Dream home was too big for its plot after bungle by architect

a ScoTS architect has been fined after the dream home he designed for a retired couple was too big for the land it was to be built on.

The elderly couple loved alan Sheerin’s plans for the T-shaped house and decided to buy the plot after seeing his drawings.

They purchased the land, gained planning permission and got a builder in to start work – only to be told the architect had used the wrong scale and the house would not fit.

The couple had wanted a large house with a big garden for their grandchildren but the architect’s mistake forced them to rethink.

a professional conduct committee of the architects registration board heard Mr Sheerin made an error when making the initial plan, moving the scale from 1:200 to 1:250.

He was unable to say how this obvious mistake had occurred.

Mr Sheerin, 73, of Haddington, east lothian, an architect for 46 years, physically measured the

‘Fined £1,500 for incompetence’

plot of land, in the nearby belhaven conservation area, and gained planning consent.

However, he ‘incorrectly scaled’ the plans. an investigation found: ‘The reason the house would not fit the plot was that the plan of the site had been incorrectly scaled, and so the plot was shown on the plans as significantly larger than it is.

‘The house shown on the drawings was much smaller than it would be if actually built – it was too large for the plot if correctly dimensioned.’

The unnamed couple had to redesign the house and ended up with fewer bedrooms than they had hoped for and considerably less garden space.

The tribunal said: ‘There was a duty upon [Sheerin] to ensure that the house he had designed could be built upon the plot.’

Mr Sheerin, who has since retired, was found guilty of serious professional incompetence and fined £1,500.