Asbestos Survey + Brick Samples

Asbestos
An asbestos survey is legal requirement to establish if any asbestos exists on site in order that proper precautions are made during the demolition stage.  The boiler is the only item where I know from checking website schedules that asbestos is present.
Today the ghost busters arrived, shining torches around bright sunlit rooms.  Asking me to step outside my office while a sample of crumbling, textured paint is removed from the wall. Lots of little sample bags containing ceiling, floor and roofing materials, holes in ceilings and walls.  Managed to turnaround the visit in 2 hours compared with the 2/3 day estimate so I am hoping the cost can be reduced a tad.  I am pretty confident that the dangerous items are limited to the boiler and maybe the flue, but we never know, fingers crossed.

Brick Samples
Did not have the guts to throw 2 sample bricks through the Planning Offices window so I delivered them by bike to Reception.  No idea how quickly the Planners can turn around approval of reserved matters could be 8 weeks or more but hoping for much less.  Application should be available online so I may be able to track progress.

Pre-Contract Meeting + Materials

Pre-contract
Serious meeting in Bridgwater with the Contractor on Thursday to run through all the contractual matters and work out when we  can start on site. I have discovered that the lead time for the gas disconnection is up to 8 weeks in Bristol at the moment and this work must be complete before demolition can commence.  Phone call from Wales & West Utilities today confirms a firm date for disconnect of 6 June so this pushes the start date forward by 4 weeks from my target of 6 May, so moving will be a bit more relaxed.  OVO, my gas supplier, must remove the gas meter before the 6th and they are on a more reasonable lead time of 10 days so put a note in the diary to book this.
Have also arranged for an Asbestos survey on 23 April.  This is a legal requirement to ensure the building can be safely demolished without exposing dangerous materials.  I have already safely disposed of a few corrugated roof sheets from the garages that may have contained asbestos and found a list of boilers on the internet that confirms that my old boiler contains some asbestos.
Materials

Prepared some sample bricks ready to be delivered to Planning Department for Approval and a photo of materials samples.  I would have preferred a much darker grey render but the self cleaning Nano material is limited in pigment range, so practicality rules and it is close to the colour of dirt.

Model Village

Progression of Site Ideas from left to right

From left

• Edgeware Road houses opposite the site
• Early scheme for 7 flats with some parking
• Below 3 live/work units with parking
• Various studies for corner building starting with 2nd floor 'slipped' to align with Upper Perry Hill and providing a balcony
• Almost up to date with current scheme showing corner live/work unit and terraced house with existing buildings on site below
• Large scale model of corner live/work unit

Contractor finance Meeting + The Move

Finance Meeting

Old School Stylish HQ!

Traveled to Bridgwater to meet contractor to discuss finances amongst other things.  Seems like I misjudged contractors concerns; not that I could not pay but the risk that I would not pay.  So all my spreadsheets indicating how monthly payments were to be financed were slightly wide of the mark.  As a private individual of limited means the Contractor does not have enough to 'go for' legally if I decided  not to pay, despite the Contract obliging me to pay with 2 weeks of the monthly certification.

What I have agreed in principle to do is to pay 20% of the build cost into a Escrow account in my name but administered by an independent solicitor who could release money on receipt of a valid Certification if I decided not to pay.  The account is interest bearing and the contractor will pay to set it up because it gives them an absolute guarantee they they will receive timely payments.

Target start date of 6 May will be confirmed this week.

The Move
Following the Contractor meeting continued to Looe in Cornwall to check out potential accommodation for machines and temporary workshop at a friend farm.  Big machine just  fits, with inches to spare so certain operations will be limited but all looking good. 
Back in Bristol; a verbal quotation for moving machines is pretty pricey but there are 4 heavy machines plus a huge crate that I have made up to carry accessories, that will all require craneage.  The crate is so heavy fully loaded that it is impossible to shift so I will try adding some wheels to easily get it to the door!
The garage is complete, after installing an internal diversion to a leaking roof, so now shipping boxes in, SO handy being across the road!
Continuing to pack, drive to the tip,  eBay and Freecycle like crazy trying to get ahead of the game and still need to figure out where some items are going.

Varied Week

Planning Conditions
One of the Planning Conditions that needs to met before we can commence work is the planting to the 2nd floor perimeter - I think the council are suspicious that my proposals are fictional.
Cycled to http://www.middlecombenursery.co.uk near Congresbury to review my proposals based on some initial suggestions made by the very knowledgeable Nigel North last year.  Wore the wrong gloves so my hands were freezing when I arrived and it snowed on the way back!
This is the most fantastic place to see and select plants and shrubs - makes the big warehouses and chains look like a joke.  Everything is such great quality and really well nurtured, not taken off lorry from Holland after life in a greenhouse. 
The theme is mostly coastal plants that can take exposure; both wind and sun, some grasses, rock plants and thrift, with french lavender - hopefully there are enough Latin names on the drawing to keep the planners busy.  Also room for kitchen garden planters for herbs and salad leaves  together with a couple of areas for selective vegetables.

Party Wall Notices
Discovered that Party Wall notices require urgent action; I thought I had agreed to carry out condition surveys and leave official letters to Architect but discovered that the necessary timescale is 2 months for certain conditions and we have only 3 weeks!
Both neighbours are aware and are happy with my proposals, but the Party Wall Act sets out certain procedures designed to allow work to take place when neighbours are not in agreement.  The requirements are very precise for various specific conditions even when construction is 3 - 6 metres from boundary walls!
Spent a late night writing an email to one neighbour who works abroad, to at least make contact and preparing further information.  Thankfully other neigbours are at home most of the time, so after meeting running through the construction details they were able to sign-off the proposals.

I do intend to live here for the foreseeable future, so I really want to get things right, so this is a lot more than a paper exercise.  The engineer has worked on similar schemes and has come up with foundation solutions that minimise disturbance close to the boundaries.  As a precaution I will carry out detailed surveys of boundary walls and immediate garden areas so that any existing damage can be recorded, so if either the construction or the contractor causes additional damage we have something to refer back to.

Garage Renovation
I have nearly finished renovating the garage close-by that I intend to use for storage during construction.  A salvaged glazed door and door are fitted and the sliding doors now operate - just.  Finally need to replace/strengthen a couple of plywood panels that are disintegrating.  On closer inspection the roof is fairly leaky, the wooden structure soaks up most water so consequently is like Weetabix turning to muesli straight out of the packet and the bits that are not rotten are riddled with woodworm. Expanding foam is a bit of a sticking-plaster job but at least I cannot see daylight, and it does kind of glue stuff together.  Chances are it will last a year so plan to cover the my stuff with polythene and not store anything too precious, just heavy items that would be a hassle to move any distance.

Finances are tight
The contractor is rightly keen to make sure that I have finances for his main portion of the build and to secure them up front.  This is very tricky and over the past few weeks I have realised that borrowing money is so incredibly expensive, I have been producing a new spreadsheet every few days, looking at the project from every angle.   I am planning to finance 90% of construction, with the remaining 10% for fit-out using a bridging loan as a worst case scenario.  Thankfully a few close friends have pledged support if required as a backup so I am hoping that I can satisfy the Contractor  that the project is feasible and that they will get paid!  Meeting this week - wish me luck!