Hi All,

We've finally found a place in Edinburgh, a colony upper in Leith, and
moved in on Friday. We've started small, but I had some questions for
the group about a possible future plan...

We have (what is to become) a dining room that is 'L' shaped because
the stairs to the loft conversion occupy some of its original
boundary. The door to the main hall (and the stairs to the loft
conversion) is at one end, a door to the kitchen leads off at the
other (the doors are in different planes but face the same way and are
on the same side). The wall that runs between the dining room and the
stairs is a thin stud wall, erected when the stairs were put in. The
wall between the kitchen and the dining room is the original partition
wall (and is not load bearing).

We would definitely like to take out the wall between kitchen and
dining-room, to form a single space. We'd also like to consider
removing the wall between the dining room and the stairs, making a
single space between main hall and dining room. I suspect that the
latter might, though, breach building regs with respect to fire
protection beteen kitchen and stairs. (The door between hall and
dining room has a closer on it, but does no appear to be a fire door;
the door between kitchen and dining room is not in any way
fire-protected).

How can I find out what the building regs are? I've never done this
sort of thing before (taking out a wall) - what do you think I need to
consider? Any usefull hints and tips?

Thanks in advance for help - Adam...

From the chaotic regions of the Cryptosphere,
(Adam) wrote on 18 Aug 2003 05:21:42 -0700:

We would definitely like to take out the wall between kitchen and
dining-room, to form a single space. We'd also like to consider
removing the wall between the dining room and the stairs, making a
single space between main hall and dining room. I suspect that the
latter might, though, breach building regs with respect to fire
protection beteen kitchen and stairs. (The door between hall and
dining room has a closer on it, but does no appear to be a fire door;
the door between kitchen and dining room is not in any way
fire-protected).

AFAIK, you suspect right. In England or Wales, I'd be sure, but I
don't know enough of the Scottish Regs to be definite, but I expect it
to be broadly similar.

How can I find out what the building regs are?

The Scottish Building Regulations are at
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/build_regs/, or ask at your local Council.
--
Hugo Nebula
"You know, I'd rather see this on TV,
Tones it down" - Laurie Anderson

"Adam" wrote in message
om...
Hi All,

We've finally found a place in Edinburgh, a colony upper in Leith, and
moved in on Friday.

Congratulations Adam! We looked at a couple of colonies in Leith too
(Parkvale Place and Rosevale Place) and they're great buildings. One of the
biggest type of colonies in Edinburgh, with a lot of useable floor space
upstairs (and a loft, unlike our new abbeyhill colony which has the bedrooms
in the loft). Sounds quite a large flat actually with the loft conversion.
Must've missed that one, would have liked to have seen it!

Completely unrelated to your question (sorry), wife and I will be looking
for some period features for our new place (reclaimed mantle-pieces, that
sort of thing), so is there anything you want me to keep an eye out for?

"L Reid" wrote in message ...
"Adam" wrote in message
om...
Hi All,

We've finally found a place in Edinburgh, a colony upper in Leith, and
moved in on Friday.

Congratulations Adam! We looked at a couple of colonies in Leith too
(Parkvale Place and Rosevale Place) and they're great buildings. One of the
biggest type of colonies in Edinburgh, with a lot of useable floor space
upstairs (and a loft, unlike our new abbeyhill colony which has the bedrooms
in the loft). Sounds quite a large flat actually with the loft conversion.
Must've missed that one, would have liked to have seen it!

It's actually the Lochend Road colonies, although they're almost
identical (without the bay windows). We were very lucky - got to know
the owners of a place we put in an offer on. We missed out by miles,
but they put us in touch with their neighbour who was interested in
selling. She had a price in mind, we offered it within 24hrs and it
was never advertised...

Completely unrelated to your question (sorry), wife and I will be looking
for some period features for our new place (reclaimed mantle-pieces, that
sort of thing), so is there anything you want me to keep an eye out for?

Thanks for the offer, but not at the moment, no. We are restricting
ourselves to cheap decoration at the moment...

Cheers - Adam...

From the chaotic regions of the Cryptosphere,
(Adam) wrote on 19 Aug 2003 05:45:21 -0700:

I would imagine so, but I'll check out the site. Is there a
requirement for a fire-door between kitchen and stairs in England and
Wales, then?

No; if a loft is converted, then the stairs have to be enclosed and
lead either to a final exit or to two separate exits. Any existing
doors can remain, but must be made self-closing. Any new doors have
to be fire resisting. See
http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/buildingco...onversions.htm.
--
Hugo Nebula
"You know, I'd rather see this on TV,
Tones it down" - Laurie Anderson

http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/buildingco...onversions.htm.

Is this the correct URL? Doesn't seem to go anywhere...

Colin Interested

"Adam" wrote in message
om...
We've finally found a place in Edinburgh, a colony upper in Leith, and
moved in on Friday.

It's actually the Lochend Road colonies, although they're almost
identical (without the bay windows). We were very lucky - got to know
the owners of a place we put in an offer on. We missed out by miles,
but they put us in touch with their neighbour who was interested in
selling. She had a price in mind, we offered it within 24hrs and it
was never advertised...

Well, learn something new everyday, drive past them every few days and never
knew they were there! Are they a similar construction to the Leith Links
ones, or are they Edin Co-op ones?

Leigh

"L Reid" wrote in message ...
-8- snip -8-
Well, learn something new everyday, drive past them every few days and never
knew they were there! Are they a similar construction to the Leith Links
ones, or are they Edin Co-op ones?

Hi Leigh,

Edin Co-op? They are pretty much identical to the Links colonies,
except that they radiate off a central road and, as I mentioned, don't
have the bay windows. I think the deeds for ours said it was built in
1880...

Cheers - Adam...

"Adam" wrote in message
om...
"L Reid" wrote in message
...
-8- snip -8-
Well, learn something new everyday, drive past them every few days and
never
knew they were there! Are they a similar construction to the Leith Links
ones, or are they Edin Co-op ones?

Hi Leigh,

Edin Co-op? They are pretty much identical to the Links colonies,
except that they radiate off a central road and, as I mentioned, don't
have the bay windows. I think the deeds for ours said it was built in
1880...

Cheers - Adam...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/A624656

A little light history. Colonies built by the Edinburgh Co-operative
Building Company.
"The most well known of the colonies is the Stockbridge colony, named by the
company as Glenogle Park. This is the best known of the colonies. The
company also built on ten other sites, Hermitage Park, Restalrig Park,
Abbeyhill, Hawthornbank, Ferry Road, Barnton Terrace, Saughtonhall, Dalry,
North Merchiston Park, and Shaftesburgh Park. These were situated on sites
around the city. "

When we were looking to buy one of the Leith Links colonies, we we told that
they were built by a different company than the ones that built the
Stockbridge ones, however I'm not so sure.

Leigh