NEWS


selfbuilder +homemaker


PUBLISHER Anthony Parker


MANAGING EDITOR James Parker


ASSISTANT EDITOR Roseanne Field


CONTRIBUTORS Heather Dixon Jayne Dowle Ewen Macdonald Jess Unwin


STUDIO MANAGER Mikey Pooley


PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS Georgia Musson Kimberley Musson


ACCOUNT MANAGERS Sheehan Edmonds Paul Field


SALES EXECUTIVES Nathan Hunt Steve Smith


PR EXECUTIVES Suzanne Easter Kim Friend


AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT


MANAGER Jane Spice


MANAGING DIRECTOR Simon Reed


PUBLISHED BY DATES FOR YOUR DIARY...


BUILD IT LIVE 8 - 9 FEBRUARY, MAIDSTONE 22 - 23 FEBRUARY, MANCHESTER www.builditlive.co.uk


Cointronic House, Station Road, Heathfield East Sussex, TN21 8DF


ADVERTISING &


ADMINISTRATION 01435 863500


info@netmagmedia.co.uk www.sbhonline.co.uk


PLANNING | FINANCE | DESIGN | CONSTRUCTION | PRODUCTS | INTERIORS


EDITORIAL FEATURES jparker@netmagmedia.co.uk


PRESS RELEASES editorial@netmagmedia.co.uk


SUBSCRIPTION &


CIRCULATION ENQUIRIES info@netmagmedia.co.uk


9 SIMPLE TIPS ON


SLIDING DOORS Our expert gives you a simple run-down of the things you need to know when specifying sliding doors


selfbuilder +homemaker


All Rights Reserved ISSUE 01 2020


Winning an uphill battle


Roseanne Field reports on an oak build that made the most of a difficult sloping site in Wales


Subscription costs just £18 for 6 issues, including post and packing. Phone 01435 863500 for details. Individual copies of the publication are available at £3.25 each inc p&p.


It’s open season


in the kitchen Looks for creating your


dream open plan kitchen Curves that help


the climate Super low emissions, super curvaceous looks in Wiltshire


No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, including photocopying, recording or stored in any information retrieval system without the express prior written consent of the publisher. Although every effort is made to ensure the accuracy and reliability of material published in Selfbuilder & Homemaker, the publisher can accept no responsibility for the claims or opinions made by contributors, manufacturers or advertisers. Editorial contributors to this journal may have made a payment towards the reproduction costs of material used to illustrate their products. The manufacturer of the paper used within our publication is a Chain-of-Custody certified supplier operating within environmental systems certified to both ISO 14001 and EMAS in order to ensure sustainable production.


ON THE COVER... © NIKHILESH HAVAL (PAGE 60)


Printed in England


MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR PLOT 14 FEBRUARY, ST NEOTS


www.potton.co.uk/courses


THE NSBRC GUIDE TO HEATING YOUR HOME 15 FEBRUARY, SWINDON


www.nsbrc.co.uk/


MANAGING YOUR BUILD 21 FEBRUARY, ST NEOTS


www.potton.co.uk/courses


FROM THE EDITOR...


It’s hard enough to get a self-build off the ground, even when you have the land, the design and the money to push ahead with your dream. So why are local authorities making it harder for people?


According to the National Custom & Self Build Association’s latest delve into how Right to Build is being rolled out (or not) across the UK, a variety of perhaps dubious measures are being used to try and keep registers of those looking to build as short as possible. This cannot be verified – obviously the NaCSBA has a campaigning agenda to get as many people self- building as possible, but there’s no smoke without fire.


The organisation accuses local councils of “imposing unreasonable constraints,” counting plots which will be taken by larger developers as suitable for self-build, and even removing the names of people who have joined via a couple of administrative tricks. The NaCSBA reckons that 8,000 people have been “wrongfully” taken off the registers, which if true is a scandal as it artificially reduces the demand and lessens the national case for freeing up plots.


What have the authorities got to gain in doing this? Obviously the estimated 55,000 people on registers currently represents a big admin challenge for them in putting planning permissions through, but surely this is what they should be doing, despite their depleted numbers? And the numbers are nothing if you look at say, Germany.


The Government needs to intervene fast if it wants the self- build revolution to happen as intended.


JAMES PARKER


january 2020


www.sbhonline.co.uk


3


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68