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Self Build Project Management

Self Build Project Management


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In 2016, the UK government passed legislation to establish the Right to Build your own home. The new laws mean that councils in England have a duty to give planning permission to a sufficient number of serviced plots for self-build and custom housebuilding. They also have to publish a  register of interested self builders. In Wales, there is a consultation being undertaken at the moment to establish the same rights.

How does it work in practise? Well, if 500 people applied to go on the register for a particular local authority during one year, over the following three-year period the council would have to grant planning permission for development that could include self build or custom build housing up to a total of 500 homes.

But you might be in the fortunate position of being able to sell up and buy a plot of land for your dream home. Or be part of one of the growing community groups that are building co-housing communities.

So, what happens when you are ready to build your house? Who will be managing the project?

You could save huge amounts of money by taking on the project management yourself (at least 10% of the total build cost, and up to 40% in some instances).

Meet Geoff Stow, tutor for our Self-Build Project Management course. Former development worker for the Walter Segal Self Build Trust, and committee member of The Association for Environment Conscious Building (AECB), Geoff built his own home on a Self Build Scheme in London and went on to site manage other self build schemes in London and Brighton.

Geoff is keen to share his skills and insights with you. You will learn how to ensure the smooth day-to-day running of your building project: from creating a project plan for your build to detailed explanations of UK planning processes, building regulations and control inspections; setting up and managing budgets and claiming back VAT, to the key dependencies between tasks so you can establish a critical path and calculate the total time for your build.

Committed to the improvement of house building quality, design, environmental performance, and the ability to create real communities; Geoff is a repository of vital information about sustainable and ethical building principles and community builds.

You’ll also visit a local sustainable build project and learn about common pitfalls in the planning and budgeting process.

Geoff is also a tutor on our Timber Frame Self Build course.

Self Build Project Management Course:

Tues 5th – Wed 6th June 2018.
Sat 20th – Sun 21st Oct 2018.

Book here, or call Jyoti on 01654 704966.

The course starts at 10am and ends at 4pm on the last day and costs just £150.
Accommodation is available on site.

For those of us that are armchair builders, CAT’s ecostore has a great range of books on self build, green building and retrofitting.