Embarking on a building project can seem overwhelming. A good place to start is understanding the difference between Planning Approval and Building Regulations.
What is Planning Approval?
Planning is concerned with the external appreance of your building. How big is it? What does it look like? What is is made of? How does it relate to the site and the environment surrounding it? How do your ideas sit in relation to national, regional and local planning policy?
The planning approval process is designed to assess your project against a series of legal constraints and is meant to be an objective process. When you make a planning application it will be assigned to a case officer who will follow specific procedures ultimately resulting a report that will wither support your application or recommend refusal.
If your project is small then the outcome will be determined by the planning officer. If your project is larger or deemed more sensitive then it will be decided by your local council at a planning committee meeting by elected councillors.
What are building regulations?
Building regulations govern the quality of construction. There are a set of building regulations guidance notes called ‘Approved Documents‘ that explain how buildings must be designed to conform with these regulations. These guidance documents are labelled with letters from A through to R (no ‘I’ or ‘O’) and cover items like how steep stairs can be, how well insulated walls should be, the incline of drainage runs etc.
Building control are concerned with the technical design of your project, not its appearance. The techncial design phase should start after you have received planning approval.
Two methods of approval
- Firstly, you can obtain building regulations approval by submitting what is ‘full plans’ in this route the building regulations drawings (including any specialist input) to the local authority or independent building control officer/approved inspector. The plans are then approved and all that needs to happen is that the builder will to inform the building inspector at key stages such as foundations and setting of structural elements and the inspector will visit site.
- The alternative is to carry out the work under a ‘building notice’ where you don’t submit drawings. The work can be started straight away and it is inspected as it progresses. The contractor should manage this process. You will still be likely to be asked to supply the relevant structural information and plans and the inspector can ask for any work to be re-done if it is not to his/her satisfaction.
No plans?- that will save me money
Not producing building regulations drawings will save fees spent on your architect/technologist but can be risky for all but the very smallest projects. I always recomend having the drawings done- even if not making a full plans application as they can provide a sound basis your contract with your builder and allow you to explore any potential hurdles at the drawing stage rather then on site which is ultimately much more costly. A step by step overview can be found here and of course do get in touch with any questions – I’d love to talk to you about your plans.