wbyce
Most of my class doing ATPL's haven't flown since PPL, and most are not flying during the ATPL's either. The plan is ppl, atpl, hour build, cpl, ir.
If you do it your way ie ppl,hour build, atpl, cpl ...... when you finish the atpl you will go straight into CPL after 9 months without flying. Unless of course you fly regularly during atpl's.
If you hour build after ppl you can hone your flying skills and be fresh for the cpl/ir.
But its horses for courses and we will probably get there whatever route we choose. Just telling you the experiences of the people I know.
I suppose the integrated courses get the ATPL's out the way early on too.