planning application for a garage

PasseySam

Hi,

We are soon to move into a new house and are thinking of building a garage at the side of the house. We have been looking at the planning portal and the council planning site and are also planning to speak to a planning officer to get advice when we actually move in, as we have been advised that we will most likely need permission because of where the garage will be in relation to the boundary etc. It is likely to be a fairly simple brick garage (maybe slightly larger than a standard single but not a double) with a pitched roof to match the existing house, and attached on to the existing house wall on one side.

My question is really about the actual submission of an application for planning permission - do we need to get an architect on board to draw up plans etc for us or is it OK to do it ourselves?

Or should we get builders round to see what we would like to build and take their advice about drawing up plans etc.?

As you can see we don't know much about planning applications and don't want to do it wrong and get it rejected etc. so would appreciate any advice from helpful MSEs on how best to approach it. I think we could probably put together some drawings and floorplans to show what we want to do but I am worried about missing out important technical details.

If we did employ someone to assist with drawing up the right plans how much do you think this might cost approximately? Also would we need a structural engineer or anything to make sure it is built correctly or just try to find some reputable builders that we can trust to do that?

Thanks for any advice

ormus

you may not need any PP now for a garage, under the new rules.
if you do, just a simple drawing will do for getting outline PP permission.

macman

The foundations and construction will be subject to Building Control approval at the relevant stages , your builders will know all about that (if they don't then clearly you are using a bunch of cowboys).
BCA is entirely separate and unrelated to any Planning requirements, which will depend on the area. Talk to your LA's planning dept first on an informal basis and they can outline the position-all you need at this stage are some rough plans.

PasseySam

Thanks guys - I think we're going to phone the local planning department next week once we have moved in to the property so hopefully they'll be able to fill us in on the details and requirements. We have the name of a local architectural company that has done some work in the past for the vendors of our property and I think can handle the planning and drawings side of things but I am not sure how much it costs.

I guess the starting point is to have a go at designing what we think we would be looking at building and then speak to the local planning dept to see what they think we should do.

has anyone had any experience of using architectural technologists to draw up plans? I have heard that they can be useful when you know what you want already but need help with the plans and applications, and may cost less than employing an architect to design and plan th project when it is on such a small scale. Also will building companies be able to offer design advice and things or will that all need to be in place before the builders brought on board?

thanks for help everyone, very grateful - don't want to waste money on a failed (or unnecessary!) application if we can get it right first time. :-)

iamcornholio

Whatever you do, don't engage an Architect - too expensive and a waste of time for such a basic project.

Not sure what design advice you need for a garage? But think longer term and if you may want to build alongside or above it or convert it. In design terms it will need to mimic the existing property and conform to local planning policy. The driveway to it may need planing permission too, if so, include this on the one application

You can do your own drawings for planning, but they must include the required detail and information, but do not require detailed technical information. You will need building regulations approval for an attached garage but not for a detached one under 30m2 in area. Building regualtions require more detailed technical drawings and a specification

Instead of submitting plans for building regulation approval, you can instead submit a Bulding Notice - which is basically just telling them that you are building something, and no plans are required. This has an element of risk in that the builder needs to be conversant with the building regulations (which they should be in any case). So you need a good builder for this and you pass the risk to him.

You should not need a structural engineer, unless you have some poor ground, and non-traditional foundations are required. Everything else for a garage should be pretty standard.

One thing to consider is if there are public (not private) sewers under or near the proposed garage. If so, permision is required from the water authority. Investigate this early on as sometimes for certain sewers you wont get permission to build.

The Party Wall Act may apply in certain circumstances. Again, investigate this early on and have things in place if needed

Drawings for a typical garage should not cost more than £500 to draw for both planning and building regulations. You will need to pay council fees in addition to this

System

yup, that's right, don't bother appointing someone trained in the design of buildings to design your building, just let a builder loose with no drawings to do what they want with your building/money...

iamcornholio

the_r_sole wrote: »

yup, that's right, don't bother appointing someone trained in the design of buildings to design your building, just let a builder loose with no drawings to do what they want with your building/money...

You may be surprised to learn just how many Architects don't actually know much about building regs

They can do you a nice pencil sketch with some trees and people on, and then pass the sketch to their low paid technician to actually do the work .... and charge you £90 per hour or 15% of the project cost

But if you think that an Architect can bring all their training to bear, and have more design input into a garage than a lesser mortal, then go for it

System

yup, you're right again, architects don't know anything about the regs, they just sit about all day drawing with their pencils!

sometimes i'm amazed at the advice handed out on this forums, seems that some have a chip on their shoulder about what architects and engineers do, and that builders always know best about design - i wonder if some of these posters have actually been in an engineers/architects/planning/building control office to see what actually goes on, or if they have just been on site disregarding all the over-priced/incorrect information professionals have put on the drawings...

iamcornholio

the_r_sole wrote: »

i wonder if some of these posters have actually been in an engineers/architects/planning/building control office ...

Everyday

PasseySam

I guess that gets to the basis of my question - do we need an architect if we already know what the design will look like to fit in with the existing house etc? I wasn't sure whether an architect would be mainly involved in the design side and someone else would be involved in working out the details for building regs etc or whether an architect would do both?

At any rate I think we'll check with the council once we've moved in and measured the space properly etc to work out what we'd like to do. I think the foundations and ground should be OK so hopefully no structural engineer needed, and the house does not share boundaries with another property so I don't think the party wall act would be a problem. How would we find out if there are sewers under that part of the garden? We have the drainage search from our conveyancing which shows the main sewers in the street, but how can we check whether there are connecting sewers that might cause a problem when we build?

Thanks very much for the advice and opinions everyone! With building regs and planning permission and so many things to consider it seems to be a bit of a minefield when trying to see exactly what we need to do to get started, so advice is very much appreciated. :-)

murphydog999

Please update how you get on, we are going to be going the same thing in a few months.