Types of application
This guide will take you through the building control process and aims to show you how your project may be affected by Building Regulations. It contains advice on typical building projects such as extensions, garage conversions, loft conversions and cellar conversions.
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You can apply for building regulations by using one of the following routes:
- Full plans application
- Building notice application
- Regularisation application
Each route is explained below, however building regulation rules can be complex depending on the type of building work being undertaken. For this reason, we advise you to contact us for clarification.
Full plans application
With this type of application you submit an application form, the required fee and two copies of plans showing exactly how your proposal will be constructed. We then check the plans very carefully against the standards required by the building regulations and attempt to find all the problems at a time when they can most easily be corrected.
Once the plan has been approved, we then carry out inspections at regular intervals during construction.
Building notice application
With this type of application you are only required to submit an application form, block plan at a minimum scale of 1:1250 and the required fee. We do not normally require plans with a building notice application (other than a site plan if an extension is involved). However it may be necessary to request plans or details to be submitted clarifying the construction process to establish that the works comply with the requirements of the building regulations.
It is not normally appropriate to use a building notice for anything other than domestic work such as simple structural alterations, such as re-roofing, detached garages and outbuilding. If the proposal relates to commercial, industrial or retail, then a full plans application is required.
The building notice system operates on the basis that work is checked on site as it is constructed, and each stage will therefore be approved by a building control officer once they have inspected the work and determined that it complies with the requirements of the building regulations. If upon inspection the work is deemed not to comply, then the person carrying out the work will be asked to alter or remove it.
You must submit a building notice at least two days before you start work.
Disadvantages of a building control notice
Although a building notice may seem to be an attractive method please consider the following:
- As you are not required to deposit plans, no approval notice will be issued.
- As there is no approval of a design on paper before work on site begins, there is more risk attached to the construction process in ensuring compliance with the building regulations.
- There is no protection from prosecution for failure to comply with the building regulations that adhering to the design of an approved plan would offer.
- If as the result of an inspection building work has to be altered or removed, there will be a cost attached to doing this, which could easily outweigh the cost of having plans drawn for approval.
- Our charge for a building notice is exactly the same as the total charge for a full plans submission.
- If you made a full plans submission and then commenced work prior to the determination of the plans, the application would operate in the same way as a building notice during the interim period until the decision was issued.
Regularisation application
It's not uncommon for building work to be done without building regulation approval. Where this happens, problems often arise when it is time to sell your property.
A "regularisation application" is a retrospective application relating to previously unauthorised works such as works carried out without building regulations consent, commenced on or after the 11 November 1985.
The purpose of the process is to regularise the unauthorised works and obtain a "certificate of regularisation". Dependent on the circumstances, exposure, removal and/or rectification of works may be needed to comply with the building regulations. We recommended that you contact us to discuss your individual circumstances before submitting an application.