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hope everyone is keeping safe in the New Year, as we hear more and more Covid cases rising, which is causing so much disruption amongst families and workplaces. Working from home and being isolated is encouraging more and more families to extend or remodel their homes and spaces. We touched upon “home working” last month, but it was related to interior design finishes. This month we will focus more on the construction design and layouts. Whether you’re extending your kitchen or renovating your loft, if you’re taking on a project in 2022 then you’re going to want to get your head in the game before you begin. PLAN YOUR SCHEME! Never skip stages, in hope of being able fast track your project. The demands on planning departments have been steadily increasing over the last few years. Starting with the 2020 pandemic and then building up month on month. There are two reasons for this demand. One, a lot of people have experienced a change in lifestyle, such as working
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from home more, and want their homes to adapt to this new routine. Alongside this, many planning departments have been suffering from staff shortages and are undergoing a new digitisation of their departments. Planning permission lasts for 3 years, therefore, never get put off as you will only find that there will be more problems moving forward, if you try to skip this stage. MATERIALS COST MORE, SO BE SMART You may have seen several news stories talking about the rising costs of construction materials. Part of this price increase has come from shipping and supply issues still reverberating from the pandemic. However, the UK’s departure from the EU has also had a knock-on effect. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like many of these issues are going to resolve themselves anytime soon, so it’s worth taking some time to think about how you can smartly approach these issues. Think about the construction method and sit down with your designer and talk it through in detail, before making a decision. Long-wearing aluminum frames for your glazing, rather than uPVC increase the quality of installation. www.lancmag.com
