Site plan
April 15, 2005 | Leave a Comment |
Before building is allowed, a site plan is drawn that shows the position of the relevant elements of the development positioned on the site: things like driveway, septic tank, water pipes and obviously the house itself. The site plan, together with the detailed house plans, are submitted to the Planning Officer for detailed planning permission.
This drawing has an additional element (see top left): it also shows the profile of the plot with the level of the roof and the level of the road. The planning officer does not want the top level of the roof to exceed the level of the road.
This is remarkable, as this requirement is not in the formal Outline Planning Permission document. In my opinion this only shows how careful you must be when buying a plot: the documents of the OPP don’t say it all…
Floorplan
April 11, 2005 | Leave a Comment |
In this design, SkyeHomes tried to capture the changes a typical Highland house goes through over time. The initial house comprised the central rectangular shape: the kitchen, dining room, and one bedroom.Over time the owners added extensions to the house: an extended kitchen to the front, the sides with a separate lounge end another guest room with en-suite and to the back a larger master bedroom with large en-suite bathroom. This design gives the house a ‘+’ shape with the north / south legs slightly out of position to make it not too clinical.
The floorplan clearly shows the central rectangular structure of the house comprising the kitchen, dinging room, utility room, entrance and bedroom 3.
The living room, master bedroom and bedroom 2 give the impression that they were added in a later stage. This gives the design a lively and a-symmetrical effect which we think is very nice.
Elevations
April 11, 2005 | Leave a Comment |
The house is positioned in such a way that we enjoy the beauty of the plot as much as possible. Still it’s situated in a secluded spot, close to an elevated part, so we hope to receive some natural shelter here during those fierce gales in Skye winters.
Also, the sitting room extension is lowered a bit, thus following the height difference in the plot as well.
These image show the back of the house, facing the south side of the plot and the front of the house facing the north side of the plot. The latter really takes advantage of the incredible views by having lots of windows. The three windows in the front is the kitchen; to the left the dining room and the sitting room. To the right of the kitchen are windows of bedrooms.
Planning permission
April 9, 2005 | Leave a Comment |
Building in the UK is governed by planning officers and getting planning permission. There are two stages: outline planning en detailed planning permission.
Outline Planning Permission gives you the general right to build something, given the restrictions laid down in your permission. Detailed Planning Permission gives you the right to build a specific house, with all of its relevant parameters detailed.
Planning permission is crucial! If you consider buying a plot and you’re not sure about possibilites regarding planning permission, do not hesitate to acquire local consult. Also consider that having outline planning permission, might well impose serious constraints regarding the type of house you are allowed to build.
On Skye the planning consent is given by the Highland Council. Planning requests are handled by a Planning Officer.
While waiting for the planning permission to come in, it became apparent that there’s a huge backlog on the island in handling all the requests. While it’s usual to receive a response to your request within 8 weeks, ours took well over 12 weeks.
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