building notice or full plans

[Alphadock]

Hi All,
I'm about to submitted to building control for our loft conversion.
I have a lot of detail required, the structural engineer has done all the necessary calculations and drawings for the steels, new floor, roof structure, insulation, stairs and velux's. These are all shown on drawings.
I plan to change all doors to fire doors, except the new ensuite in the loft and the current ensuite which will eventually become the family bathroom, and protect the stairway/landings etc for route of escape (all existing internal walls are masonry, the only stud work will be around the new stairs and in front of the party wall in the loft. I will use fireline p.board here).
These details aren't on drawings along with other details such as electrics (I will have linked and wired smoke alarms), plumbing and ventilation (extractor in new en-suite).
Plumbing and electrics will be done by qualified professionals who can sign off their own work.
My question is this, do I:
submit a building notice with some additional information
or
submit full plans with some information missing?

I will include a cover note explaining what will be provided but not show a detailed plan.

All thoughts and experiences appreciated.

 

[cjard]

How sure are you that the person building this really (really) knows what he's doing, with regards to the regs?

If you firmly believe that he's so good that none of his work will be called into question by the BI, then going BN route is less hassle. If he's not so good and thus builds-in mistakes that the BCO picks up on, you'll have to rectify them at your cost. Full plans avoids this because everything that is controlled by the regs is planned and drawn exactly as it should be; it's then clear who is at fault for any mistakes - something's either built to plan or it isn't so it's either clearly the BI team or the builder respectively

I'm not sure that the council will afford you the luxury of "building notice plus a bit more info" or "not-quite-full full plans" - decide which way to jump, then top up your plans with the missing info and go FP, or go BN with what you have drawn plus your confidence in your builder

ps; it doesn't necessarily have to be drawn on a plan to be a full plan - some of the regs info can come from a statement; "stairs will have a maximum rise of X, a minimum going of Y, a pitch of Z degrees and be constructed so that a 100mm sphere cannot pass through any part of the flight or balustrade" versus (scale drawing a compliant staircase in minute detail, every bannister etc)

 

[Alphadock]

ps; it doesn't necessarily have to be drawn on a plan to be a full plan - some of the regs info can come from a statement; "stairs will have a maximum rise of X, a minimum going of Y, a pitch of Z degrees and be constructed so that a 100mm sphere cannot pass through any part of the flight or balustrade" versus (scale drawing a compliant staircase in minute detail, every bannister etc)

Thanks cjard,
This is the answer/advice I was looking for.
So I think then submit as full plans, I thought that full plans would have to show exact detail. If I can write a cover note stating certain things such as all doors to be replaced with fire doors, underside of new staircase to be covered in fireline board etc rather than having to draw out the detail (transitions, buildup etc) than I shall do that.

Do you think I should just submit all I have and think I need and then wait for any questions/clarification
or
Get the building inspector around to run through what I want to do, show him what plans I've got and see what he says before submitting?

I plan to do as much of the work as possible myself with help from people I know where I'm not confident, so I will ask BC lots of questions before I go ahead with each stage. Hopefully it won't annoy them too much.

 

[Nakajo]

In practice, I think there's little reason not to follow a 'full plans' process. Your local Building Control office is a semi-autonomous company. They're competing with Approved Inspectors for your business, so yes, submit what you have and then pester them as much as you like.