Extension - Planning permission etc.

capeverde

think theres a sticky on this, planning and building are totally seperate and you shouldnt confuse them. Basically planning deals with the right to build something and building deals with the specification. Thats obviously putting things in basic terms. you wont need architects drawings for building control though.

teneighty

Just thought I would post a quick comment to clarify what kaya said to hopefully help someone else coming unstuck.

To qualify as a conservatory and avoid a Building Regulation application you should have 75% glazing to roof and 50% to walls. You can only have a radiator if it is has independent controls from the main house central heating. There are a number of other minor requirements that I wont bother to go into here like the exterior grade door between house and conservatory.

As others have said it is surprising the poor advice you can receive from building inpectors and planning officers who you would expect to know the rules inside out. It is always best to get their response in writing to avoid them wriggling out of it later. However it only ever seems to become a problem when you come to sell and some eagle eyed surveyor of solicitor picks it up.

kaya

teneighty wrote: »

Just thought I would post a quick comment to clarify what kaya said to hopefully help someone else coming unstuck.

To qualify as a conservatory and avoid a Building Regulation application you should have 75% glazing to roof and 50% to walls. You can only have a radiator if it is has independent controls from the main house central heating. There are a number of other minor requirements that I wont bother to go into here like the exterior grade door between house and conservatory.

As others have said it is surprising the poor advice you can receive from building inpectors and planning officers who you would expect to know the rules inside out. It is always best to get their response in writing to avoid them wriggling out of it later. However it only ever seems to become a problem when you come to sell and some eagle eyed surveyor of solicitor picks it up.

I made several visits to the building regs and planning people and was told that they have discretion as to the amount of glazing required to define a conservatory nowdays due to the overwhelming amount of building going on, i have it in writing from them as well to cover my backside, i took the spec sheet from my builder with me and it was agreed that i could have a 50% glazed roof and leave one aspect completely unglazed , i realise that what you have quoted is what is written down but they assured me they have discression on these matters due to recent changes and permitted works etc. , we arent planning to move from here for at least another 10 years anyway which is why we extended and why i am not worried about an "eagle eyed" surveyor , when i showed them my builders spec sheet they told me the only thing i would need to do differently to declare it as an extention was dig the footings to 1m rather than 600mm and pay them about £1000 for their time coming out to check the work was being done as per the spec sheet, i did make several visits, get it in writing and even took somebody else with me as a witness !

kaya

Another good point to make here that is very relevant (and i mean no dis-respect to teneighty) is that you should never take advice on important matters from completely random people on internet forums who claim to know what they are talking about over the advice of the professionals (building services and planning officers) who are the ones the local council employ to make the decisions ! You might just come unstuck if you do

mysk_girl

sancho wrote: »

Looked on my local councils website for building reg charges, can see 'Full Plans Application' costs £360 and 'Building Notice Plans' costs £450.

Not sure what the difference is but I am investigating...

Full plans is where you submit detailed drawings showing every aspect of the build, they approve the drawings and then make a couple of visits to check that the build is in accordance with the plans.

Building notice is where you only submit an outline of the build and they make more frequent visits (hence the increased cost) to check that they are happy with what is being built.

We've just received our full plans approval for our extension and I'm so excited that it is going ahead! Good luck...

sancho

Thanks for the advice so far.

I have spoken to the planning people, they said if I have looked at the planning portal and happy it meets the criteria then I won't need planning, however there's an online form I can fill in and someone will look it over, free of charge, and confirm that fact.

Spoke to the building regulation people and they explained the difference just as mysk_girl did above. He said it was common for a small extension to just use buildings notice and a competent builder, although it's more expensive it doesn't come with the cost of getting detailed drawings done I suppose?

Spoke to the mortgage people and they will provisionally give us the amount we may need, roughly half as the rest will come from savings.

Got a builder (who is hopefully competent) coming round tomorrow afternoon to give a quote.

There's so many things to think about and is hard work working out which order is the correct one to do.

If I can get everything done, including fees etc. for £1000 per sq m. i.e. £9000 then I will be happy, any cheaper and I'll be ecstatic. Not sure on ways to make it cheaper

We are not doing it for this purpose, as we shall get very good use out of the room, but would an extension of this type add any value of note to a 3 bed semi?

Thanks again for all advice so far

kaya

we recon ours has added roughly what it cost to the value of our property , but ours is a bit of a feature with the doors and roof lantern , first decide what you want, windows, doors, size etc, then see if you need planning permission or building regs to get involved , make sure your builder gives you a detailed spec of what he is going to do and how he is going to do it , ask for a quote not including the supply of doors, windows, radiators, light fittings and flooring and source these yourself online, our builder couldn't come near the prices we got for glazing and tiles from his suppliers and he has been using them for years ( and he usually runs five or 6 £500k plus jobs at a time), phone and ask your planning dept if there is a requirement to provide plans by the water board if your build runs over the sewer , this was something we had to check but found no mention of it on the planning portal .
When you have decided everything sit down with your builder and a cup of tea and discuss a strict payment plan that you and he must adhere to and are comfortable with, you want to pay x amount when the base is lalid, another payment when the roof is on or walls are up etc. Its between you and him to agree a payment plan and works schedule you are happy with and you should leave an amount (i.e 25%) that will only be paid on completion of the work to your satisfaction, write all this down and give him a copy, so if you get somebody who is intent on bleeding you dry before the work is completed " i need some more money for a skip" or " i need some more money for materials" or " i need to pay the roofer" are common ways of getting more cash from you by dodgy tradesmen so agree a strict plan before works commence and tell the builder that you will not deviate from the agreed payment plan , we planned our build carefully and had a top builder so everything went along easily , please dont fall into the trap of giving them money whenever thay ask for it , plan it as well as you are able to and enjoy your new build!

sancho

Thanks Kaya,

Can anyone recommend a piece of software I can use to draw some plans?

sancho

Just had a look again at the planning portal and noticed;

"8. If extension is within 2m of a boundary maximum eaves height should be no higher than 3m to be permitted development"

Obviously it is touching the boundary on the right of the plan made above, but as long as it doesn't go out more than 3 metres or the eaves are no higher than 3m then it will be fine?

I've also noticed about the fact that the extension (and previous extensions - which I presume is why the question was asked in post 2) must be less than 50% of the land. That doesn't include the house I presume? The back garden is roughly 14m x 8m and the front roughly 10m x 10m (we have an odd shaped back garden)

There has been an extension already which is made up of 2 parts, the kitchen extension is roughly 3m x 1.5m and the porch 2m x 1.5m. Even with the proposed 3m x 3m extension that would leave us well under the 50%

Sorry for seemingly stupid questions, but really want to be sure I don't need it! I've sent off the form online that someone will look over, but I found it hard to show everything appropriately

WillowCat

sancho wrote: »

Thanks Kaya,

Can anyone recommend a piece of software I can use to draw some plans?

Unless you already have, and are familiar with the software, a one off design is much easier hand drawn. Some A3 paper, a good pencil and perhaps a scale ruler (though this is not essential) and you're good to go.

However, plans for building regulations approval will demand more technical detail in the plans (timber sizes, wall thicknesses, lintel specifications etc) than plans for planning permission, which only need to be 'to scale' and reasonably aesthetically pleasing.