Step 4. Building Regulations
Building Regulations Drawings
Once planning permission has been granted, the fourth stage of our service is to complete the final detailed design work and obtain building regulations approval for your project.
Building Regulations approval is a completely separate approval from planning permission and deals with the technical performance of the proposed building alterations and ensuring they conform with the government standards.
This includes many areas such as thermal and sound insulation, fire protection, drainage and structural design.
An experienced designer is required to prepare the drawings and documents necessary to obtain this approval and additional consultants such as structural and thermal engineers may be required to produce the details required.
Our design team will deal with this process for you and, once the design has been completed, building regulations approval can then be obtained either from the council building control department or a private building inspector.
Specification of Works
For most projects, we will also prepare a specification of works for the project which will define the works you would like the builders to quote for and will also become a contract document once works commence on site.
There are numerous items such as decorating, formation of patios and other external works, etc, that are not usually covered under building regulations but the builders will need clarification on when quoting.
Other Approvals
As part of this detailed stage of our service, we will also assist with other approvals that may be required prior to building works commencing. We have summarised the more typical ones below.
We usually obtain these approvals after planning permission has been granted in case the planners ask for design stages or refuse the planning application.
Build Over Agreement
Where your drains are shared with your neighbours, you will need to obtain a Water Authority approval to build over them, close to them or to alter the connections to them. This is usually dealt with after planning permission has been obtained and our design team will assist you with making this application and designing any drainage alterations to Water Authority standards.
Party Wall Award
The Party Wall Act is in place to protect against damage to your neighbours property as a result of works carried out by you. It covers work to walls shared by you and your neighbour (party walls) but also covers situations where you are building close to other owners buildings, particularly where there may be potential movement caused by excavation and ground works.
Where applicable, you are required to serve notices on neighbours that will be affected and they have a right to ask you to pay for an independent surveyor (a party wall surveyor) to prepare a Party Wall Award which is a record of their property before and after the works. One of our experts on Ask An Expert is a party wall surveyor and can help deal with any specific queries you have.
How Much Does This Stage Cost?
The cost of this stage varies depending on the size of the project works and our fees are shown on the Design Fees section of our website.
Our fee is payable upon completion of the building regulations drawings prior to obtaining structural and thermal engineering calculations if required and submission for building regulations approval.
Some larger, complex projects are quoted on an individual basis.
See also our general Terms and Conditions.
Sample Documents
We have included a number of sample drawings below (customer details have been removed for data protection) to give you an idea of the difference between planning drawings and building Regulations drawings. As part of our service, we also provide you with a Specification of Works at the Building Regulations stage to help define the extent of the works to you and the builder.,
