Advice on my upcoming outbuilding project.

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Long time reader, first time poster.....so be gentle with me, lol.

I'm in the very early stages of planning a new office/games room+garage, but I'm pretty ignorant (at the moment) in all things building and this place seemed the perfect place to ask for advice as it's pretty obvious there are a lot of extremely clued up people in here.
I'll try to briefly outline what I want, and you guys (and girls) can hopefully tell me what is or isn't realistic and maybe even put a rough estimate of costs on it too.

My garden is 26 feet wide. I want to put up a brick and block building across the entire width of the garden with the rear wall being on the property boundary and the building will have a depth of 20ft. The building is to be divided into a garage on one side and an office/games room on the other. I originally wanted to fit a 2 post ramp to the garage but after reading the planningportal it seems that I will be limited to a max height of 2.5 meters, so this leaves me no option but to go for an inspection pit instead. Given that there's nothing standing on the intended site at the moment, this should mean that installing a pit should be easier than digging out of an existing concrete floor, right?
I work for a builders merchants so I can get materials for cost.
I have friends in all trades so mates rates will apply.
I'm led to believe that as this will be an outbuilding (and at a depth of 20ft the completed structure will still be 38ft away from the house) then no planning or building control will be required.

I don't even know if what I have in mind is realistic, never mind possible.....nor do I have a good idea on costs. I've been told to seek out a freelance architect, but before spending money I'd like to hear any and all opinions from the members.
Thanks for reading.
 
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This needs moving to Building Regs and Planning Permission. You need to find out / confirm if you still retain full Permitted Development rights for your property. A quick phone call to the council should establish this.
 
what's the floor area, in square metres?
 
Hi and thanks for the replies.
I'll try to add as much info as possible.
The garden is 26ft wide and 65ft from the patio door to the wall marking the rear boundary of the property. There's already a concrete garage (20ft x 10ft) but I'll be demolishing that allowing me to drive my cars down the drive between the two semi's and into the back garden. I'm assuming that the planning bods will view this as an addition of 320 sq.ft. and not 520 as I'm removing the original 200 sq.ft. garage. As it's going to be an outbuilding it looks like neither planning permission or building control are needed, at least that's the way it reads according to the planningportal.
As for the new building, as I described above it'll be divided into a garage and an office/games room. To keep the garage warm I'm looking at some type of thermal block construction whereas the office/games room will need to be fully plasterboarded out etc. If I'm honest, most of this seems conventional and it's mainly the inspection pit that is unknown territory. I've heard stories that local planners don't like inspection pits and that permission is needed for one. I've seen the plastic pit liners available but as I'm going to be pouring the entire foundation I "think" the best way would be to shutter it properly.
Put simply, I'm at the very shallow end of the learning pool yet you lot have seen (and probably done) everything before so any pointers tips and tricks I can pickup would be greatly appreciated.
 
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It might be useful to let John D know the internal floor area as he is trying to advise you on whether BRegs is needed or not. You seem to be overly focussed on Planning, B Regs is as important if not more.
 
It might be useful to let John D know the internal floor area as he is trying to advise you on whether BRegs is needed or not. You seem to be overly focussed on Planning, B Regs is as important if not more.
The floor area of the house?
I'll get that sorted out asap.
 
the floor area in square metres of the new outbuilding
 
For planning, providing the building is under 2.5m high and does not cover more than 50% of the garden (any existing extensions/outbuildings must be considered in the 50%) and also the house is not a listed building and your permitted development rights have not been removed with an artical 4 then planning permission should not be required. If you want to be 100% sure that planning is not needed you can apply for a lawful development certificate.

Building regulations will be required however because at 20'x26' the floor area is over 30M^2. Don't be put off though. Depending on your local conditions however you may be required to dig stupidly deep foundations if you choose to go the building regs route.
If you don't want to deal with building regs then you can reduce the size to under 30m^2 and then it will be exempt. If you still want 40m^2 of overall space you could build the garage and the office as seprate buildings with a nominal gap between then.
 
I might be easier to leave your existing outbuilding in place, and put up a new one of less than 30 metres.

You could then subsequently repair your old building as convenient.
 
pretty sure you cant take the new buildings wall to your boundry either.

you have to leave a few foot distance inbetween your wall and the neighbours fence/wall.

its something like 4/5 feet i think
 
do you have in mind boundaries and non-flammable materials?
 
Hi again and thanks to everyone who took to read/post. I did some basic measuring yesterday an with this in mind I'll try to give the experts in here (which compared to me you ALL are) more info.
the floor area in square metres of the new outbuilding
The new building will be approx 26 feet wide and 20 feet deep, which is approx 48.3 sq meters in new money.
For planning, providing the building is under 2.5m high and does not cover more than 50% of the garden (any existing extensions/outbuildings must be considered in the 50%) and also the house is not a listed building and your permitted development rights have not been removed with an artical 4 then planning permission should not be required. If you want to be 100% sure that planning is not needed you can apply for a lawful development certificate.

Building regulations will be required however because at 20'x26' the floor area is over 30M^2. Don't be put off though. Depending on your local conditions however you may be required to dig stupidly deep foundations if you choose to go the building regs route.
If you don't want to deal with building regs then you can reduce the size to under 30m^2 and then it will be exempt. If you still want 40m^2 of overall space you could build the garage and the office as seprate buildings with a nominal gap between then.
I hadn't even thought of that option, but I think my initial idea is really the only suitable way forward for me. I'm glad you mentioned the 30 sq. mt. issue as the planning portal doesn't seem to describe what to do with areas over that, only upto and including.
 
I might be easier to leave your existing outbuilding in place, and put up a new one of less than 30 metres.

You could then subsequently repair your old building as convenient.
Not an option as the location of the current garage stops vehicle access to the rear of the property.
pretty sure you cant take the new buildings wall to your boundry either.

you have to leave a few foot distance inbetween your wall and the neighbours fence/wall.

its something like 4/5 feet i think
As I understand it, if the rear wall of the new building is less than 2 meters from the perimeter of the plot it's height can only be a maximum of 2.5 meters. If it's more than 2 meters the height can be 3 meters. However, if I was to bring the building forward, so to speak, I'd effectively be sacrificing part of my land as the building will cover the entire width of the garden.
 

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