Had another meeting with the local planning officer last week. We thought it was about time to check they were supportive of our plans in general, and wanted to ask specifically how they might feel about a green-roofed extension.
There was a bit of humming and hawing, with the uncertainty based on the fact that externally insulating the bungalow with straw would turn it into a rendered bungalow surrounded by rows of near-cloned brick bungalows. But they understood and seemed impressed by the reasoning behind the project (to bring a cold and damp bungalow up to at least level 5 of the Code for Sustainable Homes, making it warm, dry, cosy and healthy using the most sustainable materials we can). However, ultimately they appeared to be convinced that our compromise of leaving the projection at the front of the bungalow as brick and internally insulating that section was acceptable and enough to visually tie the building in to the rest of the street. Internally insulating is not ideal as there is more potential for condensation problems where the insulation meets the cold-hard surface of the external wall in a way which is not an issue with breathable external insulation - more on this in the blog soon.
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