Does he need planning permission?

M47

Hi everyone,

I am posting this question on behalf of my friend who is in the process of trying to set up a workshop to run courses in construction.

He has a massive garden space where he intended on putting up a steel warehouse, to house the training workshops. The warehouse size would be 40 x 15 feet and have a 13.5 feet height.

He only intended on running this warehouse at this location for around a year before he relocates the training workshops.

My question is: would he need to obtain planning permission to put the warehouse up? its wouldn't be blocking or obstructing anyone and would be a temporary building

Fosterdog

Surely if he is in the construction business and wants to train others he should already know all about planning permission so shouldn't need a friend to ask random internet strangers.

ashe

The size of the building is fairly large, whilst i dont know anything at all about PP and will wait for the experts to weigh in, I cant imagine erecting a 40x15x13.5 building would just be OK, and if I was his neighbour I would absolutely object as its going to look horrific.

M47

He is a business owner and would be employing experts to teach and run these courses. I am just trying to look out for him, it's not him asking it's me

sevenhills

M47 wrote: »

I am posting this question on behalf of my friend who is in the process of trying to set up a workshop to run courses in construction.

He has a massive garden space where he intended on putting up a steel warehouse, to house the training workshops. The warehouse size would be 40 x 15 feet and have a 13.5 feet height.

If he can describe it as a shed or garage he may find things easier, seems a waste to just do it for a year, surely the 'shed' will remain?

ashe

Longer than the length of a London bus, that would be some shed! Agree that surely the cost of building it, kitting it out, getting permission for it etc why not just rent a workshop or warehouse space somewhere?

Doozergirl

People have a strange idea of what is 'temporary' when it suits them under Permitted Development.

Permitted development rules will allow people to build on half of the outside space of the original dwelling if the roof height is below a certain point. It's easily accessible on the Planning Portal. So, it doesn't matter if it's temporary or permanent in the eyes of planners.

What is questionable though is whether the building is ancillary to the dwelling. Running courses for a significant number of people is not really ancillary to the purpose of a house. If it has kitchen or bathroom facilities, it would need planning permission.

At that size, it may well be subject to building regulations. That can be checked. I've had a glass of wine and lost the impetus

If your friend does not consult the planners now, your friend will find out after it is built and when and if the neighbours complain. Now, if his intention is something that large I'll tell you now that people will be horrified, whether it's legal or not and the planning department will be receiving calls. Such is the nature of neighbours!

societys_child

Change of Use might also be a problem, unless the property also has permission for business use?

lincroft1710

As this is a commercial enterprise in presumably a residential area, it may well be refused pp, it would be unusual if there wouldn't be neighbour objections.

EachPenny

societys_child wrote: »

Change of Use might also be a problem, unless the property also has permission for business use?

Change of use is almost certainly going to be an issue. There will also be a whole raft of other hurdles to deal with if the building is going to be used for educational purposes. He will need to think about accessibility, fire regulations, welfare facilities just to start with. So building regs will almost certainly be required too.

It is also possible that the building will be subject to business rates (not an area I know much about though) and potentially his utility/water companies might be unhappy with a business operation of that scale being run on domestic supplies.

He'll also need to think about getting the appropriate insurances in place.