About the Building regulations | Concept 20 Architect

BUILDING REGULATION APPLICATIONS

Building regulation approval is a completey separate entity to gaining planning approval., Concept 20 aims to guide you through the Building Regulation process in a way that suits your needs and timscale.

The amount of information we need to produce varies on a case by case basis depending on the proposals

New dwellings (Both Houses and Flats)

Extensions to an existing building & loft conversions

Structural alterations to an existing building

New outbuildings such as summer houses, car ports,garages, home offices, granny annexes, horse stables

New Retail units

Commercial workshops, storage buildings

Change of use E.g from a shop to a dwelling

Retrospective applications - where the work has already been completed. Click HERE for more information.

TYPES OF WORK THAT WE COVER

WHAT ARE THE BUILDING REGULATIONS?

WHY IS APPROVAL REQUIRED?

The Building Regulations are legal requirements aimed at achieving minimum standards of construction.

The regulations cover specific topics including: structural integrity, fire protection, accessibility, energy performance, acoustic performance, protection against falls, electrical and gas safety.

They also lay standards for drains, ventilation, protection against the ingress of water and protection against contamination.

Their purpose is to safeguard the health and safety of people in or about buildings

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TYPICAL CONCEPT20 BUILDING REGULATION DRAWINGS

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OBTAINING BUILDING REGULATION APPROVAL

There are three ways of making an application for domestic work:

1. Full plans application

You can apply for building regulations approval from your local authority building control service by submitting a full plans application.

An application deposited under this procedure needs to contain drawings , schedules & reports that show compliance with the regulations, preferably well in advance of when work is to start on site.

Your local authority will check your plans and consult any appropriate authorities (e.g. fire and sewerage).

If your plans comply with the building regulations you will receive a notice stating that they have been approved.

If your local authority is not satisfied you may be asked to make amendments or provide more details.

Alternatively, a conditional approval may be issued. This will either specify modifications which must be made to the plans; or will specify further plans which must be deposited with your authority.

2. Building Notice application

Typically a full plans application can take 5-8 weeks to be procesed. However where a client requires to start the building work sooner you can apply for building regulations approval from your local authority building control service by giving a building notice.

This system relies more upon on site inspections to ensure approval rather than the checking of plans but will allow the construction to start sooner.

There are also specific exclusions in the regulations as to when building notices cannot be used. These are:

For building work in relation to a building to which the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 applies, or will apply after the completion of the building work.

For work which will be built close to or over the top of rain water and foul drains shown on the 'map of sewers'

Where a new building will front onto a private street.

If you decide to use this procedure there is more pressure to ensure the scheme will comply with the building regulations as it does not have the protection provided by the approval of 'full plans'.

3. Regularisation

This is a 'retrospective application' carried out where building regulation approval was not applied for before unauthorised construction began or was completed.

See: Retrospective applications.