Fucking people never listen:

Not only dont they listen but also they never realise when they are unqualified to make a decision about something they dont know anything about anyway and even worse than that i listened to them and gave them the benefit of the doubt.

An architect i know was given was given a job by myself and someone else to draw up plans for a conversion/alterations to a flat within a grade one listed regency building.The council are tossers here in planning so i proposed spending 250 - 500 quid on an impact report that outlines the impact that the proposed conversion will have on the historical/structural fabric of the building.This concerns not only the aesthetics of the conversion as alterations have to tie in and match the existing details and features and so on and so on and on.thats the easy part.It is to me anyway.I can produce drawings etc.No problem but theres a whole load of other factors that have to be taken into consideration which are the logistics like running water/waste pipes that run below floorboards etc.The planning criteria has become much much stricter so you have to understand the nature of what you are working WITH.The architect doesnt really understand this aspect completely.

Anyway i suggested doing the historical report and i suggested the building historian that i know and work with often to write it out for it to be presented with the planning proposal.Alternativly i proposed that the principal of the conservation company i am joining soon to write it out.This fell onto deaf ears of course and my advice wasnt listened to because the Architect started to get huffy because i dared to suggest that he needed extra advice and expertise that he does not possess.

I even proposed that i would write it out myself as i was sanctioned to write it out on authority of the aforementioned historian/conservation company because i am like an apprentice /trainee historic building consultant apart from my more mundane/normal day to day building jobs that i do to earn a crust.To make things clear i am the ONLY other individual/company that has the knowledge and competence and know how to do this type of work.NO ONE else can be trusted in this immediate area.Thats it and i will blow my own trumpet about this because i have fucking earned that reputation and worked hard for it and its like studying for high level academia except for the fact that it involves physical work.


Anyway the architect didnt listem to me and i instead listened to the architect and the architect was given more or less carte blanche to design a scheme and do everything and satisfy all planning criteria which he has up to a point.I know the architect well and he has done several schemes that i have seen like barn conversions and also the extension to Ditchling museum.I knew his father very well who was a property developer/surveyor so the architect does know what he is doing [as its in the family] and is V good but sadly not a chartered architect as he failed his final exams to become qualified.I am not an architect but i understand this stuff as well because its in my family and i grew up with it to a certain extent especially concerning architects drawings because of my father who did it for 30 years.

So anyway the plans were formally submitted back in Oct sometime and its now the beginning of DEc.The plans have still not been approved and the architect is being pissed about no end by the council planning office by the dickhead women in the department [who i wont name] because she is a Dickhead and because of whatever anyway.

Had the architect listened to me about the impact report etc those plans would have been approved by now.NO question about it and regardless of which one of us wrote out the report as "we" have the authority and the contacts to get those plans approved and passed because we/they [I am the trainee remember] have the know how and we/they will go over their heads and go to English Heritage.At the present rate of progress the plans are "expected" to be approved "sometime" in January.

Not so anymore as the architect is no longer handling this application.There was a big meeting about this on Friday and its agreed that the principal of the conservation company is going to revise the drawings and sort out the dickheads in the planning office as the council are playing the architect along and he doesnt realise it and besides which this bullshit has to stop anyway.

Thats the last time anyone who doesnt know what they are talking about doesnt listen to what i am saying /telling them.


Anyway thats the easy bit.

The hard bit is the structural part of the building work within the flat that suffered due to neglect/unchecked leaking plumbing in the upstairs flats kitchen which has rotted the structural timbers in the ceiling of the "Hallway".This has resulted in the removal of the rotten timbers , temporary structural support and the removal of half of the above flats kitchen and kitchen floor.

The interior of these type of houses are basically a wooden frame iside the shell of the building which is lime/flint/brick walls.Bungaroush is what it is called.

I am not doing any of this work as i am not set up for it so it was passed onto the conservation building company that i have mentioned already and they are handling it all.We work together anyaway sometimes so they were chosen.They have fastracked the whole thing through the authorities/building control because there are ways and means [and its an emergency] if you know how.However this is a conservation area and neighbours will notice that there are steels going in and they might try kicking up a stink because they think there are alterations going on that havent been approved by the council.


All this besides the fact that the front room ceiling was collapsing because some Dickhead god knows when cut through a wooden supporting/loadbearing timber in a wall in the flat above to create a door opening which transferred an unbearable load onto the timber in the ceiling which sheared in half because of the stress placed on it.

Anyway apart from all that there is /has been an outbreak of dry rot that has spread through the timbers and up through 2 floors into adjacent flats.This also has exposed a section of external wall in the flat above which was "repaired" by a cowboy company 8 to 9 yrs ago who used lightweight blocks and untreated timber to repair a wall and replace timbers.All the timbers have rotted away to nothing.

People and their bloody egos and getting ruffled feathers.Fuck them in future because they wont even be asked what they think.

I am in another flat working [ that has been cowboyed to fuck but no problems .....YET.It more or less has the all clear anyway as i dont see any real problems.Its like a work creation scheme.This flat is easy and simple much to the relief of the clients.The only stupid thing i have seen is copper pipes that are buried in floor screed.

There will be something else soon.