Building Regulations

Building Regulation Plans are technical drawings which provide all the details required for your builder to work from and are compliant

with the approved documents of the building regulations.

If structural calculations are required we will discuss this with you and advise on costs in our quotation.

WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF APPLICATIONS?

There are three main types of building regulations application, each with their own pros and cons. 

Type 1: Full plans

This is where you submit full, detailed drawings (or plans) of the building work before you commence. The plans will aim to demonstrate compliance with all relevant building regulations. 

If the submitted plans do not comply building control will advise on any amendments required for compliance and they will then issue a notice of approval. You can then carry out the work in accordance with the plans. Your local council will carry out inspections whilst the work is in progress to ensure the plans are being followed. 

This is considered the safest type of application as – provided the plans are followed – there is no danger that you will fall foul of the regulations at any stage of the build.  

This removes the risk of facing costly and lengthy enforcement action and rebuilding of non compliant works. 

There are some additional benefits to this approach. One benefit is that you will have a detailed specification of the work meaning you can accurately estimate project costs (including materials and labour costs). On top of that, if you instruct your builder to follow approved building regulations full plans and anything goes wrong, they’ll normally be responsible for putting it right. 

Type 2: Building Notice

This is where you simply give notice to building control that you intend to commence building work. You can start work 2 days after giving notice and no plans are required at all. 

Your local council will carry out inspections of the building work as it progresses. If they find that your work does not comply with building regulations either during or after construction, you will be required to put this right. In some cases, this could require total demolition and building again from scratch.

On the face of it, this is the quickest and cheapest type of application as you don’t need to prepare plans or wait for building control to assess them. You just need to serve that simple notice and you can then get on and build (after waiting 2 days).

However, if your work is found not to comply with building regulations, it’s likely that you will spend a substantial amount of time and money putting things right. 

Building regulations are varied, detailed and complex. They’re also updated relatively often. In our opinion, the risk of a very small construction error leading to a very large building regulations problem is not one worth taking, especially if you’ve already invested considerable funds getting your planning permission. For this reason, we always recommend full plans to our clients!

Type 3: Regularisation

This is where you apply for building regulations approval for work you’ve already completed without the necessary approval. This route mainly provides an option to people who find themselves dealing with old, unauthorised building works. 

If you are looking to start new building works, regularisation is NOT an alternative to full plans or building notice applications. You could be prosecuted and issued with an unlimited fine if works are carried out at your property in breach of building regulations.

 We are registered with the LABC partnership scheme and submit all our drawings for full plans checking prior starting construction work, this confirms all our drawings are fully compliant with current building regulations.