Our ecological survey didn’t identify any requirement for us to install bird boxes on this one, but we enjoyed watching the swifts soaring above us so much when they arrived on site in May we’re tucking some in behind the weatherboarding. We’ve put in some bat boxes for good measure – with the ponds at the bottom of our meadow this is perfect habitat for them,

We’ve used SIPs panels before, and I really like them. They’re marginally more expensive than a traditional build, but allow you to get watertight faster, with fewer dependencies – particularly with the weather! The excellent team from SIPS@Clays are on site, and the buildings are flying up. Crane is due tomorrow to get the larger roof panels in place, and then we’ll wrap the buildings and be dry.

This is not the ideal time of year to be digging trenches! Nevertheless, our team are persevering and we should be pouring the foundations next week!

We’ve taken possession of a used-but-functional caravan which is doing duty as site office. This seems to mostly involve storing industrial quantities of hand wash, and many many posters about how to operate safely on site. With only one team of subcontractors on site at once (to limit cross-infection between teams), progress isn’t as fast as we might like – but things are moving!

Work has finally started on the Smarden site. The old ramshackle buildings are now down, and site is being cleared for new works. We’re rolling!

Despite the lack of updates, we’ve been working hard moving the Smarden project forward. Things aren’t easy right now – for any of us – but we’re hopeful for the future!

We’ve got the final (hopefully!) revisions of the drawings back from our architects today, which is always an exciting time! We’ve incorporated all the feedback we’ve received so far, and hopefully it will all go smoothly! Fingers crossed …

Just a quick one this month: we received some really useful feedback from the planning officer for our latest project over in Smarden. We’re always grateful when the planners take the time to give a thoughtful response to our questions. We’ll be taking it on board over the next few weeks to see how it informs our approach going forward.

Our Smarden project is in a fantastic rural location, surrounded by wildlife. To make sure we’re doing everything possible to help, we’ve selected ecologist Marcus Fry to advise us. We’re timing our works to fit in around the natural cycles of our animal inhabitants; we’ve done what we can for now, and are now waiting for Spring for the next phase!

We recently became registered with PEATA – the Professional Extraction Airflow Testers Alliance – for one of our projects. Building Compliance is becoming progressively more onerous, and we’ve found we are spending more & more on professional testing consultants – for air tightness, EPCs, sound tests, and so on. PEATA does a really straightforward online training course for Part F flow rate tests for just £80. It took us around an hour to complete the course one evening on the sofa, and then we were competent to do the test ourselves. Considering we’ve paid more than £65 for these tests in the past, this was a no-brainer for us – doing the tests we needed only took 15 minutes, including creating the PEATA Flow Rate Test certificate. Money well spent!