Advice- Building regulations procedure

SteveP5B · 5 Feb 2016

Hi, planning permission has been granted to extend both sides of our chalet bungalow, however only one side is required at this time to extend the kitchen area by 50 Square Meter, rendered block and pitched tiled roof construction.
I find myself in a bit of a tricky position as a complete novice to the rules and regulations and am looking for some guidance. Unfortunately the architect is very difficult to communicate with and have almost given up hope of him completing the building regs. drawings. I wonder if these drawings are actually necessary as I have read conflicting accounts on here. I wonder if the local building control office would be helpful or use some other method to get things moving forward.

LukeB123 · 5 Feb 2016

Speak with your local building control guys, sure.

You don't HAVE to have a full suite of drawings for Building Regs. They are useful but not necessary. Speak with the Local authorities Building Control guys, get yourself a decent builder and submit the works on a building notice if you are struggling. You can start quickly on that application type and Building control will just carry out more inspections to check the work that is being done conforms to regulations.

^woody^ · 5 Feb 2016

If you trust the builder to be experienced enough to build to the building regs, and be able to give you an accurate quote without drawings, and you don't think you will get into any contractual arguments about what you want, what the builder wants to do and what will be paid, then yes you can submit a building notice and proceed without plans. And if the builder is prepared to take the same risk.

You can put everything on one submission or set of plans and build half of it. Bare in mind that strictly, you will need the rooms you intend to occupy signed off, but the council won't issue a partial completion certificate.

SteveP5B · 5 Feb 2016

For my own peace of mind I will get the most comprehensive drawings for clarity( using a different agent ) for only the half of the building work and submit these. Will these then be signed off?
At a later stage ( years) would I then need to submit a further set for the rest?
I understand the planning permission is set in perpetuity once work has begun, so no problem there.

garyo · 6 Feb 2016

^woody^ said:
You can put everything on one submission or set of plans and build half of it

Do they charge extra inspection fees when you split the build in to two separate phases?

^woody^ · 6 Feb 2016

garyo said:
^woody^ said:

You can put everything on one submission or set of plans and build half of it

Click to expand...

Do they charge extra inspection fees when you split the build in to two separate phases?

Yes most probably. Nowadays, the council assess the number of inspections required which then becomes part of the application agreement, and its usually stated that any additional inspections will be chargeable. This was due to the number of wasted visits to see work not ready for inspection, and being called out to be asked how to build.

The homeowner can not bring new rooms into use until verified as complete. Normally this would just be for fire safety and means of escape. A completion certificate can't be issued until all works from the application are complete, or the application being amended to remove remaining work.

It should be possible to have completed work inspected, and confirmed to be compliant. Whilst this would be a technical breach if bought into occupancy, it's not something that the council would be concerned about.

SteveP5B · 6 Feb 2016

Thanks Woody, so my first application will cover one half of building work and get signed off. In a couple of years I'll submit a new application for the remaining work. Is this acceptable?

^woody^ · 6 Feb 2016

Personally I'd say have a look at the costs of preparing one set of plans or two. Of one application fee or two.

There are some regulation changes on the horizon, so would you want to submit for all now, or build to potentially revised regulations (and higher fees) later.

SteveP5B · 9 Feb 2016

Today I made a full application, the difference in cost is negligible but with increased insulation rags changing it could prove prudent. A completion cert will be issued if I instruct that the other work will not be undertaken.

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Advice- Building regulations procedure

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