Advice on garage plans?

[bradmole]

Sorry in advance if this is a long and confusing thread.

So we have recently bought our first home and are looking at building a garage around 4.25m wide by 7m long which would end up just under 30m square.

Im just looking for some advice or info people could give that may help as im not sure what to do next. I have looked on the planning portal website and there are a few conditions which my garage plans will not meet if i was to do it how id like.

Planning Permission

- Maximum height of 2.5 metres in the case of a building, enclosure or container within two metres of a boundary of the curtilage of the dwellinghouse.

Ideally i would be having a dual pitched roof with an overall height of around 3.5m. This would be permitted if i was building the garage more than 2 metres from the boundary, but id want it as close as possible to the boundary, ideally less than a metre but looks as though it would make getting plans easier if it was at least a metre away?

Building Regulations

- If the floor area of the building is between 15 square metres and 30 square metres, you will not normally be required to apply for building regulations approval providing that the building contains NO sleeping accommodation and is either at least one metre from any boundary or it is constructed of substantially non-combustible materials.

So does this mean if i am less than 30 metres squared floor area and built from substantially non-combustible materials (brick walls and tiled roof) that i would be allowed to build LESS than 1 metre from the boundary? Just with it saying 'and is either at least one metre from any boundary or it is constructed of substantially non-combustible materials'

So here is the plot where the garage is going to go

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• bradmole
• 5 Jun 2015
• 1

Cleared the decking and roughed out a garage shape with where i would ideally have it (under 1 metre from boundary)

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• bradmole
• 5 Jun 2015
• 1

So heres a pic as it is

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• bradmole
• 5 Jun 2015
• 1

and a sketch of how id like it from the same view (although this is with it 1m from the boundary)

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• bradmole
• 5 Jun 2015
• 1

You may also be able to see from the pictures that the garden is on a slight slope up towards the back of the garden. At a guess id say id need to dig the back out 50cm to get the garden level, would this be a problem for water seeping into the garage from the neighbours gardens?

So from all this what advice could people give and what would i be looking at doing next, is there a way of not needing planning permission or building regs without having a flat roof?

Any help would be great and sorry again if this is long winded.

 

[cjard]

The boundary separation is to do with spread of fire, so you either build your fire hazard more than a metre away from other people's stuff, or you build it so it won't burn quickly

The 2.5m is measured from the highest poit of surrounding natural ground level. If you must excavate one part of the garden down by 50cm then you may build 2.5 m above that so from the base of your excavation to the top of the built building is 3m. If your heart is set on 3.5m you'll need to dig down another 50cm or apply for planning. Personally I would just put it in at 3m ridge and 1.9m eaves giving you a 26 degree pitch, and use the sides for storage, workbench etc so you dont need a large room height there. Or I'd dig down the extra 50cm and put a long shallow sloping driveway in, provided you have a drain available to take the rain runoff.. If your drains aren't deep enough you need to rethink that part

Water seeping in isn't a problem if you build it properly, with membranes designed to counter it. Ask on the building forum for advice on that one if you are unsure

 

[bradmole]

Thanks cjard for the great advice, another question regarding that if you dont mind.

I did wonder what the deal is with height after digging down and when i read up i got the impression that it was measured from the immediate surrounding area. So for example if i was to do a 3m height overall and dig down 50cm at the rear i could get an extra 50cm height by digging, however at the front id still be measuring 3m which would be over the 2.5m allowed? or am i wrong in thinking this and the height is measured from the highest point around the build?

a little drawing for reference

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• bradmole
• 8 Jun 2015
• 1

Also i wasnt set on a 3.5m overall height i just figured it looked nicer and wasnt sure what the minimum pitch would be to have tiles as a very low pitch might not work with tiles? i like the idea of what you said with a 3m overall height if i can get away with it and the pitch is sufficient?

 

[cjard]

Highest natural point. Natural is not defined and assumes a common sense definition that may be lacking in some council edicts

Minimum pitch depends on overlap, tile design, exposure and so on, but can be as low as 12.5 degrees