I have just had a free standing log burner instaled in my bungalow. I am concerned about how hot the metal chimney gets. is this normal?

These works are notifiable, and should have been carried out by a Hetas registered installer. If he was registered, he would have checked everything and issued a certificate. If he wasnt, and you have no sign of certificate, your insurance would be void should you have a fire. It would also affect the sale of your house. The pipe exiting the stove will get very hot, so is normal.

+1 - as long as you have a certificate of compliance everything will be ok. If the installer was not HETAS registered then you will have to submit building control application and have a building control officer check his/her work. It is quite normal for a flue pipe to reach the same sort of temperatures as the stove, if it has been installed correctly it will not be close enough to any combustible materials to cause a problem.