You can see from the picture that we have scaffolding - it's kind of shaky and low but it only has to go to ceiling height before we are into the timber roof framework. Sam and Simon did all the work today and Sam was charged with ripping off the fascia boards - our fear is that the fledglings in the roof may have been damaged by the noise near their nest. Time will tell. We spent a lot of time talking to Simon about the height and position of the windows. Since we changed the layout from the architect's plans the windows have become more critical and juggling their height and width to match up with the vanity units we bought so that we can get the loo into the smaller shower room has not been easy. We are confident though that Simon knows what we want and that all will fit in the end.

Thanks for all the comments, I can't help with Vista it's too new for me to offer any sensible suggestions. As for matching the new to the old that is what is shown on the architect's plans, however the practicalities of removing some of the old blocks whole and then cementing them in a new place is almost certainly going to prove too difficult.