C – Site preparation and resistance to contaminants and moisture

The approved documentsThese are a part of the Building RegulationsThese are the legal regulations which govern how a house is constructed. (not to be confused with Planning Permission which is about whether you are allowed to build the house at all or what it might look like) see Building Regulations) which ensure, if you [...]

Ground works

Contouring

There needs to be a certain amount of planning as to where to store topsoil while the building work is in progress. It is important to carefully keep topsoil from mixing with subsoil. If there is a surplus of subsoil then it may be possible to ‘lose’ it around the site by slightly [...]

Retrofit

‘Under the Sun’, a Victorian terrace house in Birmingham is an outstanding example of bringing a fairly typical old building up to PassivhausSee more on the Passivhaus standard. The PassivHaus Institute has pioneered a standard for low energy buildings. It includes very low energy usage and ways of achieving this. The word is derived [...]

Walls

The main types of walls

Regardless of the type of wall construction, all walls have certain functions to fulfil and certain challenges to contend with. From a green perspective, three of the most important aspects of walls are their insulation values, the embodied energythe total amount of energy it takes to make a material [...]

Basements

It is very common in northern Europe, especially Scandinavia, to see the semi-basement flat configuration where the window sills are at ground level and this effectively creates an extra story without making the building much taller. Alternately these areas may be used for utility rooms, storage or, if the contours permit, garaging. It is quite [...]

Building Regulations

February 2013

See the government web site on Building Regulations

Building Regulations deal with whether the building is built properly and is safe and energy efficient etc. more+/-»

They are not to be confused with Planning Consentthe legal basis for being allowed to do some form of development such as building a house. (not to [...]