March 2018

Welcome to the March edition of i-build magazine! This issue is packed with inspirational projects and products as well as useful advice for your self-build.

 

The beauty of building your own property is that you can do whatever you want with it (within reason!). This includes, but isn’t limited to, making it the size that suits you and your family’s needs. But what happens when you find the perfect plot, in the ideal location, within budget and it is everything you’ve been searching for but it just has one problem – its size, it’s tiny.

Well this was the real-life problem of one self-builder, Joe Stuart. The plot he discovered in London was a teeny 9.5 x 4m. However, not one to turn away from a challenge, Joe took on this task of grand proportions and built a compact new-build that squeezed into a limited footprint whilst meeting all regulations. Turn to page 24 to uncover how the design engineer built a contemporary timber frame structure, on the site of a former coffin workshop, and ended up creating the smallest two-bed residence permitted by London planners.

Sticking with the theme of planning precision, this month i-build speaks with Jude Tugman, Managing Director at Architect Your Home, about her top-10 dos and don’ts to help guide you through the planning permission process because, despite planning permission existing in order to protect the UK’s cherished villages, towns and cities, it can still often be the cause of enormous frustration for every self-builder, so hopefully this guide on page 14 will help prevent any unnecessary irritation.

Elsewhere in this issue, i-build discovers what the right rainwater system is for your project on page 46. We look at what kitchen appliance trends you should be looking out for with KitchenAid on page 44, and on page 36 Stovax gives some guidance on space-saving cavity wall gas fires.