However what Kevin wants is your opinions and advice from the people who live in, rent or own modern homes. He wants to know of their experiences be they good or bad. For the opportunity to voice your opinions, whether to slate modern housing, or to stick up for it, please call 01494 733528 or e-mail siobhan.canning at talkbackthames.tv (Replace 'at' with @ and leave no gaps. This is to prevent spambots hounding this email address).

This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
Please remember to leave your phone number when you contact Channel 4. Siobhan Canning, Assistant Producer - Kevin's Grand DesignTalkback Thames01494 733528.

Story comes from http://www.snagging.org

Snagging

2007-01-07T15:17:00.000-08:00

If you have recently bought a new home, moved in and found a number of faults that really ought not be there then the Snagging website may be just what you need. Snagging.org brings pressure to bear on developers who haven't perhaps ensured the expected quality of finish one would hope for in a new home. You can buy off their website a checklist of areas to search in a new home which is both methological and easy to understand for the lay-person making an inspection. They even state that if you do not find any snags with this document you can have your money back!

Visit Snagging at http://www.snagging.org

What goes up must come down.

2007-01-06T10:56:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Cllr. George Fairhurst of Standish, near Wigan for spotting a new block of flats that was too high, by 5 foot. Now the only way this could have been spotted was surely not with the naked eye? Mr. Fairhurst must have been checking this out with some surveying equipment or some such apparatus? In which case, did he have some kind of gripe with this development? Okay so the developers are in the wrong, they claim a 'Genuine' technical error. Afterall they built the building 5' too high. A Government Inspector had a look and has now made it quite clear the whole lot will have to come down and the foundations lowered. So, the loss of 14 flats at around £170,000 each is doubtless going to hurt the developer, Wainhomes North West. No one was complaining other than a jobs-worth councillor who thought he'd score some brownie points down at the Tory Party office in Wigan. Now an awful lot of energy has to go into pulling down these flats, lowering the foundations and rebuilding the structure. This really shows the planning system for what it is, an inflexible, out of date monument to red tapped jobs-worths. The structure one presumes wasn't going to fall down, no one had it seems noticed anything wrong with it apart from some councillor who probably went out with a load of survey gear to make sure the building was the right (wrong) height. Why couldn't the developer merely be fined for messing up? We often see reported in the newspapers stories about someone who built their house 2 foot too tall, out of line with what was agreed on plans, whatever, and yes whilst these people have plainly been served rather badly by their surveyors, planners or architects why can't some hard hitting fine be imposed instead of the very wasteful demolition and rebuilding of a structure? Rebuilding will just produce more pollution at a time that we are supposed to be cutting down on it, especially within the building industry.

SOLTAG

2007-01-02T08:11:00.000-08:00

Another interesting website we found recently by Soltag who are a Danish company involved in turnkey penthouse additions. Visit their website and their vision states (extract only) 'In the densely built-up urban environment, there is a call for vertical orientation while offering socially responsible, economically attainable and yet still attractive features such as rich daylight and ventilation options, while also enjoying minimal energy consumption.'

Soltag target donor building of the metropolitan flat-roof housing variety circa 1960-1990 for upward development. Their website goes on to state that any European capital may have in the region of 100,000 sqm of such available roof-space. They also state Soltag was founded as a consortium of building industry enterprises, one of which seems to be Velux. Follow the links below for press releases from these companies.

http://www.soltag.net

Download a brochure here: http://www.soltag.net/pdf/STfolder.pdf

http://www.velux.com/About_Velux/News/News2.htm

MODULO

2007-01-02T05:58:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year for 2007! Over the holiday period I found this website for MODULO prefab. The company was founded in 2005 and operates out of Vilnius, Lithuania. Amongst otherthings MODULO produce prefabricated modular penthouses and currently have a project on the go in London, though it's location is not specific, merely the name of the donor building is mentioned, i.e. New Inn. I wonder whether that is New Inn, Shoreditch? Shoreditch is one of them areas where penthouses are becoming increasingly fashionable and sits on the easterns fringes of the financial city and the east-end of London. (I know the name New Inn existed in Shoreditch as it was an address my great grandparents lived at in the 1880s so I would be interested to know!) Anyway, I digress. The architects and engineer are Ocean Studios and Artelier One, respectively. I am unable to find a web presence for Ocean Studios so hope someone will be able to enlighten us and I will add a link.

http://www.atelierone.com

http://www.moduloprefab.com/buildings.html

Flood Levels

2006-12-27T18:23:00.000-08:00

Interested in a plot of land? How might it be affected by global warming? Find your area of interest via the link and vary the flood levels from (1)metre to (14) metres. Even if you're not worried about global warming it is at least a bit of fun! Glad to see that despite being a mile inland I should soon own some prime beachfront real estate. Shame about the neighbours further down the road though.... http://flood.firetree.net/

2006-12-19T14:13:00.000-08:00

The Future Build Exhibition at Earls Courts lasts from the 27th February 2007-the 1st March 2007. Innovative and cutting edge design on display in the world of property development, construction & design. Plenty of seminars to visit too. Take a look here. I went last year, didn't pay to enter any seminars just nosed around the exhibition itself though I think I will be forking out this year to listen in on some. Definately worth putting in your diary. If anything there is a danger of information overload!

https://www.blaxx.net/2007/fut/reg/

If you object to your company being mentioned, or your website being linked to in this post please contact us here.

2006-12-17T15:55:00.000-08:00

Well look at this. Somehow I don't see our Local Authority planners letting me demolish my 1894 built house to replace it with one of these. The apartments are known as Reversible Destiny Lofts. To make life interesting the floor of the dining room slopes erratically, the one in the kitchen is sunken and the study is something else, featuring a concave floor! Power switches are located in quite unexpected places making it interesting for you when you return home at 4 a.m. after a night in a club and triple vision induced by too much alcohol intake. A glass door to the veranda is so small you have to bend to crawl out. One constantly loses balance, trips and falls, great for granny with broken hips and dislocated knees galore! There's no airing cupboard space and residents will have to find a way to live there. "[The apartment] makes you alert and awakens instincts, so you'll live better, longer and even forever," says Arakawa.
Some hope after you have fallen over and banged your head!
This development was completed last October, the apartments are selling for $763,000 each—about twice as much as a normal apartment in that neighborhood.

The architects are Shusaku Arakawa and Madeline Gins, whose moto is Architecture Against Death. The development was unveiled a few months ago and forms a small apartment complex in the Tokyo suburb of Mitaka. Whether the apartments are anything but comfortable and calming is open to interpretation. "People, particularly old people, shouldn't relax and sit back to help them decline," Arakawa insists. "They should be in an environment that stimulates their senses and invigorates their lives".

With some of the crazy stuff I see this job leaves me emotionally drained sometimes so read more here!

More information here:
http://royalhomestoronto.typepad.com/rhtoronto/
http://www.we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/008304.php#comments
http://www.reversibledestiny.org/mitaka.php

Well done CPRE

2006-12-17T12:26:00.000-08:00

Tim Harrold esq is a happy man. Mr. Harrod is chairman of the Campaign to Protect Rural England. Last week a High Court Judge, a Mr Justice Sullivan, stated that plastic tunnels put up over fruit fields must have planning permission. They are therefore currently illegal. Now you may know the things, these are the semi-circular clear plastic structures you see covering fields as you drive along the M2, M25 on your way to work. Let's be frank, some fields are covered in the things and they don't look terribly appealing. I'd rather not see them but their presence is a small price to pay for their benefits. Farming is a business and the purpose of business is to maximize output with as little input as possible in order to produce profit. That doesn't mean giving carte blanche to go giving people Mad Cow disease in order to boost profit but it does mean drawing a reasonable balance to a situation, pros and cons, you get the picture, something that people do everyday in one way or other. The fruit business is worth £200M p.a. and polytunnels as they are known ensure the protection of fruit from the elements. Consequently their use extends the growing season past the usual six or seven week spell. Up to now farmers avoided planning rules arguing rightly that tunnels were temporary structures. A test case was bought by the Hall Hunter Partnership which owns Tuesley Farm near Godalming last year. The farm owners had lost a planning inquiry last December (2005) when a planning inspector ruled that the erection of polytunnels was 'development'. Tuesley farm had 60 hectares of land covered by polytunnels. (Opps in prime greenbelt Surrey countryside). In this latest case they sought to overturn this. Tim Straker from the farm stated that the tunnels were an agricultural use of land and therefore a permitted development which would not require planning consent. Unfortunately the Judge upheld the planning inspector's decision and also stated that putting 45 caravans on the farm for hundreds of workers (hundreds?) was not permitted development. As of the 1st January 2007 all growers will have to comply with the new rules. This brings us back to Tim Harrold, Chairman of the CPRE who stated "We are delighted. It is a wonderful result because people have stood up and been counted defending some of the most important countryside we have." Really Mr Harrold. Why exactly is it "....some of the most important countryside we have" ? Because you live there in Surrey perhaps? Wouldn't everyone with the same thought process as Mr Harrold living in their chosen area of countryside from Lands End to John O' Groats say the same? More seriously the countryside needs protecting from the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England! These are the people who appear to be contributing to the ruin of the rural economy so we have more fallow fields. The fruit industry is worth £200M p.a. A good proportion of that income and services supplied to that industry provide tax to the Treasury and an income to a rural economy that has been in some serious distress for the last decade or more. So let us imagine then a large proportion of this industry being desimated because of the planning inspector's upheld decision. What is it going to be replaced with? Nothing? What about the immigrants who toil the fields? (They're welcome to, I wouldn't.) With a coninual flow there will be a bit less work for them now and a little more stress on the social security system. What will fill the void? Cheap imports of strawberries? Great, there goes more of our industry abroad. Around a third of agricultural land lays dormant at present. A few more fields will surely not hurt? That's great because housing companies will then seek Options to Buy on the most suitable fallow land with a long term view to development in which case if you are a farmer, your planning application is turned down and you want to sell the land CALL US on 01843 834938. We have companies seeking well placed strateigic land! The industry, as I have stated brings in £200M p.a. on only 0.01% of the UK's agricultural land so according to Chairman of British Summer Fruits Laurence Olins. Yes, o.o1% of the UK's agricultural land, not much is it? British Summer Fruits represents growers who supply 92% of UK soft and stone fruit. The National Farmer's Union has also expressed 'extreme disappointment' at the ruling. Lastly Monty Don has joined protesters against the 'rape of the countryside' (somewhat the term undermines such a traumatic act) by 'berry barons' mass producing out-of-season fruit. Well done Monty, your attempt to bring skag users to their senses and get off drugs and plant spuds instead will more than backfire with what will be interpreted as a country elitist stance against townies, except it isn't is it? What you're doing is stabbing your own in the back, those who make money from growing stuff.
So what have we seen by this latest ruling of the High Court's? Yes we are truly a backward country with small minded attitudes and a selfish elite. I ask you, 0.01% of the countryside effected by these tunnels, get over it fellahs, stick your pompous egos away and draw those that actually produce wealth some slack. You'll appreciate it when you're in your 80s, on a dialysis machine and burning telephone directories to keep warm.

I will have a severe case of smug satisfaction if planning authorities more or less give default permission for the continued erection of these polytunnels. There they will remain and the Courts and beneficiaries of the court's ruling such as the CPRE will have gained very little at all from the time spent on this. Perhaps a case of direct action and refusal to comply by all farmers is now required. Is this the beginning of country -v- country with the old opponent, townie relugated to 2nd division?

p/s Tory MP Bill Wiggin recently warned that eating strawberries out of season was ruining the British countryside. If you see the Rt Hon Bill Wiggin buying strawberries out of season (basically anytime other than the period covered by school holidays) will you please get a photograph if possible and post it to us? We'd love to publish it. Photos of Mr Wiggin can be found here: http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&q=bill%20wiggin%20mp&amp;ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

If you feel you have been misquoted, the facts here are wrong or you want to moan at us go ahead and we'll see what we can do to rectify the situation. Email us contact(at)landsolutions.co.uk (Replace (at) with @ as them pesky net bots pick up the properly written email and send us spam)

Long Story Shortish.

2006-12-13T13:10:00.000-08:00

England from the 1750s into the early 1800s saw the introduction of the enclosures. For each enclosure a bill had to go before Parliament to pass to statute. Enclosures were exactly what it states; arable land which was ‘enclosed’ by wealthy landowners. Whilst each enclosure required a bill before Parliament, in Surrey for instance there was a high incidence of nearly as much as 50% being turned down as a result of counter-petitions. That said, thousands of poor had toiled the land for generations. Prior to enclosure, no matter how poor people were most had a degree of economic independence. Most of them owned a few strips of land, which they grew food on. Even squatters had rights to use common land. Here they could graze animals, cut turf and collect wood for fuel. Commoners’ rights allowed the poor to survive and to feed their families.
Steadily more land was enclosed by landowners, forcing the people whose livlihood had depended on it away and into cities to work in the mills and pits owned by some of these landowners!
How does this affect you, us now?

1). We all live in densely packed villages towns and cities defined by settlement boundaries outside of which development is nearly impossible.
2). Approximately 10% of all land in the UK is urbanized.
3). Approximately 13% of land is classified Greenbelt by Local Plans. (Don’t make the mistake that all countryside is Greenbelt. It can also be classified Greenfield and Arable etc).
4). The rest is arable, downland, heathland, mountain, river, lake etc.
5). Approximately 30% of arable land in the UK lays fallow.
6). Who benefits from not being allowed to build a house in the countryside with half an acre, an acre or more to it? The big landowners? Not us urbanites or townies as we are called. We’re kept in our place, out of the countryside and into urban ghettos in some cases.
7). Who is led to believe building in the countryside is sacrosanct? Yes, us! The urbanites and townies! We are told it is bad to build in the countryside. Newspapers scream the southeast is being concreted over. What total rubbish. These headlines appeal to those of us who drive along the M25 and look 100 metres each side of it and think “Look at what’s happening to the countryside, there isn’t much left”.
Do yourselves a favour this Christmas. Take the car out for a drive, go off the motorways, the A roads and get out into the countryside and look at how much space there is. Enough for people to have a sizeable piece for themselves. Not everyone wants an acre of land; some would be happy with a tenth of an acre or a fifth of an acre but not squeezed into an urban metropolis. Travellers have been widely abused by the British Press for setting up sites without planning consent. Whilst it hasn’t always been an easy ride there are numerous small encampments of an acre or so which have no real impact at all on the countryside. How long before renegade youngsters, fed up with the stuffed shirt conservative planners and busy-body Parish Councillors go out into the countryside and build their houses without planning consent? With modular and prefabricated units the possibility of being moved off land owned by them or even rented isn’t so much a worry. Look at the M-House for instance. It’s classified a caravan. You wouldn’t want to tow it though. The authorities won’t stop everyone who wants a house building one….would they? Either Parliament comes up with a total reform of the Town & Country planning Act 1948 administered by planners in town halls employed on £30,000+ p.a. with a vested interest in the current status quo or I see big problems ahead. Nothing short of a total overhall will do. Prior to 1948 landowners could build houses on their land with little hinderance. The problem occurred with ribbon development, building along country lanes and not off and into the countryside which would cost more with the requirement to put in new roads.
Save the Greenbelt? You’ve all been conned and the big landowners continue to fool you. There is plenty out there for everyone and more than enough for wildlife and arable operations. Now anyone heard anything about plans concerning Residential Park Estates?

Happy Christmas.

Barker Review & the IoD

2006-12-13T12:12:00.000-08:00

Business leaders admit productivity can be improved by getting to grips with the planning system. The Institute of Directors (IoD) has welcomed the publication of the Barker Review. Improvements to the planning system are a critical step to the UK’s future economic health.
IOD Director General Miles Templeman said:-
“Two principles need to dominate the reform of land use planning in the UK. Greater speed in the commercial planning system and a greater supply of land for commercial and residential developments.
“The Barker Review appears to get the balance right between the needs of a 21st century economy and the rights of those affected by new developments.”
Mr Templeman also said:
“Full implementation of the Barker Review could play a significant role in boosting UK productivity and competitiveness”.
The IoD gives backing to the following recommendations in the Barker Review:
• Radical overhaul of the planning system for major infrastructure projects, including transport, energy and waste.• Increasing the speed of the planning process.• Updating planning guidance to clarify the full economic benefits of development applications. • Reducing unnecessary bureaucracy and the cost of the planning process.• Sharp reductions in the number of ministerial call-ins.• Ensuring a sufficient supply of land for development which is required outside urban areas.
The government has just published a number of initiatives offering to deliver a faster, more efficient planning system. The Government claims will provide an estimated savings of £124m to business.
Initiatives include a single, national planning application form for use across all local authorities. The Government claim this will save £59m.
£38m will be saved ‘through enabling and encouraging businesses to submit planning applications electronically’.
On top of that, £27m will be saved from a ‘more consistent criteria for planning applications’.
The proposals form part of a government action plan identifying more than 500 ways to reduce red tape that was unveiled by the Prime Minister this week.
It is estimated savings to business of more than £2bn in administrative costs will be made. The proposals across 19 departments and agencies have been identified as a result of comprehensive consultation. The aim is to cut 25% of administrative burdens by 2010.

Ikea House

2006-12-11T08:41:00.000-08:00

I saw this mentioned in the Daily Mail whilst in hospital. A continuation of a story that has been hanging around a while now. Ikea's BoKlok (careful how you say that) is a range of cheap timber-framed houses and flats. The BoKlok will be offered to customers at Ikea stores. The houses will cost between £100,000 and £150,000. If you're worried that you'll be struggling with a set of flatpack instructions don't! The houses will not be available to customers to build themselves. I can't bear to think what might happen otherwise...Assemble wall D1 to meet adjaisent with D4 and floor C6 whilst incorporating heating units P2,4 and 8 and wiring assemblige x4-10 inclusive. BoKloks, means smart living in Swedish. Keep it smart and leave it to the professionals to do! For more information visit http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=419967&in_page_id=1770&ito=1490 and http://www.boklok.com/

Do you think you have land suitable for this type of development or any other? Call us on 01843 834938 or email us via our website at http://www.landsolutions.co.uk

If you object to your company being mentioned, or your website being linked to in this post please contact us here.

Home Factory

2006-10-31T11:55:00.000-08:00

Not sure if this is new to the market or new only to us though they sound well established with a good client base, especially in the social housing arena. The company is Home Factory (linked below.) Their philosophy is exactly the same as ours. They question why high spec housing is still being built in fields and not factories. Their comment that one wouldn't build a car in a field so why a house is entirely valid. Property is after all more expensive, a huge investment and a lot of people are spending their lives paying off a mortgage for a decaying inefficient, high maintenance Victorian house which was quite likely thrown up with little regard to quality. Home Factory's website state, quote: 'Home Factory wholesales homes directly to organisations wishing to develop land and can work in a number of collaborative ways. The costs are competitive with traditional build and the on-site time is up to 40% quicker.' They go on to say how every unit is checked prior to leaving their factory.

Take a look at some of the decaying Victorian andEdwardian housing around you and ask "Is it time we did away with gluing baked mud together with goo? We argue that brick-built housing is drafty, difficult to heat, uneconomic and contributes to global warming. We look forward to the day large amounts of these decaying Victorian properties are flattened and replaced with modular prefabricated factory built units as they do in Scandanavia and Japan.

Visit the website at http://www.home-factory.co.uk/

For further details contact Home Factory by email us or call them on 020 8960 1103.
Postal Address: Home Factory. Unit 225. Canalot Studios. 222 Kensal Road. London. W10 5BN.
Company MD: Alex Grossman and Warren Johnson.

If the company objects to anything in this post please contact us here.

Penthouse in Wandsworth

2006-10-17T15:06:00.000-07:00

This might interest you all out there. A roof-top penthouse development for a private client to be built in Wandsworth, London. Designed by Martin Markcrow Architects who have received planning permission for a new two-storey penthouse to be located above an existing four-storey building on Wandsworth High Street, London. The project is supported by English Heritage. The donor building is a 1920s building and there is a Ferrari showroom on the groundfloor. The penthouse is designed at 2,400 sqf and will be prefabricated by a modular construction company in Slovenia. It will be transported in five modules and craned into position over 2-3 days with all connections made to services during that time.

For more information visit World Architecture News

Architects: http://www.markcrow.com/

RIBA Stirling Prize Winners 2006

2006-10-14T13:29:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to the Richard Rogers Partnership - Madrid winners of this year's RIBA Stirling Prize 2006 shown on Channel 4 for their design of Madrid Barajas Airport. Read more here:
Channel 4 RIBA Stirling Prize 2006

Open House London event

2006-09-15T16:19:00.000-07:00

This year's Open House London event takes place this weekend. A show case offering inspiration in the arena of eco-build friendly homes and offices to roof gardens, this event is now in it's 14th year. There are dozens of new homes to visit as well as offices, schools, theatres, galleries, studios and community centres. Architects and owners are on site to answer questions. In Southwark Emma Doherty and Amanda Megane have utilized a prefabricated panel system to create two wooden eco-houses with a greenroofed artist's studio in Southwark. In Notting Hill Alex Michaelis (architect to Conservative leader David Cameron) is opening his own family home which is partially underground incorporating a swimming pool and green roof. In Sutton the BedZed urban village scheme is open, completed by Bill Dunster Architects. Open House runs this Saturday & Sunday. Some properties require advance booking to view. Please call 0900 160 0061 or visit http://www.openhouse.org.uk

V2 World

2006-08-28T10:01:00.000-07:00

V2 World. No not a fun park devoted to the notorious WW2 Nazi Rocket but an innovative housing design from Uncle Sam. V2 World is a company dedicated to environmentally respectful residential & commercial spaces that are efficient and repetativeutilizing prefabrication techniques on a steel framing system. This system can be stacked 4-high and suited to any configuration. Don't take our word for it visit them here http://www.v2world.net/index_main.html
Other information at the Contact magazine website http://www.contact-mag.com/issue4/feature1.htm

An old roof-top extension in Broadstairs.

2006-08-28T09:54:00.000-07:00

Noticed this today as I parked up in Broadstairs. Quite old but the roof-top has had an extension during it past. The windows need replacing, but an early innovative idea again in my neighbourhood.

More local roof top designs!

2006-08-28T03:49:00.000-07:00

Out for a cycle ride today and I noticed this on top of an apartment block in the Palm Bay area of Margate. It reminds me a bit of the 'Hut on a Roof' in Clerkenwell by Hut Architecture http://www.hutarchitecture.com/ except I suspect that this one has come from Home Base or some such hardware store!

Deputy PM, is he, isn't he?

2006-08-21T01:06:00.000-07:00

From today's Daily Mirror....no doubt in other papers too, we learn of the concern that Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott may have a conflict of interest since his son Johnathan Prescott runs a company by the name of Estate Partnerships. Estate Partnerships is paid by property firms to identify strategic land whose value would soar if the Government grants planning permission. Now you either believe that John Prescott as Deputy PM has the highest of integrity and is no way involved in assisting his son or he's nodding and winking his son all the way to the bank. Whatever the truth of the matter in some European countries no one would give this a second thought much the same as no one does when a MP is generally rumoured to be running a mistress off somewhere. The fact remains however that in the UK we're not too keen on that kind of behavior and integrity is the cornerstone of officaldom. I am suprised this hasn't been reported on sooner as it is well known that the DPM's son is involved in the identification of land for development and the Deputy PM has errr been at the forefront of pushing through revised planning laws to ensure housing targets are met! Read the story here:
Daily Mirror

New out of Old in Margate.

2006-08-19T09:45:00.000-07:00

As per roof-top development in the entry below this, on the same stroll I noticed this redevelopment in Margate 'Old Town' area. This looks a bit special and I like the decorative touch on top of the building. Note the urban edge offered by local graffiti artists on the derelict building next door!

Roof Top

2006-08-19T09:39:00.000-07:00

Strolling in my neighbourhood today I spotted some trad-build development going on above the offices of a local Real Estate Office, Clarke & Critten. I don't know if this is going to be an apartment or more office space. Interesting to see as I see a lot of commercial single storey premises that could go upwards, not really Penthouse stuff but making good use of roof-top space.

2nd Life

2006-08-18T16:09:00.000-07:00

Maybe I'm just getting old or something but am intrigued by the real estate market in 2nd Life. 2nd Life is an online society in a 3D world, users explore, build, socialize, and participate in the online economy. This online world has a functioning world cash economy with one US Dollar equating to 250 Linden Dollars. Exchange can be made via Paypal and back again into US $.
Thousands of players have made real world money out of their Second Life businesses which include virtual clothes design, vehicle production etc. (I wonder if there is a virtual tax collector).
There are currently around 200,000 players who regularly meet or run virtual businesses, anything that involves interaction! The mind boggles! A gamer in the Entropia Universe, another virtual community, also made headlines and the record books, when a virtual space station was sold for $100,000 (£56,200).
Well, whilst ploughing through Ebay I found this. A Cornish Conversion, this former stone barn complex comes complete with scripted curtains (controllable by several dimmer switches), scripted locable doors, stone fireplace and chimney, fully fitted kitchen and even a huge mod/copy furniture pack. £7.65. I'll be mortgage free if I move in!

Prefab 50s Gas Station on Ebay

2006-08-15T17:50:00.000-07:00

A bit different this. Modular prefabricated 1950s Ashland Oil Gas Station has just sold for $5000 US on Ebay. Looks like the seller has other stuff too. That station will make an excellent feature for a bar or somesuch. Look here: Ebay-Gas Station

Air Rights

2006-08-15T17:09:00.000-07:00

Here is a brief explanation about Air-Rights on Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_rights

Bridges and man-made islands.

2006-08-13T16:07:00.000-07:00

BRIDGE LINK & ISLANDS FROM SHEERNESS
TO SHOEBURYNESS.

From Estates Gazette of the 29th July the following story appears. Now the reason I put this in is because I live in a place called Thanet. For all I know you might be reading this in Shanghai so a quick bit of Geography. Thanet was an island around a thousand years a go split from the mainland (England) by a channel similar to that which seperates an island called Sheppey about 40 miles west of us off the North Kent coast in south-east England. On the Isle of Sheppey is a place called Sheerness. Across the Thames Estuary, heading north is the county of Essex and another place called Shoeburyness. To get from East Kent (Thanet) (where I live) to Essex is at present a pain as it means heading into the outskirts of London and crossing via a tunnel at Dartford.

So from Estates Gazette we learn that 'Plans for a new national park, a river crossing and new towns built on man-made islands on the Thames that "tie in with future climate issues" will be presented to the government by Sir Terry Farrell next month. The plans include an ambitious 5.6-mile river crossing between Sheerness in Kent and Shoeburyness in Essex, and islands that will be developed as mixed-use communities. Eugene Dreyer, urban design director at Terry Farrell & Partners, said"It ties in with ways of coping with future climate issues. Projects on this scale cost several billion pounds. Prising that out of the Treasury would be difficult, so we add an economic benefit - namely development on the islands." Earlier this year Farrell formed a consortium with Experian, HBOS, Battle McCarthy, Scott Wilson, the Future Foundation and EC Harris.

Taken from Estates Gazette. http://www.egi.co.uk & http://www.terryfarrell.co.uk

Commercial Property Course

2006-08-12T16:45:00.000-07:00

'The 7-Secrets of Commercial Property Success' is a 194 page course manual with Free software and audio CD authored by Don James. This manual is one of those rare opportunities for the small business investor to see how investment in commercial property works. Forget what you have learnt about residential buy to let, you will make mistakes if you apply the same rules. Commercial property is a must have now in any property portfolio and is as far as we can see a better money spinner now that BTL is. Click here:

2006-08-12T16:32:00.000-07:00

From the web blog http://www.shimonsandler.com/?p=126
we learn care of Avi Wilensky who contacted Shimon Sandler that Google has released: Google Real Estate. We are unsure whether this is it's official name. If you do a search for 'real estate', 'homes for sale', or 'apartments for rent' a new option appears as pictured. A better view is available on Shimon's web blog (link above). Begs the question as one commentator puts it:
Google Real Estate is in direct conflict to and competitive to real estate advertisers in AdWords of which we are one. If you are going to compete with advertisers we will have to discontinue paying you to steal our customers…
That sure is a serious point! I wonder if Rightmove know about this? They must, surely?

Line of Site

2006-08-12T15:43:00.000-07:00

I wish I could have bought this to you sooner. The Line of Site competition

from their website at http://www.lineofsite.info/

'Open to architects, architectural technicians, students, designers and engineers, each brief offers you the opportunity to stretch your creative mind to the full. The buildings, of course, are not going to be built - the aim is to see what you think is possible....'

Two of the briefs are now closed but the London one remains. Time to get creative!

Water is the New Land?

2006-08-12T11:08:00.000-07:00

Whilst our key phrase at UK Land Solutions (aka Plotwant) is 'Air is the new Land' in our efforts to source Roof Top real estate, perhaps the next saying should be 'Water is the new Land!' It may well be if Koen Olthuis, a notable architect and one who is making waves in the new field of Maritime Architecture has his way! Olthuis' company is not merely interested in individual homes, they want it all, they want to produce entire settlements. Linked together this should not cause any particular problem and the idea behind it is to deal with lowlands which will become subject to flooding with global warming, the high volumes of rain we seem more and more to be subject to between hot months of weather and doubtless the lack of land available for development.

Read more about this topic here:

http://archinect.com/news/article.php?id=26138_0_24_0_C
http://www.dutchdocklands.com/
http://www.waterstudio.nl/

2006-07-29T14:25:00.000-07:00

If you missed Grand Designs Live at the London Excel Centre see it again at the Birmingham NEC. We attended and it was well worth the visit. Go to http://www.granddesignslive.com

New Business

2006-07-29T14:15:00.000-07:00

I've not written much recently but there is a good reason for this. I have been busy composing our business plan to become the number 1 firm of choice to source roof-top real estate for clients seeking their own penthouse pitch. We have found an American firm with the fabrication capabilities, penthouses are their thing and they have manafacturing facilities in Europe. I'm not going into too much detail concerning the business plan suffice to say we need funding up to £80,000. We are still working on costings so a financial forecast has yet to be approved, that said if anyone out there is interested please contact us.

A park on top a water tower, that's clever.

2006-07-29T14:09:00.000-07:00

Visitors to Riverbank State Park in Harlem never know they are standing on the roof of a wastewater treatment plant. By Beth Schepens.

Roof pitches

2006-07-15T03:16:00.000-07:00

Sorry, not posted for a while. If anyone is interested there is some roof-space coming for auction in Lewisham on the 20-July-2006. Furthermore if you are also interested in our new roof estate sourcing service let us know. What do you get for this? We will identify potential roof pitches and make an approach on the property owners to ascertain whether they will consider selling their Air-Rights on a long lease. We will also scan auction houses and agencies for roof pitches. If an owner is receptive we will then put you in contact with them. We are hoping to expand this service to put you in contact with structural engineers, planning consultants, lawyers and architects to make your life easier. We are also exploring the potential of various modular design systems for roof top siting. In order to employ us you need to retain us with a £500 retention fee for 6-months. A finders fee (-) the retention fee is payable on acquisition of a site we find for you. (We refund the £500). If you want advice or just a chat please feel free to contact us, we're not interested in selling anything to you, you'll make that decision if you want!

2006-06-22T13:14:00.000-07:00

Now I want one of these. Technically a trailer and designed by Tim Pyne, the project originator. Size is 1000 sqft and comes fully fitted out and ready to move in. M-House can be specified to meet all UK building regulations. M-House comes in two pieces and delivery is 12-weeks after order. This is cool though £147,800 won't keep the heat off your pocket but there again you don't have to buy it! I believe one of these is on show in a field near Canterbury.
Visit http://www.m-house.org

Not much about roof top new-build

2006-06-22T13:10:00.000-07:00

Not much yet about roof-top new-build you might say? Hang on and give me time, I have got plenty including this building in New York, started life as a 5-storey block and had another 5-storeys put on top. Big business is the air rights market over there! http://www.flickr.com/photos/stamen/4282661

2006-06-16T17:11:00.000-07:00

It's not often I read New Scientist Magazine. However, browsing the newsagents at Victoria Station (London) today this caught my gaze. In a nutshell it explores what I confidently can call fact, that whether the green lobby likes it or not we aren't all suddenly going to make a rush to live back in the countryside from where around 90% of our ancestors came prior to the industiral revolution. World wide populations continue to move to cities and this the article recognizes is likely to be little more than disastarous ecologically. Whereas American cities were developed with the car in mind this is no longer recognized as the best approach by many planners, politicians, environmentalists et al. Rather to design cities which discourage car use, improve transport, offer mixed use development, i.e. workspace and residential side by side, good telecomunications and even grow food. The photo here kind of sums up the approach. The article continues then to talk about a new suburb of Shanghai being developed out of a muddy island which will be called Dontang and the article explores a risk analysis of what might go wrong as well as what the planners wish to achieve. Basically Dontang will be a short distance from downtown Shanghai and it is hoped the place will not just become another urbanized suburb full of cars. For this reason the whole area is being designed to make driving a trial. Wind turbines and green space will be a common feature in the new suburb but the article criticizes the inclusion of a golf course which could be set aside for more productive uses such as food production. The main thing is the Chineese are trying on a scale no one else seems to be. Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London, has visited for inspiration to take ideas forward in London. Read it yourself, New Scientist, £2.70 from newsagents.

Busy

2006-06-13T16:58:00.000-07:00

I've been super busy these last 7-days. I was never that great at keeping diaries too! We've had two new clients join us this week both seeking land for self-build. One wants to build in the New Forest area and the other in southern Essex. If anyone has any land for sale or knows of any available we'd like to know.

2006-06-05T09:43:00.000-07:00

A great day out yesterday was had at the Grand Designs Exhibition at the London Excel Centre. Of most interest to myself was the Grand Village. On display fully constructed was the Pad. Also on show the Micro Compact Home and the Huf Haus. My company is responsible for saucing land for clients of Padlife. Finding land to develop is no easy task and as the Pad becomes more well known finding land for it is likely to be difficult too against the conservative views of those who prefer houses made of baked mud. (See my last post). I had an interesting chat with Billie Lee, Director of the Micro Compact Home after half a dozen of us had clambered into one of his modules. He must have been making his 15 minute presentations all day as by the time I got to talk to him he was on the edge of suffering from cabin fever! However, the MCH is in demand and has been employed as accomodation on universcity campuses and into people's back gardens as extra living accomodation. An excellent marketing ploy of theirs has been to photograph their unit next to a Micro Car. Minalimalist living at it's best! With regards to the Pad the Times have been running their competition to win one worth £100K. Their winner was announced at 15:30 hrs though I don't have a name or know whether it has been announced in their paper today. However their link to Grand Designs follows below. One thing about the Pad. Last year our local council, Thanet District, suggested developing a green wedge not zoned for development, by our hospital for nursing accomodation. Doubtless they were thinking along the usual lines of the non-descript chalet style accomodation that would then fall into disuse when staffing was again cut. I wrote to the head of the council suggesting they try the Pad. What better than to be able to add accomodation and then remove it as needs arose and have less impact on the actual land since only a cental concrete block would be needed and not a mass of foundations under every part of the building. Sadly I never heard back from the council.

That aside and back to the exhibition. I also had a look at the Huf Haus...so did my wife and I fear she now wants to knockdown and replace our house. Should be interesting as we're an end of terrace!

http://property.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,14049-2206460.html

http://www.padlife.co.uk

http://www.microcompacthome.com

http://www.huf-haus.com

First of many.

2006-06-05T06:04:00.000-07:00

Hello and welcome to my new blog. My name is Dave Chamberlain. I run a business based in Westgate on Sea in East Kent, more specifically in Thanet. I live here with my wife Paula, and daughters Aimee & Chloe and cats Daisy & Poppy. I was bought up in Broadstairs, attended Charles Dickens Secondary Modern and then moved onto Thanet Technical College where I studied Law, Politics and a few others. Thereafter I went into the construction industry for five years and produced Timber Frame Houses in a factory setting. These were sent out to sites on the back of a lorry and erected on site in days. A very efficient system and one that provides good insulation. From there I moved into the civil service with HM Customs & Excise and left after 14-years, quite long enough for any sane person. An unusual career path bearing in mind my interests and previous occupation but needs must at the time in an area that had high unemployment as bad as Consett in the North of England. The work was interesting and I saw a side of life not seen by many. I served out most my service in London Airports. During this time I lived in Ramsgate, then to Morden in 1991 (my wife came from that area), then Dorking, onto Horsham and back to Thanet in 2005. I now run UK Land Solutions (aka Plotwant) and have done for several years. This area has a huge potential which will eventually be fully realized and which in recent years has been lifted out of a depression with the aid of EU money. There is a long way to go with some aspects but a great deal has been done over the last few years. Local towns around here conurbate each other, Margate, Broadstairs and Ramsgate and further inland villages such as Monkton, St. Nicholas at Wade, Minster and Manston add some rural charm. The area has 22 sandy bays/beaches (so I'm told, I haven't counted them all). Thanet was once an island. There are a lot of events to visit during the summer and it's a great place to bring up children. If nothing else the beaches are at least free! Run Thanet into a search engine for further information.

What is this Blog about? The blog is here to explore modular and prefabricated building design and to act as a forum for others interested in the topic. My business, UK Land Solutions, (Previously known as Plotwant) sources land and commercial space for (re)development. I am very interested in the prefabricated housing systems market and modular design and construction too. I am also interested in Airspace or rooftop real estate, basically building on top of other buildings, penthouses and the like. We are retained by Padlife http://www.padlife.co.uk to source land for their clients. The older generation think of prefabs as huts made of asbestos panels put up to house families during the war who were bombed out of their homes. Many survived for years after and examples can still be seen. Their life expectancy wasn't designed to last more than a decade. Today's prefabricated designs are fuel efficient and made out of composite materials designed to deal with wear and tear and heat loss. The designs are radical compared to the average 3 bed semi or terrace. In the Sunday Times supplement this weekend Kevin McCloud states we are still using techniques devised by the Assyrians and last refined by the Romans. We dig mud from the ground, bake it into slabs, glue the slabs together with more mud, add more mud and goo to the out and insides to smooth it off and stick a hole in the roof to let heat and smoke out. He goes on to add you would not buy a well engineered car which had been built in a field so why likewise a house? In Finland half the population live in a house which was built in a factory, in the UK last year of the 160,000 new homes built only 1% were factory built.

Prefab has arrived. Punk changed the music industry for ever in the mid-70s. Now in the 21-hundreds prefab has taken the first steps to doing the same with the housing industry.