News
We have sadly lost our part 1 Architectural Assistant, Marta, who has been with us since last Autumn, as she heads off to take her Masters' Degree. However we have also welcomed Karen into our office. She has recently completed her Masters' in Architecture at UKC, and will now be working towards her 'Part 3', after which she will be able to register as an Architect. (a minimum of 7 years in all to be able to lawfully to use that job title, and then only when registered with ARB).
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The new block of flats that we designed for a site on Folkestone Road in Dover is now on site with a target for completion at late summer / early autumn of this year. There will be six two bedroom flats and four three-bedroom ones, all over undercroft parking.
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We are continuing to work as normal, or as near as we can in these times. We are getting used to using video meetings as normal events, and so avoiding face to face meetings in our offices. While the current pandemic has had a dramatic effect on many aspects of our lives we still maintain the same enthusiasm to develop design schemes for projects large and small.
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As of today (1st September) there are more changes to permitted development rights, and others to the use classes that different buildings fall into.
The Government believes that by bringing a raft of different (essentially high street) uses under a single use class will allow a good deal more flexibility in how high streets adapt to changing circumstances, with changes between retail and other uses being much easier.
Permitted development now allows the addition of extra storeys to some houses (built between 1948 and 2018). There is still a planning procedure to be followed, with teh prermitted development right being an 'approval in principle' rather than a carte blanche for some sort of free-for-all. There are important restrictions on the rights, so it is very important to check the fine print of the law before rushing out to find a builder!
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The Governmant has published a consultation on a new planning law. The proposals are radical. As planning affects our eveyday lives to a major extent this is an important matter for us all.
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CIL: An important note: Any enlargement of a building, or new building, could be liable to CIL, even if built under permitted development rights. Applications for exemptions must be made before building work begins, otherwise the works are liable. This cannot be dealt with in retrospect.
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Changes to permitted development rights seem to be coming thick and fast, adding floors to blocks of flats, and in time to houses as well, greater ability to change uses, and so on. As is so often the case the devil is in the detail. It's not helped by the fact that the Statutory Instruments that define the way that the rights can be used are published very close in time to the implementation dates, and some time after the fanfare of public announcements. What does seem to underlie some of the thinking is that we have to concentrate our living spaces more densely within town and city centres. This seems to be a move away from Garden City principles, which most people don't actually understand, and which are hugely wasteful of green-field space, and are over-dependent on private car transport.