Building DIY Gardening

There has been a lot happening since I last blogged. See below for a link to Mayor of London‘s postcode checker for Licensing Schemes. Many Councils have licensing schemes for landlords, which seems like a good idea at first, but it usually a way for Councils to raise large amounts of money with out doing […]

I was in Central London recently and had a walk around the new development next to Victoria Station SW1. Very impressive. They blend in well with the old buildings by contrasting rather than emulating. Some nice touches in the street furniture and smaller details. See our section on Steel Buildings here > Here are some […]

FREE BUILDING DIY APP and FILES I have made some useful files for my free white board app ‘Notes Story Board v 2.2’. Get this for free here now > Special summer offer, usual cost £1.99. What is it? Easy to use zooming ‘any size’ whiteboard app for Windows and Apple Mac* Load text files, […]

Wandsworth Council, a large borough in South London, has exceeded targets for affordable housing new builds. This means low cost, market cost, social rent and starter homes with shared ownership, where the tenants pay a part of the mortgage towards part-ownership, which can be traded. There were 501 low cost homes newly built in Wandsworth […]

The weather has been very variable this year, from hot sun to snow! Spring bulbs are dying back and flowers are appearing. This year there have been many heavy rain showers, so the ground is more wet than usual. Butterflies brighten up your garden. Your garden can start to look like a proper garden at […]

There is a new mobile version of the site – this is of less interest if you use a desktop as it uses the same pages. I am editing pages for the new site, so they will be ready as and when converted. This is a rather slow method. If you point your mobile at […]

There is a summary article about the Green Deal flagship Conservative policy here: Green deal will fail (new window) > The Green Deal is supposed to help regenerate old building stock, by giving loans for work such as insulation, etc. Unfortunately there are financial strictures based around a return of 6.9% which means works have to […]

Ecobuild the future at ExCeL, London Tue 5 to Thur 7 March 2013. This a great show and worth the effort of getting to Excel in London Docklands. It is an interesting venue. This is the best exhibition for sustainable design, construction and the built environment. There are many attractions including: Practical Installer Future Materials […]

These are some photos from a recent lawn laying session. The small lawn was killed by overhanging trees provding too much shade, and neglect by tenants in a rented property. Autumn is a good time to lay a lawn as rain will make it bed in better. Laying in Spring is also possible but you […]

Annual show approaches, for all DIY, self-build, refurbishment projects, and you can get free tickets, see link at end. Friday 28th to Sunday 30th September 2012. Lots on as usual. Well worth a visit especially as free (get your tickets before 14th September) Real life examples and talks about: Two storey extension Cottage extension, 2 […]