Speedy Gonzales

The last post started with me bemoaning how fast time was flying, etc, etc and here I am eight months later saying exactly the same thing. Well, there hasn't been much to blog about since the beginning of the year, except for the earth works that have been done on the block and the fact that our planning application finally went in...

Now, however, we might at last be about to get going in a big way! Last Friday Christian Fisher, our architect, phoned to say that he'd spoken to the planning officer and confirmed that all the required paperwork was in and that there weren't any objections. The week before we went up to the block with Christian and a lady called Justine, from the Rural Fire Service, to look at bush fires issues and that was all OK. And we've just had a call from Dave O'Meara, our consulting engineer, to say that the soil contamination report was fine and that residual arsenic levels in the soil are almost at natural levels which is great.

Bush fire protection is of course a critical issue in this country, especially as we're probably a good 20 - 30 minutes away from the 'town' fire brigade, working on the length of time it might take from the bell ringing at the station to a hose being unreeled on our block. It's more likely that a fire would be attended by the Rural Fire Service, and they have a huge amount of power in terms of planning decisions based on whether they think you're building a sensible structure in a sensible place or a potential fire-disaster in a stupid place. Key elements that they look for include an 'asset protection zone' which is an area around your house that is largely free of flammable material such as trees or leaf litter, things like gutter guards which prevent build-up of flammable material in your gutters that could ignite from sparks, plenty of available water (which in our case is a terrific 100,00+ litres of rainwater in tanks plus the contents of the swimming pool if we can afford one), and an accessible road and a turning circle for the fire engine. If you're unlucky/stupid enough to want to build very close to a potentially hazardous area the Rural Fire Service can completely veto your plans OR put in place stringent alterations and requirements including the use of particular kinds of building materials, glazing etc, and ALL buildings require their approval before the owner will get the precious 'Occupation Certificate' that allows them to live in their new house once they've built it! As long as we build what we've said we'll build, where we've said we'll build it, the pre-approval we got at the meeting should mean that we have no problem obtaining the Occupation Certificate. Phew!