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To me, it looks as though the mortar has dried out too quickly, even though you wet the bricks first; they may have been particularly thirsty. Did you add any plasticiser? This helps retain water within the mortar so that it does not get absorbed by the brick too quickly. It also makes the...

You need to get the 2100 long wall checked as a panel wall, bonded at one end, and simply-supported top and bottom, with one free edge. If it was shown not to work, a coated steel post within the cavity might be necessary, with a plate bolted to the concrete foundation, and fixed to a wall...

If it has a roof it will provide a degree of stability, but might a narrow brick pier work lose over time with a wide, heavy door banging shut? Your diagram isn't very clear, some dimensions would help.

They are mistaken. Current guidance is to top up the ceiling insulation to 250mm glass wool if the insulation is not already to that standard.

If you are replacing the roof covering of a pitched roof (even if using same tiles), Part L1b comes into play. This states that, at the same time, any loft insulation should be topped up to 250mm, if not already that thickness. This requirement appears in my old 2010 copy of L1b, and is the...

Looks like normal plaster-shrinkage cracks.

I know you've now (sensibly) discounted I-joists, but how would they have been more 'energy efficient'?

Extruded clay blocks - hard and brittle. Is it possible to cut 50mm wide vertical chases in the plasterwork (marking the lines with an angle grinder) at - say - 500 spacings so that you can see the mortar joints, and then screw vertical 50 x 50 battens to the joints. Then fix your resilient...

If its a normal one-brick (225mm) party wall, drilling for plugs would not cause that pattern of cracking - as above, more likely to be shrinkage of her plasterwork.

There was some research done by Arups some time ago, which found that even in offices, floors were not often loaded up to the domestic loading of 1.5kN/m2. I suspect there is a case for the regs to be changed to accept slightly lower loadings in loft conversions (say 1.0 - 1.25 overall) on the...

I'll bet they banked your application fee pretty quickly, though.

Unless its less than 15 m2 in floor area.

Concrete blocks of that strength would be expensive, very heavy for the bricklayer to lift, and not necessary for the relatively small loads in domestic buildings.

The 20N and 30N figures you quote for bricks seems at first glance much stronger than the 7.3N block. There are far more mortar joints in a square m of brickwork than in a square m of concrete blockwork. The mortar, being often of variable quality, is a source of weakness, so the design codes...

As Charlie said, plain old common-or-garden strecher bond.

Why not use thicker PIR if you've got the depth?

To be fair, I doubt anyone does now! They can quote the required U-values for each element, but ask them how to achieve that and it's another matter.

The 150 he wants in the eaves walls is off the top of his head and will not be as cost-effective as extra insulation in the roof, as per O.B.N.D. Consider just a little more on the underside of the roof - say 75 instead of 50 if the headroom still works for you, and just 100 in the dwarf wall...

Similar appearance generally refers to the colour of the original, so if your proposed tiles are red and your existing (ie previously-replaced tiles) are red or reddish-brown, you will be fine. The rule is to prevent dormers being clad in totally unsympathetic materials such as white PVC shiplap...

Most inspectors (and not a few SEs) seem to have a mindset that "steel beam = concrete padstone". But that's only necessary if the beam is heavily loaded. Up at roof level, the loads are unlikely to be high so the pressure at the bearing may not be very much. See FMT above.